Wednesday, December 23, 2009

12 Days of Truth - The Real Meaning of Christmas

The Tenth Day of Truth - Santa Claus

A jolly old man, slipping magically into homes and leaving presents for the good boys and girls of the world. Aside from the disturbing questions that immediately arise, we should ask ourselves how this figure became such a large part of our culture. Santa owes his legend to many sources, and he has undergone many transformations over the years. There are a number of parallels to the Norse god Odin, who would ride an eight legged horse through the sky distributing gifts with his white beard trailing behind him. While these similarities may explain some of the legend, Santa's namesake was much more mortal. Bishop Nicholas of Myra (later sainted) died about 350 AD. His legend was such that by the middle ages, he was mentioned in prayer nearly as much as Mary. Among Nicholas' miracles were saving three girls from poverty by tossing gold down their chimney and resurrecting three murdered boys. The Feast of St. Nicholas on Dec. 6 has been observed with great enthusiasm throughout Medieval Europe over the centuries. This enthusiasm was due to the many legends that had grown up around Nicholas: that he had distributed gifts to the poor at night through their windows, had fasted while a baby, saved a city from famine, had aided a ship in distress, etc. Because of the gift-giving legends associated with Nicholas, it was held (especially in Belgium and Holland) that on the Eve the Feast of Nicholas, the bishop himself would come from heaven and visit children in their homes, giving gifts to those who had been good. Nicholas, decked out in full ecclesiastical garb (bishop's vestments, with miter and cozier), would arrive on a flying gray horse (or white donkey, depending on the custom). In some variations of the legend, he was accompanied by Black Peter, an elf whose job was to punish children who had been bad. And here Santa evolved. The dutch began to call this visitor Sinterclass. Although the reformation during the 16th century abolished the feast of Saint Nicholas (and with it the visits from Sinterclass) due to the detraction from christ, the church created a veneration of the Christkindl (Christ-child) instead, who, it was said, brought gifts to children on Christmas Eve.
When the Dutch came to America in the 17th century and founded New Amsterdam, it was with an amalgamation of these two gift givers. Author Washington Irving (1789-1853), most famous for "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle," is important for the information he gives us on the Dutch version of Sinter Klaas in the early nineteenth century. Washington's 1809 work "The History of New York (also called the "Knickerbocker History") was a satire on the transplanted customs of the Dutch of New York city. The "History" contained several references to the legend of St. Nicholas as observed by the Dutch. The St. Nicholas described by Irving was an old man in dark robes who arrived on a flying horse on the Eve of St. Nicholas to give gifts to children. Dr. Clement Clark Moore revised this image further when he wrote "A Visit from St. Nicholas", more commonly known as "The Night Before Christmas." Finally Santa got a new image in 1935 for perhaps one of the most fitting reasons. The Coca-Cola Cooperation began running a series of advertisements that depicted Santa, not as a tiny elf, but as an average sized jolly fat man. One who, of course, loved their product.

When you leave those milk and cookies out this christmas eve, as the dutch children left treats in their shoes by the fire, please keep a good picture of whom you are leaving them for. Will you leave them for the Saint on the flying white horse, the sprite-like Christkindl, the tiny elf that Dr. Moore wrote about, or the advertising gimmick thought up to sell soda?

And now you know.

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