From: joann@ariadne.SLAC.Stanford.EDU (Jo Ann Malina)
Subject: Re: Santa Claus
Organization: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1992 09:14:16 GMT

In article <lisg7rINN4mq@news.bbn.com> dhardin@bbn.com (Dawn Hardin) writes:
>In article <Bz9v5A.44L@world.std.com>, marty@world.std.com (Marty M HaleEvans) writes:
>> dhardin@bbn.com (Dawn Hardin) writes:
>> 
>> I still leave cookies for Santa, because I consider it a ritual to help feed
>> that spirit and keep it living in all of us. Maybe one day it will become
>> strong enough to stick around for more of the year. Of course, I have to eat
>> them myself sometimes, but I kinda think of that as taking in the spirit and
>> resolving to "keep Christmas in my heart".
>
>Leaving cookies for Santa is a great idea.  Only is Santa really the best
>choice for the role of *Santa*?  Are any of the incarnations of Solstice
>gift giver more noticeably pagan?  Father Christmas doesn't cut it.
>Saint Nicholas obviously doesn't cut it.  Is Santa one of the purely
>Christian inventions for Christmas, or does he come over from some earlier
>pagan tradition?
>
>Maybe we could leave the cookies for the Solstice Elves instead?  

Santa as we know him is not particularly Christian.  Our image goes back
most noticeably to the 19th Century poem, A Visit From Saint Nicholas,
which was partly inspired by the drawings of Thomas Nast (who also gave
us the Republican elephant and Democratic donkey).  The name comes from
the Dutch (Sinterklaas) in New York, renamed Santa Claus by the English
there.

But a lot of the imagery is pagan, especially Germanic.  Odin had an 8
legged horse named Sleipnir, the probable origin of the 8 reindeer
(if you find this unlikely, ask youself: why 8?).  He brought winter
rewards and punishments.  Thor's color was red (a friend claims he
wore a red suit trimmed with white fur). He fought the ice and snow
and conquered the cold at midwinter.  He also rode in a sleigh pulled
by goats.  Hertha, goddess from whom we get the word "earth," brought
gifts of good fortune and health at the solstice time.  Reindeer are
animals from the far north, and elves are Germanic spirits as fairies
are Celtic ones.

One interpretation I've read to explain why Santa comes down the
chimney seems a bit of a stretch, but I'll repeat it for your
contemplation: Odin was a shaman as well as (before he became?) a
god, and initiations were held in kiva-type structures with only a
hole in the roof to let the smoke from the central fire out, and which
was the only entrance, so the shaman would descend through this
smokey hole.  Before you dismiss it out of hand, consider that dropping
into a burning fire without getting hurt is a pretty magical act,
something only a god or shaman would be able to get away with.

Of course, when I was growing up, we didn't have a fireplace, just a
chimney that goes straight down into the furnace, so Santa slid down
the TV antenna.  Made as much sense to me at age 5 as lots of other
stuff the adults told me.  Also the TV has replaced the hearth as
the center of family life...

The Romans celebrated Saturnalia at this time of year. They gave gifts
and decorated their homes with greenery; fresh boughs were brought
from the grove of the goddess Strenia at the time of the Kalends of
January.  The Druids also decorated with green plants (holly and
mistletoe, as well as evergreens) during the solstice celebrations
held by the Celts at this time of year.

Take the Teutonic images, Roman customs, Celtic survivals, and add to
them St. Nicholas, patron saint of children, who was by all reports a
generous man who gave anonymous gifts (until someone spied and caught
him at it), add to them the early Christian need to mythologize the
birth of Jesus and co-opt the solstice celebrations (Christmas was set
at December 25 in the 4th Century for just this purpose).  Run them
through Victorian sentimentality.

Those are the origins of Santa Claus, and many of the other "Christmas"
customs.  They are as pagan as mistletoe or the Yule log.  Enjoy Santa,
share him with your kids, and don't think that this season belongs to
the Christians, it doesn't.  It belongs to everyone who depends on the
sun for their life, and that's all of us.

Of course, I don't mind the Christians sharing our customs, as long
as they don't get huffy about origins and ownership ;-)


*) *) *) *) *) *) *) *) *) *) *)!(* (* (* (* (* (* (* (* (* (* (* (* (*
Jo Ann Malina, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
joann@unixhub.slac.stanford.edu  -or-  415/926-2846
Neither Stanford nor the DOE would be caught dead with these opinions.
Nor do they consult me when formulating theirs.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"When [the Druids] had found [mistletoe] they danced round the oak to
the tune of 'Hey derry down, down, down derry!' which literally signi-
fied 'In a circle move we round the oak.'"
                 Mrs. M. Grieve, "A Modern Herbal," Dover, 1931, 1971.