The Historical Santa Claus

[Makalakumu]

This thread is a response to many of the Historical Jesus threads whirring around the study.

So, who really was Santa Claus?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa

St. Nick, patron saint of Archers, Pawnbrokers, and Prostitutes!

Saint Nicholas of Myra is the primary inspiration for the Christian figure of Santa Claus. He was a 4th century Christian bishop of Myra in Lycia, a province of the Byzantine Anatolia, now in Turkey. Nicholas was famous for his generous gifts to the poor, in particular presenting the three impoverished daughters of a pious Christian with dowries so that they would not have to become prostitutes. He was very religious from an early age and devoted his life entirely to Christianity. In Europe (more precisely the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Germany) he is still portrayed as a bearded bishop in canonical robes. The relics of St. Nicholas were transported to Bari in southern Italy by some enterprising Italian merchants;[8] a basilica was constructed in 1087 to house them and the area became a pilgrimage site for the devout. Saint Nicholas became claimed as a patron saint of many diverse groups, from archers and children to pawnbrokers and prostitutes[9]. He is also the patron saint of both Amsterdam and Moscow.[10].

Santa as a transmogrified Odin...

Numerous parallels have been drawn between Santa Claus and the figure of Odin, a major god amongst the Germanic Peoples prior to their Christianization. Since many of these elements are unrelated to Christianity, there are theories regarding the pagan origins of various customs of the holiday stemming from areas where the Germanic peoples were Christianized and retained elements of their indigenous traditions, surviving in various forms into modern depictions of Santa Claus.[11]
Odin was sometimes recorded, at the native Germanic holiday of Yule, as leading a great hunting party through the sky.[12] Two books from Iceland, the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, describe Odin as riding an eight-legged horse named Sleipnir that could leap great distances, giving rise to comparisons to Santa Claus' reindeer.[13]

According to Phyllis Siefker, children would place their boots, filled with carrots, straw or sugar, near the chimney for Odin's flying horse, Sleipnir, to eat. Odin would then reward those children for their kindness by replacing Sleipnir's food with gifts or candy [14]. This practice survived in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands after the adoption of Christianity and became associated with Saint Nicholas as a result of the process of Christianization and can be still seen in the modern practice of the hanging of stockings at the chimney in some homes.

This practice in turn came to the United States through the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam prior to the British seizure in the 17th century, and evolved into the hanging of socks or stockings at the fireplace. In many regions of Austria and former Austro-Hungarian Italy (Friuli, city of Trieste) children are given sweets and gifts on Saint Nicholas's Day (San Niccolò in Italian), in accordance with the Catholic calendar, December the 6th.
Numerous other influences from the pre-Christian Germanic winter celebrations have continued into modern Christmas celebrations such as the Christmas ham, Yule Goat, Yule logs and the Christmas tree.

That is pretty cool actually.

 

[kaizasosei]

i read somewhere that the red and white robe of santa claus ties in with the robe of sibirian shamans. the mushroom that the shamans there take is also the favorite food of reindeer. - there was a ritual that these shamans practiced which involve entering the house through the roof. also, it mentions that the mushroom in question grows below the pinetree symbiotically sprouting from its roots.

i dont know how much of this is accurate or relevant, but i found it be interesting.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Wow....huge read
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus

Images of Santa Claus were further popularized through Haddon Sundblom's depiction of him for The Coca-Cola Company's Christmas advertising. The popularity of the image spawned urban legends that Santa Claus was in fact invented by Coca-Cola or that Santa wears red and white because those are the Coca-Cola colors. In fact, Coca-Cola was not even the first soft drink company to utilize the modern image Santa Claus in its advertising – White Rock Beverages used Santa in advertisements for its ginger ale in 1923 after first using him to sell mineral water in 1915. Even though Coca-Cola was not the first to do this, their massive campaign was one of the main reasons for why Santa Claus ended up depicted as wearing red and white, in contrast to the variety of colours he wore prior to the campaign. [19][20]

 

[Makalakumu]

I was going to post that, but you beat me to it, Bob. Santa as a ******** marketing scheme. It's a wonder that anyone even carries on this tradition anymore. I wonder how many people would if they knew more of this?

Consequently, I've been looking for a way to remake Santa for years. I like the Odin imagery. Maybe my kids need to start drawing Santa with a couple of ravens and an eye patch...

 

[Bob Hubbard]

It's a comercialization of it all that killed it for me, xmas sales starting in fricken July n all that.

 

[Makalakumu]

It's a comercialization of it all that killed it for me, xmas sales starting in fricken July n all that.

I often wonder if it will eventually get overdone and more and more people will get sick of it. Already, I can sense a cultural backlash forming...

Who gives a **** about consumerism? For so many, that is all this holiday is about. I think a lot of people are starting to see that.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

I get tired of the commercialism.
Took me an hour to get my prescription on the 23rd due to the buying frenzy at Walmart. (I use their pharmacy)

I get tired of the people who seem to think that only Christians have any right to December. There are at least a dozen plus holidays actively celebrated.


DECEMBER 2007

* 2,9,16,23
o Sundays of Advent - Christian
* 5-12
o Hanukkah * - Jewish
* 6
o Saint Nicholas Day - Christian
* 8
o Bodhi Day (Rohatsu) ** - Buddhist
o Immaculate Conception - Catholic Christian
* 12
o Feast day - Our Lady of Guadalupe - Catholic Christian
* 13
o Santa Lucia Day (Sweden)
* 16
o Posadas Navidenas begins - Christian
* 17
o Saturnalia
* 18
o Hajj begins * - Islam
* 20
o Eid al Adha * - Islam
* 21
o St. Thomas Day - Christian
* 22 Winter Solstice
o Yule - Christian
o Yule * - Wicca/Neo Pagan northern hemisphere
o Litha * - Wicca/Neo Pagan southern hemisphere
o Hanukkah* (Jewish)
* 25
o Christmas * - Christian
o Feast of the Nativity ** - Orthodox Christian
o Sol Invictus
o Mithras
* 26
o Zarathosht Diso (Death of Prophet Zarathushtra) Zoroastrian
o St Stephen's Day - Christian
o Boxing Day (Canada, United Kingdom)
o Kwanzaa (African-American)
* 28
o Holy Innocents - Christian
* 30
o Feast of the Holy Family - Catholic Christian
* 31
o Watch Night - Christian

Interestingly enough, just as Christian mythology has absorbed many of the customs of other faiths, the idea of "Santa Claus" is a composite of various pagan beliefs, and traits accredited to several Christian saints.

 

[tellner]

The best treatment I've seen is the book "When Santa Was a Shaman". Well worth reading.

By the bye, screw the Coca Cola advertising icon Santa. You might as well have Yeshu ben Maryam up there on the Cross with a Nike swoosh scourged into his chest or the spaces between the Surahs of the Noble Quran filled with car ads.

Give me the old Sinterkalus and Svart Peter.

 

[Makalakumu]

By the bye, screw the Coca Cola advertising icon Santa. You might as well have Yeshu ben Maryam up there on the Cross...

That's in the deleted scenes on the Passion of the Christ DVD!