Ok, let's get one thing straight: St Nicholas and Father Christmas are two different people.
...Gasp!
St Nicholas looks like this.
I think of Father Christmas as more like this or this.
So who is Santa?
"Although Father Christmas and Santa Claus (the latter deriving from the Dutch for Saint Nicholas: Sinterklaas) are now used interchangeably, and both are to some extent identified with Saint Nicholas, the origins of Father Christmas are quite different from Santa Claus. Traditional differences also include their dress: Father Christmas wears a long, green, fur-lined hooded cloak and a wreath of holly, ivy or mistletoe, whereas Santa wears a red coat and cap. It is the association with holly and mistletoe, and his ability to lift people's spirits, that we retain from this ancient Father Christmas; there are clear links with the centuries-old Green Man. Father Christmas has his roots in Paganism." (wikkipedia, tut)
I think it's just another example of the church manipilating older traditions to fit in to their way of thinking (a long time ago). I think they tried to replace the old Father Christmas character (what was he called then, before Christianity? "Old Winter"?) with a saint, and somehow the two have become combined (in the US?). Different countries and cultures each have their own version of the super-human gift-bringer. There are many folk customs and ways of celebrating this jolly benevolent figure. But I don't think it really matters what you call it or where it comes from, at the end of the day, I was just curious to find out. I'm always fascinated with the way things overlap, and in the different ways people seem to be celebrating the same thing. And in some way I wanted to find my own truth in there. Yes, I think he is real.
And so we celebrated St Nick's day by leaving shoes out (I think maybe it should have been a pair, but I didn't say anything). Daddy had sent this link from Holland about St Nicholas, so we had a read of that. Joy has also been learning about it at school, having a German teacher. I've had to let the fire go out so the gifts don't melt...
3 comments:
lol, I just remembered after reading this bit
"St. Nicholas was born in 271 AD and died around December 6, 342 or 343 AD"
someone said "how can he come if he's dead?" and I said "he's a ghost"! it just came out! and they said- "no, he's not a ghost, is he? hes real."
This conversation was repeated in 'Tom's midnight garden' many times. maybe I'll have to say more about this, later.
That's brilliant Rosie! Thanks so much for the blog post, it answered many of my questions.
I think we'll do the St. Nick thing next year - leaving out the shoes. My hubby is Dutch and we've always talked about the tradition of St. Nicholas giving little gifts on 6th December. Nice links - thanks (and I loved the pictures of Santa Claus). I read somewhere that the US changed Santa's green cloak to red for Coca-cola advertising many moons ago. Elle
Post a Comment