|
Who Is Santa Claus
-
Who is Santa Claus:
- By Lady
SpringWolf
-
- As we pagans already know, many of today's
Christmas celebrations are rooted in pagan practices. And Santa isn't
an exception.
-
- The winter solstice is a time to celebrate
the return of the sun following the shortest day in the year. It's no
wonder the church adopted these holidays as the birth date of their
Savior. But from ancient Celtic and Norse
mythology we also enjoy such holiday traditions as holly and mistletoe
(sacred to the druids), the yule log, and even Santa Claus in his
aspects of Father Time, or Father Winter, or the Holly King as part of
our Yule History.
-
- The Pagan Origins:
- We have to go back a bit find the
pagan legend and myth associated with Santa. One of the first
places to start is with the Germanic
people and the Norse God Odin. The 13th Century Poetic Edda is a
complication of stories and poems from Scandinavian history, some as
early 985AD. In this work and from Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda we
learn about Odin riding an eight-legged horse named Sleipnir, that can
leap great distances. At Yule, Odin leads a great hunting party through
the sky in celebration. This story gives rise to comparisons of Santa
and his 8 reindeer flying through the sky.
-
- In some traditions of Odin's Yule time ride,
children could place their boots near the chimney filled with treats
for Sleipnir and Odin would reward them for their kindness
with food, candy or gifts. The tradition still continues Belgium,
Germany and the Netherlands. In other Germanic countries the practice
has been replaced with hanging stockings.
-
- On the Celtic side, the origins of the Holly
King are little
dubious, but there are links to the Great Kings of Ireland and the
legend of the Holly King. With going too far into the history of
Ireland, Between 8000-7500 BCE the Ice bridge between Scotland and
Ireland collapses. Tribes of around 50,000 to 60,000 hunter gatherers
are now "trapped" in Ireland. The population dwindles to about
10,000
as animals and food run out sustaining themselves in a variety of
methods, including the consumption of mildly poisonous Holly berries.
Around 6500-5500 BCE the Cuilleain ("Holly" (holy) men step
onto the
scene. Also known as the "Shining Ones" of Wicklow Hills, these men
save the dwindling population from barbarity and are the first priest
kings to preach self-wisdom, organized religion for humanity and
salvation. Through their efforts to save their people, some of these
early Priest Kings sacrifice their lives in battle. From these early
priest kings, the concept of the Holly King who saved his people from
the depths of the winter ice is born.
-
- Through these early mythical legends, The
Holly King begins his
battle with his twin brother the Oak King at the Summer Solstice. As
the year is wanning the Holly King prevails and begins preparations to
save and maintain his people through the cold winter. In order to
accomplish his mission, he travels the land to hunt, fish and harvest.
Transporting these life saving items in a wagon or sled pulled by eight
deer. These 'gifts' of life are provided to all his people, and in
exchange they provide care and comfort to his team of deer.
-
- There is also suggestion that the 8
reindeer plays pagan significance. Just follow along here, it comes
together in the end. Even in those ancient times the number 9 was an
important spiritual number. 9 witches often made up a coven. 9 feet was
the diameter of a perfect circle. And maybe that's why "the whole 9
yards"; which refers to the 9 yards of material for a Great Kilt worn
by many Celtic highlanders is so important. When we think of Santa we
think of Santa and his 8 tiny reindeer. And most people focus on the 8
reindeer. Well now add Santa. 9 souls traveling through the winter sky
to bring presents for the rebirth of the year. It's a stretch, but
there are those who believe this is where the 8 reindeer got their
start.
-
- The Holly King lived way up
North, where he could survive in the cold during the reign of his
brother in the spring and summer. The Oak King who needed the warmth to
survive, lived in the warm forests in the south and falls into sleep
while his brother of the cold reigns over the world during the fall and
winter months.
-
- Ancient pagan deities such as Befana (a
gift-giving Roman goddess); the Holly King (a Celtic Winter god); and
Thor and Tomte (Norse gods who, respectively, rode across the sky in a
chariots drawn by goats and gave presents to children at the end of the
year) have all fed into the Santa legend.
-
- In many of these early pagan legends,
presents are given to children or young families to represent abundance
and fertility. After all this is the time of the rebirth of the Sun.
Presents were exchanged to honor that rebirth and to give wishes or
hopes to the person receiving the gift for abundance and fertility in
the coming year. Now don't assume that 'fertility' means giving birth
to a child. Remember these people had to live off the earth and the
crops they grew. They didn't have grocery stores on the corner to trot
down to and buy food for their families. So in most cases the fertility
was for the coming growing season.
-
- Santa didn't become a Christian figure until
the 3rd century with Nicholas, the Bishop of Myra. He lived on what is
now the coast of Turkey. Nicholas suffered for his faith, was exiled
and imprisoned. After his release, Nicholas attended the Council of
Nicaea in AD 325. He died December 6, AD which became a festive day to
honor this Bishop and his life. It's still a day recognized in many
European countries as St. Nicholas Day. His parents died in an epidemic
while Nicholas was still young. Obeying Jesus' words to "sell what you
own and give the money to the poor," Nicholas used his whole
inheritance to assist the needy, the sick, and the suffering. Many
stories are told of his generosity, and caring. Especially his
protection and care of children. Because of his life work, he became
synonymous with Santa Claus. Though many of the stories retold today
cannot be verified and are likely just oral stories that were created
to entertain children and to further incorporate pagan legends with
Christian figures.
-
- It's impossible to point to the one real
'first' Santa, because Santa is a culmination of mythological legends
and stories. But from many of the earliest pagan stories and legends we
can find pieces of the Santa legend in our Celtic and
Scandinavian mythologies
-
- The Evolution Of Santa:
- Santa gets his name from Dutch legend in the
form of Sinter Klaas or "Sinterklaas". Historical documents suggest
that Sinter was brought by settlers to New York in the 17th century. As
early as 1773 the name appeared in the American press as "St. A Claus,"
but it was the popular author Washington Irving who gave Americans
their first detailed information about the Dutch version of Saint
Nicholas. In his History of New York, published in 1809 under the
pseudonym Diedrich Knickerbocker, Irving described the arrival of the
saint on horseback (unaccompanied by Black Peter) each Eve of Saint
Nicholas.
-
- This
Dutch-American Saint Nick achieved his
fully Americanized form in 1823 in the poem A Visit From Saint Nicholas
more commonly known as The Night Before Christmas by writer Clement
Clarke Moore. Moore included such details as the names of the reindeer;
Santa Claus's laughs, winks, and nods; and the method by which Saint
Nicholas, referred to as an elf, returns up the chimney. (Moore's
phrase "lays his finger aside of his nose" was drawn directly from
Irving's 1809 description.)
-
- There are many Celtic scholars who point
Santa's beginnings to the Celtic Holly King, who has been depicted with
a Holly wreath as a crown. Or as the Druid Holly King who wore holly in
his hat. In both cases, the Holly King traditionally wore green
garments with red accents. What else would a "holly" king
wear.
-
- His clothing seems to have changed color in
the late 1800s when Santa started wearing the modern red. The
Dutch "Sinterklaas" is an elderly, serious man with
white hair and a long, full beard. He wears a long red cape over a
traditional white bishop's alb. Some point to the influence of the
Catholic church and it's attire for the different levels of the Priest
Hierarchy for this color combination.
-
-
In the 1840s, an elf in Nordic folklore called "Tomte" or "Nisse"
started to deliver the Christmas presents in Denmark. The Tomte was
portrayed as a short, bearded man dressed in gray clothes and a red
hat. As migrations of people traveled through Scandinavia their
traditional influences also began to merge. By the end of the 19th
Century, Norway and Sweden had also began integrating these images into
their winter cultural celebrations. Most notably replacing the Yule
Goat, who brought presents with the Dutch influenced
Sinterklaas.
-
- British and Dutch versions of the gift-giver
merged even more as migrations from Europe came to the Americas. "Santa
Claus" by name, was first used in the American press in 1773,
but he had lost his bishop’s apparel, and was at first pictured as a
thick-bellied Dutch sailor with a pipe in a green winter coat. The
influence of Scandinavian cultures continued as "A
New-year's present, to the little ones from five to twelve"
is published in New York in 1821. In this little seasonal book, an
annonymos poem "Old Santeclaus" is described as an old man on a
reindeer sleigh, bringing presents to children. Later in 1823, The
Sentinel in Troy New York prints "A Vist From St. Nicholas",
better known today as "The Night Before Christmas".
In this poem and story Santa is still a small old elf and the original
reindeer were named Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet,
Cupid, Dunder and Blixem (Dunder and Blixem came from the old Dutch
words for thunder and lightning, which were later changed to the more
German sounding Donner and Blitzen).
-
- One of the first modern images of Santa came
in 1863 by American cartoonist Thomas Nast for Harper's Weekly. In 1869
a color collection of Nast's pictures were published in which Santa
appears in a red suit. This collection included a poem by George
Webster "Santa Claus and His Works", which places Santa's home near the
North Pole in the ice and snow. Images of Santa in red became more
popular in the large cities of the east and midwest, but it still
hadn't caught on throughout the rural countryside or even around the
world.
-
- By the 1900s additional images depicting
Santa in a red suit sprang up each season furthering the image around
the country.
-
St Nicholas Magazine 1916
|
Saturday Evening Post 1925 |
-
- Regional images however still held onto old
cultural traditions. This was especially true throughout Europe. It
wasn't until the Coca-Cola Company commissioned
Michigan-born illustrator Haddon Sundblom to develop advertising images
using Santa Claus in 1930, that his image began it's world wide view as
we know it today. Even though Sundblom didn't invent the image of
Santa in a red coat, their advertising strongly helped emphasize this
image into rural American and around the world. Like Nast before him,
Sundblom made his version a human-sized version of Santa Claus,
rather than the elf of Moore's poem. [Coke Lore & Santa History].
In modern versions of the Santa Claus legend,
only his toy-shop workers are elves.
-
- Similarities:
- Modern Christmas traditions have a lot more
in common with Pagan legends and practices than some want to admit.
Just knowing there might be an association between the two can cause
some fundamentalists to discard centuries of celebration for fear of
aligning their beliefs with Paganism. But the fact is, through our
evolution, humanity began it's walk here on Earth through honoring and
worshiping nature. They had to in order to survive. At some point
everything and everyone in the world was some type of Pagan
practitioner. So it's reasonable to think that as humans evolved, so
did their beliefs. But that doesn't mean they totally discarded all of
those early perceptions. We influence each other each and every day.
And certainly our past influences our views and beliefs today.
-
- We are all much more a like than we are
different. And there is enough room in the world for each of us to
honor the Divine force in our life, without degrading or impeding the
choices of others to honor and practice in their own way too. After
all, on both sides of the fence, Christian, Pagan, or Jew isn't that
what this time of the year is all about? Peace and compassion?
-
- You can read an updated and expanded version of this article on Springwolf Reflectons.
An excerpt of Who Is Santa Claus - A History by
Springwolf was published in Issue 13 of Diabolique Magazine, in 2012.
|
-
- Source: 1,
m21,
m23,
m39,
m42,
o2, o22, o30, o32, o43, w07, w08, w10, w11
- Created: 12/15/2006
Updated: 11.01.2012
|
|