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Wikipedia

Santa Claus

December 18, 2023

"Santa" redirects here. For other uses, see Santa Claus (disambiguation) and Santa (disambiguation).

Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure[1] originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Christmas Eve. He is said to accomplish this with the aid of Christmas elves, who make the toys in his North Pole workshop, and with the aid of flying reindeer who pull his sleigh through the air.[2][3]

Santa Claus
Santa Claus portrayed by Jonathan Meath in 2010
Other namesSaint Nicholas
Saint Nick
Kris Kringle
Known forDelivering gifts to children at Christmas
SpouseMrs. Claus

The modern figure of Santa is based on folklore traditions surrounding Saint Nicholas, the English figure of Father Christmas, and the Dutch figure of Sinterklaas.

Santa is generally depicted as a portly, jolly, white-bearded man, often with spectacles, wearing a red coat with white fur collar and cuffs, white-fur-cuffed red trousers, a red hat trimmed with white fur, a black leather belt and boots, carrying a bag full of gifts for children. He is popularly associated with a deep, hearty laugh, frequently rendered in Christmas literature as "ho, ho, ho!" (/ˈhoʊˈhoʊˈhoʊ/)

This image originated in North America during the 19th century and has been maintained and reinforced through song, radio, television, children's books, family Christmas traditions, films, and advertising.

Predecessor figures

 
A 13th-century depiction of St. Nicholas from Saint Catherine's Monastery, Sinai

Saint Nicholas

Main article: Saint Nicholas

Saint Nicholas was a 4th-century Greek Christian bishop of Myra (now Demre) in the region of Lycia in the Roman Empire, today in Turkey. Nicholas was known 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.[4] He was very religious from an early age and devoted his life entirely to Christianity. In continental Europe (more precisely the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, the Czech Republic and Germany), he is usually portrayed as a bearded bishop in canonical robes.

In 1087, while the Greek Christian inhabitants of Myra were subjugated by the newly arrived Muslim Seljuq dynasty, and soon after their Greek Orthodox church had been declared to be in schism by the Catholic church (1054 AD), a group of merchants from the Italian city of Bari removed the major bones of Nicholas's skeleton from his sarcophagus in the Greek church in Myra. Over the objection of the monks of Myra the sailors took the bones of St. Nicholas to Bari, where they are now enshrined in the Basilica di San Nicola. Sailors from Bari collected just half of Nicholas' skeleton, leaving all the minor fragments in the church sarcophagus. These were later taken by Venetian sailors during the First Crusade and placed in Venice, where a church to St. Nicholas, the patron of sailors, was built on the San Nicolò al Lido. St. Nicholas' vandalized sarcophagus can still be seen in the St. Nicholas Church in Myra. This tradition was confirmed in two important scientific investigations of the relics in Bari and Venice, which revealed that the relics in the two Italian cities belong to the same skeleton. Saint Nicholas was later claimed as a patron saint of many diverse groups, from archers, sailors, and children to pawnbrokers.[4][5] He is also the patron saint of both Amsterdam and Moscow.[6]

During the Middle Ages, often on the evening before his name day of 6 December, children were bestowed gifts in his honour. This date was earlier than the original day of gifts for the children, which moved in the course of the Reformation and its opposition to the veneration of saints in many countries on 24 and 25 December. The custom of gifting to children at Christmas was propagated by Martin Luther as an alternative to the previous very popular gift custom on St. Nicholas, to focus the interest of the children to Christ instead of the veneration of saints. Martin Luther first suggested the Christkind as the bringer of gifts. But Nicholas remained popular as gifts bearer for the people.[7][8]

Father Christmas

 
"Ghost of Christmas Present", an illustration by John Leech made for Charles Dickens's festive A Christmas Carol (1843)
Main article: Father Christmas

Father Christmas dates back as far as 16th century in England during the reign of Henry VIII, when he was pictured as a large man in green or scarlet robes lined with fur.[9] He typified the spirit of good cheer at Christmas, bringing peace, joy, good food and wine and revelry.[9] As England no longer kept the feast day of Saint Nicholas on 6 December, the Father Christmas celebration was moved to 25 December to coincide with Christmas Day.[9] The Victorian revival of Christmas included Father Christmas as the emblem of good cheer.[10] His physical appearance was variable,[11] with one image being John Leech's illustration of the "Ghost of Christmas Present" in Charles Dickens's festive story A Christmas Carol (1843), as a great genial man in a green coat lined with fur who takes Scrooge through the bustling streets of London on the current Christmas morning, sprinkling the essence of Christmas onto the happy populace.[9][10]

Dutch, Belgian and Swiss folklore

 
Sinterklaas, Netherlands (2009) on his horse called Amerigo
 
1850 illustration of Saint Nicolas with his servant Père Fouettard/Zwarte Piet
See also: Sinterklaas and Saint Nicholas

In the Netherlands and Belgium, the character of Santa Claus competes with that of Sinterklaas, based on Saint Nicolas. Santa Claus is known as de Kerstman in Dutch ("the Christmas man") and Père Noël ("Father Christmas") in French. For children in the Netherlands, Sinterklaas remains the predominant gift-giver in December; 36% of the Dutch only give presents on Sinterklaas evening or the day itself, 6 December,[12] while Christmas, 25 December, is used by another 21% to give presents. Some 26% of the Dutch population gives presents on both days.[13] In Belgium, presents are offered exclusively to children on 6 December, and on Christmas Day all ages may receive presents. Saint Nicolas/Sinterklaas' assistants are called "Pieten" (in Dutch) or "Père Fouettard" (in French), so they are not elves.[14] In Switzerland, Père Fouettard accompanies Père Noël in the French speaking region, while the sinister Schmutzli accompanies Samichlaus in the Swiss German region. Schmutzli carries a twig broom to spank the naughty children.[15]

Germanic paganism, Wodan, and Christianization

 
An 1886 depiction of the long-bearded Norse god Odin by Georg von Rosen

Prior to Christianization, the Germanic peoples (including the English) celebrated a midwinter event called Yule (Old English geola or giuli).[16] With the Christianization of Germanic Europe, numerous traditions were absorbed from Yuletide celebrations into modern Christmas,[17] such as the Wild Hunt, frequently attested as being led by the god Odin (Wodan), bearing (among many names) the names Jólnir, meaning "Yule figure", and Langbarðr, meaning "long-beard", in Old Norse.[18]

Wodan's role during the Yuletide period has been theorized as having influenced concepts of St. Nicholas and Santa Claus in a variety of facets, including his long white beard and his gray horse for nightly rides (compare Odin's horse Sleipnir) or his reindeer in North American tradition.[19] Folklorist Margaret Baker maintains that "the appearance of Santa Claus or Father Christmas, whose day is the 25th of December, owes much to Odin, the old blue-hooded, cloaked, white-bearded Giftbringer of the north, who rode the midwinter sky on his eight-footed steed Sleipnir, visiting his people with gifts. Odin, transformed into Father Christmas, then Santa Claus, prospered with St Nicholas and the Christchild, became a leading player on the Christmas stage."[20]

In northern Europe, the Yule goat was an earlier bearer of gifts, which has to some degree become conflated with Santa Claus, for instance in the Finnish Joulupukki tradition.[21]

History

Origins

Early representations of the gift-giver from Church history and folklore, especially St Nicholas, merged with the English character Father Christmas to create the mythical character known to the rest of the English-speaking world as "Santa Claus" (a phonetic derivation of "Sinterklaas" in Dutch).

In the English and later British colonies of North America, and later in the United States, British and Dutch versions of the gift-giver merged further. For example, in Washington Irving's History of New York (1809), Sinterklaas was Anglicized into "Santa Claus" (a name first used in the U.S. press in 1773)[22] but lost his bishop's apparel, and was at first pictured as a thick-bellied Dutch sailor with a pipe in a green winter coat. Irving's book was a parody of the Dutch culture of New York, and much of this portrait is his joking invention.[23] Irving's interpretation of Santa Claus was part of a broader movement to tone down the increasingly wild Christmas celebrations of the era, which included aggressive home invasions under the guise of wassailing, substantial premarital sex (leading to shotgun weddings in areas where the Puritans, waning in power and firmly opposed to Christmas, still held some influence) and public displays of sexual deviancy; the celebrations of the era were derided by both upper-class merchants and Christian purists.[23]

19th century

 
Illustration to verse 1 of "Old Santeclaus with Much Delight"
 
1881 illustration by Thomas Nast who, along with Clement Clarke Moore's 1823 poem A Visit from St. Nicholas, helped to create the modern image of Santa Claus
 
Francis Pharcellus Church, author of the famous 1897 The Sun editorial which, responding to a letter from eight-year old Virginia O'Hanlon, contains the line "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus"

In 1821, the book A New-year's present, to the little ones from five to twelve was published in New York. It contained "Old Santeclaus with Much Delight", an anonymous poem describing Santeclaus on a reindeer sleigh, bringing rewards to children.[24] Some modern ideas of Santa Claus seemingly became canon after the anonymous publication of the poem A Visit From St. Nicholas (better known today as The Night Before Christmas) in the Troy, New York, Sentinel on 23 December 1823; Clement Clarke Moore later claimed authorship, though some scholars argue that Henry Livingston, Jr. (who died nine years before Moore's claim) was the author.[4][25] St. Nick is described as being "chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf" with "a little round belly", that "shook when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly", in spite of which the "miniature sleigh" and "tiny reindeer" still indicate that he is physically diminutive. The reindeer were also 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).[26]

By 1845, "Kris Kringle" was a common variant of Santa in parts of the United States.[27] A magazine article from 1853, describing American Christmas customs to British readers, refers to children hanging up their stockings on Christmas Eve for "a fabulous personage" whose name varies: in Pennsylvania he is usually called "Krishkinkle", but in New York he is "St. Nicholas" or "Santa Claus". The author[28] quotes Moore's poem in its entirety, saying that its descriptions apply to Krishkinkle too.[29]

As the years passed, Santa Claus evolved into a large, heavyset person. One of the first artists to define Santa Claus's modern image was Thomas Nast, an American cartoonist of the 19th century who immortalized Santa Claus with an illustration for the 3 January 1863 issue of Harper's Weekly in which Santa was dressed in an American flag, and had a puppet with the name "Jeff" written on it, reflecting its Civil War context. In this drawing, Santa is also in a sleigh pulled by reindeers.[citation needed]

The story that Santa Claus lives at the North Pole may also have been a Nast creation. His Christmas image in the Harper's issue dated 29 December 1866 was a collage of engravings titled Santa Claus and His Works, which included the caption "Santa Claussville, N.P."[30] A color collection of Nast's pictures, published in 1869, had a poem also titled "Santa Claus and His Works" by George P. Webster, who wrote that Santa Claus's home was "near the North Pole, in the ice and snow".[31] The tale had become well known by the 1870s. A boy from Colorado writing to the children's magazine The Nursery in late 1874 said, "If we did not live so very far from the North Pole, I should ask Santa Claus to bring me a donkey." [32]

The idea of a wife for Santa Claus may have been the creation of American authors, beginning in the mid-19th century. In 1889, the poet Katharine Lee Bates popularized Mrs. Claus in the poem "Goody Santa Claus on a Sleigh Ride". "Is There a Santa Claus?" is the title of an iconic editorial by Francis Pharcellus Church in the 21 September 1897 edition of The New York Sun that became the most reprinted in the U.S. and included the famous reply, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus".[33][34]

In Russia, Ded Moroz emerged as a Santa Claus figure around the late 19th century[35] where Christmas for the Eastern Orthodox Church is kept on 7 January.

20th century

 
A man dressed as Santa Claus fundraising for Volunteers of America on the sidewalk of street in Chicago, Illinois, in 1902. He is wearing a mask with a beard attached.

L. Frank Baum's The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, a children's book, was published in 1902. Much of Santa Claus's mythos was not firmly established at the time, leaving Baum to give his "Neclaus" (Necile's Little One) a variety of immortal support, a home in the Laughing Valley of Hohaho, and ten reindeer—who could not fly, but leapt in enormous, flight-like bounds. Claus's immortality was earned, much like his title ("Santa"), decided by a vote of those naturally immortal. This work also established Claus's motives: a happy childhood among immortals. When Ak, Master Woodsman of the World, exposes him to the misery and poverty of children in the outside world, Santa strives to find a way to bring joy into the lives of all children, and eventually invents toys as a principal means. Santa later appears in The Road to Oz as an honored guest at Ozma's birthday party, stated to be famous and beloved enough for everyone to bow even before he is announced as "The most Mighty and Loyal Friend of Children, His Supreme Highness – Santa Claus".

 
Rose O'Neill's illustration for the 1903 issue of Puck

Images of Santa Claus were conveyed through Haddon Sundblom's depiction of him for The Coca-Cola Company's Christmas advertising in the 1930s.[4][36] The image spawned urban legends that Santa Claus was invented by The Coca-Cola Company or that Santa wears red and white because they are the colors used to promote the Coca-Cola brand.[37] Coca-Cola's competitor Pepsi-Cola used similar Santa Claus paintings in its advertisements in the 1940s and 1950s. Historically, Coca-Cola was not the first soft drink company to utilize the modern image of Santa Claus in its advertising—White Rock Beverages had used a Santa figure in monochrome advertisements for mineral water in 1915, and in 1923-25, the same company used colour images of Santa Claus in adverts for drink mixers.[38] Earlier, Santa Claus had appeared dressed in red and white and essentially in his current form on several covers of Puck magazine in the first few years of the 20th century.[39]

 
Nick Tribuzio as Santa Claus in 1961 (Kent Studio, Hayward, CA)

The image of Santa Claus as a benevolent character became reinforced with its association with charity and philanthropy, particularly by organizations such as the Salvation Army. Volunteers dressed as Santa Claus typically became part of fundraising drives to aid needy families at Christmas time.

In 1937, Charles W. Howard, who played Santa Claus in department stores and parades, established the Charles W. Howard Santa School, the oldest continuously-run such school in the world.[40]

In some images from the early 20th century, Santa was depicted as personally making his toys by hand in a small workshop like a craftsman. Eventually, the idea emerged that he had numerous elves responsible for making the toys, but the toys were still handmade by each individual elf working in the traditional manner.

The 1956 popular song by George Melachrino, "Mrs. Santa Claus", and the 1963 children's book How Mrs. Santa Claus Saved Christmas, by Phyllis McGinley, helped standardize and establish the character and role of Mrs. Claus in the US.[41]

Seabury Quinn's 1948 novel Roads draws from historical legends to tell the story of Santa and the origins of Christmas. Other modern additions to the "story" of Santa include Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, the 9th and lead reindeer created in 1939 by Robert L. May, a Montgomery Ward copywriter, and immortalized in a 1949 song by Gene Autry.

In popular culture

 
Santa on the December 1905 cover of Puck magazine, v. 58, no. 150
See also: Santa Claus in film and SantaCon

Elves had been portrayed as using assembly lines to produce toys early in the 20th century. That shift was reflected in the modern depiction of Santa's residence—now often humorously portrayed as a fully mechanized production and distribution facility, equipped with the latest manufacturing technology, and overseen by the elves with Santa and Mrs. Claus as executives or managers.[42]

In 1912, actor Leedham Bantock became the first actor to be identified as having played Santa Claus in a film. Santa Claus, which he also directed, included scenes photographed in a limited, two-tone color process and featured the use of detailed models.[43] Since then many feature films have featured Santa Claus as a protagonist, including Miracle on 34th Street, The Santa Clause, and Elf.

In the cartoon base, Santa has been voiced by several people, including Mickey Rooney, Jim Cummings, Mel Smith, Ricky Tomlinson, Jim Belushi, and Alec Baldwin.

Santa has been described as a positive male cultural icon:

Santa is really the only cultural icon we have who's male, does not carry a gun, and is all about peace, joy, giving, and caring for other people. That's part of the magic for me, especially in a culture where we've become so commercialized and hooked into manufactured icons. Santa is much more organic, integral, connected to the past, and therefore connected to the future.

— TV producer Jonathan Meath who portrays Santa, 2011[44]

Norman Corwin's 1938 comic radio play The Plot to Overthrow Christmas, set entirely in rhyme, details a conspiracy of the Devil Mephistopheles and damned figures of history to defeat the good will among men of Christmas, by sending the Roman emperor Nero to the North Pole to assassinate Santa Claus. Through a battle of wits, Santa saves himself by winning Nero over to the joys of Christmas, and gives him a Stradivarius violin. The play was re-produced in 1940 and 1944.

 
Santa Claus with reindeer at Hersheypark, Hershey, Pennsylvania 2021

Many television commercials, comic strips and other media depict this as a sort of humorous business, with Santa's elves acting as a sometimes mischievously disgruntled workforce, cracking jokes and pulling pranks on their boss. For instance, a Bloom County story from 15 December 1981 through 24 December 1981 has Santa rejecting the demands of PETCO (Professional Elves Toy-Making and Craft Organization) for higher wages, a hot tub in the locker room, and "Aggressive recruitment of a wider gender spectrum of employee" ("short broads"), with the elves then going on strike. President Reagan steps in, fires all of Santa's helpers, and replaces them with out-of-work air traffic controllers (an obvious reference to the 1981 air traffic controllers' strike), resulting in a riot before Santa vindictively rehires them in humiliating new positions such as his reindeer.[45] In the 2001 The Sopranos episode, "To Save Us All from Satan's Power", Paulie Gualtieri says he "Used to think Santa and Mrs. Claus were running a sweatshop over there. The original elves were ugly, traveled with Santa to throw bad kids a beatin', and gave the good ones toys."

 
2009 Liverpool Santa Dash

In Kyrgyzstan, a mountain peak was named after Santa Claus, after a Swedish company had suggested the location be a more efficient starting place for present-delivering journeys all over the world, than Lapland. In the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, a Santa Claus Festival was held on 30 December 2007, with government officials attending. 2008 was officially declared the Year of Santa Claus in the country. The events are seen as moves to boost tourism in Kyrgyzstan.[46]

The Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of Santa Clauses is held by Thrissur, Kerala, India where on 27 December 2014, 18,112 Santas overtook the previous record. Derry City, Northern Ireland had held the record since 9 September 2007, when a total of 12,965 people dressed up as Santa or Santa's helpers. Prior to that, the record was 3,921, which was set during the Santa Dash event in Liverpool City Centre in 2005.[47] A gathering of Santas in 2009 in Bucharest, Romania attempted to top the world record, but failed with only 3,939 Santas.[48]

Santa Claus appears in a few video games.[49]

Traditions and rituals

Chimneys

 
The Feast of Saint Nicholas by Jan Steen (c. 1665–1668)

The tradition of Santa Claus being said to enter dwellings through the chimney is shared by many European seasonal gift-givers.[50] In pre-Christian Norse tradition, Odin would often enter through chimneys and fire holes on the solstice.[citation needed] In the Italian Befana tradition, the gift-giving witch is perpetually covered with soot from her trips down the chimneys of children's homes.[citation needed]

Christmas Eve

 
A man dressed as Santa Claus waves to children from an annual holiday train in Chicago, 2012.

In the United States and Canada, children may leave a glass of milk and a plate of cookies intended for Santa; in Britain and Australia, sherry or beer, and mince pies are left instead. In Denmark, Norway and Sweden, it is common for children to leave him rice porridge with sugar and cinnamon instead. In Ireland it is popular to leave Guinness or milk, along with Christmas pudding or mince pies.

In Hungary, St. Nicolaus (Mikulás) or Father Winter (Télapó) comes on the night of 5 December and the children get their gifts the next morning. They get sweets in a bag if they were good, and a golden colored birch switch if not. On Christmas Eve "Little Jesus" comes and gives gifts for everyone.[51]

In Slovenia, Saint Nicholas (Miklavž) also brings small gifts for good children on the eve of 6 December. Božiček (Christmas Man) brings gifts on the eve of 25 December, and Dedek Mraz (Grandfather Frost) brings gifts in the evening of 31 December to be opened on New Years Day.

 
Hanging up stockings for Santa Claus in Worthington, Ohio, 1928

After the children have fallen asleep, parents play the role of Santa Claus and leave their gifts under the Christmas tree, which may be signed as being "from Santa Claus".[52][53][54]

 
A classic American image of Santa Claus

Appearance

Santa is generally depicted as a portly, jolly, white-bearded man, often with spectacles, wearing a red outfit consisting of jacket, trousers and hat all lined with white fur, accessorized with black leather belt and boots, and carrying a bag full of gifts for children. The 1823 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" popularized this image in North America during the 19th century. Caricaturist and political cartoonist Thomas Nast also played a role in the creation of Santa's image.[55][56][57]

Though most often portrayed as white, Santa is also depicted as black or of other races. His race or color is sometimes a subject of controversy.[58][59]

Ho, ho, ho

"Ho ho ho" redirects here. For other uses, see Ho ho ho (disambiguation).

Ho ho ho is the way that many languages write out how Santa Claus laughs. "Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!" It is the textual rendition of a particular type of deep-throated laugh or chuckle, most associated today with Santa Claus and Father Christmas.

The laughter of Santa Claus has long been an important attribute by which the character is identified, but it also does not appear in many non-English-speaking countries. The traditional 1823 Christmas poem A Visit from St. Nicholas relates that Santa has:

"a little round belly
That shook when he laugh'd, like a bowl full of jelly"

Home

See also: Santa's workshop § Location
 
The Santa Claus Village in Lapland
 
Santa's House at Jerusalem Old City, St. Peter Street

Santa Claus's home is traditionally said to include a residence and a workshop where he is said to create—often with the aid of elves or other supernatural beings—the gifts he is said to deliver to good children at Christmas. Some stories and legends include a village, inhabited by his helpers, surrounding his home and shop.

In North American tradition (in the United States and Canada), Santa is said to live at the North Pole, which according to Canada Post lies within Canadian jurisdiction in postal code H0H 0H0[60] (a reference to "ho ho ho", Santa's notable saying, although postal codes starting with H are usually reserved for the island of Montréal in Québec). On 23 December 2008, Jason Kenney, Canada's minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, formally awarded Canadian citizenship status to Santa Claus. "The Government of Canada wishes Santa the very best in his Christmas Eve duties and wants to let him know that, as a Canadian citizen, he has the automatic right to re-enter Canada once his trip around the world is complete," Kenney said in an official statement.[61]

There is also a city named North Pole in Alaska where a tourist attraction known as the "Santa Claus House" has been established. The United States Postal Service uses the city's ZIP code of 99705 as their advertised postal code for Santa Claus. A Wendy's in North Pole, AK has also claimed to have a "sleigh fly through".[62]

Each Nordic country claims Santa's residence to be within their territory. Norway claims he lives in Drøbak. In Denmark, he is said to live in Greenland (near Uummannaq). In Sweden, the town of Mora has a theme park named Tomteland. The national postal terminal in Tomteboda in Stockholm receives children's letters for Santa. In Finland, Korvatunturi has long been known as Santa's home, and two theme parks, Santa Claus Village and Santa Park are located near Rovaniemi. In Belarus, there is a home of Ded Moroz in Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park.[63]

In France, Santa is believed to reside in 1 Chemin des Nuages, Pôle Nord (1 Alley of Clouds, North Pole). The French national postal service has operated a service that allows children to send letters to Père Noël since 1962.[64] In the period before Christmas, any physical letter in the country that is addressed to Santa Claus is sent to a specific location, where responses for the children’s letters are written and sent back to the children.[65]

Parades, department stores, and shopping malls

See also: Santa's workshop § Santa Claus grottos and department stores
 
Eaton's Santa Claus Parade, 1918, Toronto, Canada. Having arrived at the Eaton's department store, Santa is readying his ladder to climb up onto the building.
 
Representation of Santa Claus in Italy

Actors portraying Santa Claus are present at various venues in the weeks leading up to Christmas. The practice of this has been credited[dubious – discuss] to James Edgar, as he started doing this in 1890 in his Brockton, Massachusetts department store.[66] Having a Santa actor set up to take pictures with children is a ritual that dates back at least to 1918.[67] An area is often set aside for the actors portraying Santa to use for the duration of the holiday season. It usually features a chair for the actors to sit in surrounded by various holiday-themed decorations. In Canada, malls operated by Oxford Properties established a process by which autistic children could "visit Santa Claus" at the mall without having to contend with crowds.[68] The malls open early to allow entry only to families with autistic children, who have a private visit with the actor portraying Santa Claus. In 2012, the Southcentre Mall in Calgary was the first mall to offer this service.[69]

In the United Kingdom, discount store Poundland changes the voice of its self-service checkouts to that of Santa Claus throughout the Christmas retail period.[70]

There are schools offering instruction on how to act as Santa Claus. For example, children's television producer Jonathan Meath studied at the International School of Santa Claus and earned the degree Master of Santa Claus in 2006. It blossomed into a second career for him, and after appearing in parades and malls,[71] he appeared on the cover of the American monthly Boston Magazine as Santa.[72] There are associations with members who portray Santa; for example, Mr. Meath was a board member of the international organization called Fraternal Order of Real Bearded Santas.[73]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many Santa grottos were not operating for the 2020 Christmas season. Due to this, some companies offered video calls for a fee using apps such as Zoom where children could speak to an actor who was dressed as Santa Claus.[74]

In 2021, Walt Disney World and Disneyland featured for the first time Black cast members portraying Santa.[75]

Letter writing

"Letters to Santa" redirects here. For the Muppet television film, see A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa. For the Polish film, see Letters to Santa (film).

Children sometimes write letters to Santa Claus, often with a wish list of presents that they wish to receive.[76][77] Some postal services recognize this tradition, and may accept letters addressed to "Santa Claus".[78] Writing letters to Santa Claus has the educational benefits of promoting literacy, computer literacy, and e-mail literacy. A letter to Santa is often a child's first experience of correspondence. Written and sent with the help of a parent or teacher, children learn about the structure of a letter, salutations, and the use of an address and postcode.[79]

According to the Universal Postal Union (UPU)'s 2007 study and survey of national postal operations, the United States Postal Service (USPS) has the oldest Santa letter answering effort by a national postal system. The USPS Santa letter answering effort started in 1912 out of the historic James Farley Post Office[80] in New York, and since 1940 has been called "Operation Santa" to ensure that letters to Santa are adopted by charitable organizations, major corporations, local businesses and individuals in order to fulfill the wishes of children.[78] Those seeking a North Pole holiday postmark through the USPS, are told to send their letter from Santa or a holiday greeting card by 10 December to: North Pole Holiday Postmark, Postmaster, 4141 Postmark Dr, Anchorage, AK 99530–9998.[81]

In 2006, according to the UPU's 2007 study and survey of national postal operations, France's Postal Service received the most letters for Santa Claus or "Père Noël" with 1,220,000 letters received from 126 countries.[82] France's Postal Service in 2007 specially recruited someone to answer the enormous volume of mail that was coming from Russia for Santa Claus.[78]

Other Santa letter processing information, according to the UPU's 2007 study and survey of national postal operations, include:[78]

  • Countries whose national postal operators answer letters to Santa and other end-of-year holiday figures, and the number of letters received in 2006: Germany (500,000), Australia (117,000), Austria (6,000), Bulgaria (500), Canada (1,060,000), Spain (232,000), United States (no figure, as statistics are not kept centrally), Finland (750,000), France (1,220,000), Ireland (100,000), New Zealand (110,000), Portugal (255,000), Poland (3,000), Slovakia (85,000), Sweden (150,000), Switzerland (17,863), Ukraine (5,019), United Kingdom (750,000).
  • In 2006, Finland's national postal operation received letters from 150 countries (representing 90% of the letters received), France's Postal Service from 126 countries, Germany from 80 countries, and Slovakia from 20 countries.
  • In 2007, Canada Post replied to letters in 26 languages and Deutsche Post in 16 languages.
  • Some national postal operators make it possible to send in e-mail messages which are answered by physical mail. All the same, Santa still receives far more letters than e-mail through the national postal operators, proving that children still write letters. National postal operators offering the ability to use an on-line web form (with or without a return e-mail address) to Santa and obtain a reply include Canada Post[83] (on-line web request form in English and French), France's Postal Service (on-line web request form in French),[84][85] and New Zealand Post[86] (on-line web request form in English).[87] In France, by 6 December 2010, a team of 60 postal elves had sent out reply cards in response to 80,000 e-mail on-line request forms and more than 500,000 physical letters.[79]

From 2002 to 2014, Canada Post replied to approximately "one million letters or more a year, and in total answered more than 24.7 million letters";[88] as of 2015, it responds to more than 1.5 million letters per year, "in over 30 languages, including Braille answering them all in the language they are written".[89] The tradition also exists in Great Britain[90] and Finland.[79]

In Latin America, letters are sometimes tied to balloons instead of being sent through the mail.[91]

An example of a public and private cooperative venture is the opportunity for expatriate and local children and parents to receive postmarked mail and greeting cards from Santa during December in the Finnish Embassy in Beijing, People's Republic of China,[92] Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi, Finland, and the People's Republic of China Postal System's Beijing International Post Office.[93][94][95]

Tracking

 
The Christmas issue of NOAA's Weather Bureau Topics with "Santa Claus" streaking across a weather radar screen, 1958

A number of websites have been created by various organizations that have claimed to track Santa Claus' yearly journey. Some, such as NORAD Tracks Santa, the Google Santa Tracker, the emailSanta.com Tracker[96] and the Santa Update Project, have endured. Others, such as the Airservices Australia Tracks Santa Project,[97][98][99] the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport's Tracks Santa Project,[100][101][102] the NASA Tracks Santa Project,[103] and the Bing Maps Platform Tracks Santa Project,[104][105] have not.

 
1955 Sears ad with the misprinted telephone number that led to the creation of the NORAD Tracks Santa program

NORAD Tracks Santa originated in 1955 when a Sears-Roebuck ad incorrectly printed the number for their Santa hotline and the Continental Air Defense Command received the calls intended for the Sears hotline. The program was transferred to NORAD when it was jointly founded by the United States and Canada in 1958.[106][107]

In December 2000, the Weather Channel built upon these local efforts to provide a national Christmas Eve "Santa tracking" effort, called "SantaWatch", in cooperation with NASA, the International Space Station, and Silicon Valley-based new multimedia firm Dreamtime Holdings.[108] Currently, most local television stations in the United States and Canada rely upon outside established "Santa tracking" efforts, such as NORAD Tracks Santa.[109]

In addition to providing holiday-themed entertainment, "Santa tracking" websites raise interest in space technology and exploration,[110] serve to educate children in geography[111] and encourage them to take an interest in science.[112] Many websites exist that claim to track Santa and his workshop. One particular website called emailSanta.com was created when a 1997 Canada Post strike prevented Alan Kerr's young niece and nephews from sending their letters to Santa; in a few weeks, over 1,000 emails to Santa were received, and the site had received 1,000 emails a day one year later.[113][114] Some websites, such as Santa's page on Microsoft's former Windows Live Spaces or emailSanta.com, have used or still use "bots" or other automated programs to compose and send personalized and realistic replies.[115][116] Microsoft's website has given occasional profane results.[117][118]

Criticism

See also: Christmas controversies

Opposition from some Christian denominations

Santa Claus has partial Christian roots in Saint Nicholas, particularly in the high church denominations that practice the veneration of him, in addition to other saints. In light of this, the character has sometimes been the focus of controversy over the holiday and its meanings. A number of denominations of Christians have varying concerns about Santa Claus, which range from acceptance to denouncement.[119][120] Some Christians, particularly Calvinists such as the Puritans, disliked the idea of Santa Claus, as well as Christmas in general, believing that the lavish celebrations were not in accordance with their faith.[121] Other nonconformist Christians condemn the materialist focus of contemporary gift giving and see Santa Claus as the symbol of that culture.[122]

Condemnation of Christmas was prevalent among the 17th-century English Puritans and Dutch Calvinists. The American colonies established by these groups reflected this view. Tolerance for Christmas increased after the Restoration, although Puritan attitudes toward the holiday remained unfavorable.[123] In the Dutch New Netherland colony, season celebrations focused on New Year's Day.

 
Excerpt from Josiah King's The Examination and Tryal of Father Christmas (1686), published shortly after Christmas was reinstated as a holy day in England

Following the Restoration of the monarchy and with Puritans out of power in England,[124] the ban on Christmas was satirized in works such as Josiah King's The Examination and Tryal of Old Father Christmas; Together with his Clearing by the Jury (1686).[125]

Reverend Paul Nedergaard, a clergyman in Copenhagen, Denmark, attracted controversy in 1958 when he declared Santa to be a "heathen goblin" ("en hedensk trold" in Danish) after Santa's image was used on the annual Christmas stamp ("julemærke") for a Danish children's welfare organization.[126]

Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Christian Science movement, wrote: "the children should not be taught that Santa Claus has aught to do with this [Christmas] pastime. A deceit or falsehood is never wise. Too much cannot be done towards guarding and guiding well the germinating and inclining thought of childhood. To mould aright the first impressions of innocence, aids in perpetuating purity and in unfolding the immortal model, man in His image and likeness."[127]

Opposition under state atheism

Under the Marxist–Leninist doctrine of state atheism in the Soviet Union after its foundation in 1917, Christmas celebrations—along with other religious holidays—were prohibited as a result of the Soviet antireligious campaign.[128][129] The League of Militant Atheists encouraged school pupils to campaign against Christmas traditions, among them being Santa Claus and the Christmas tree, as well as other Christian holidays including Easter; the League established an antireligious holiday to be the 31st of each month as a replacement.[130][131]

In December 2018, the city management office of Langfang in Hebei province released a statement stating that people caught selling Christmas trees, wreaths, stockings or Santa Claus figures in the city would be punished.[132]

Symbol of commercialism

 
Santa Claus, Sydney, 1933

In his 2005 book Nicholas: The Epic Journey from Saint to Santa Claus, writer Jeremy Seal describes how the commercialization of the Santa Claus figure began in the 19th century. "In the 1820s he began to acquire the recognizable trappings: reindeer, sleigh, bells," said Seal in an interview.[133] "They are simply the actual bearings in the world from which he emerged. At that time, sleighs were how you got about Manhattan."

Writing in Mothering, writer Carol Jean-Swanson makes similar points, noting that the original figure of St. Nicholas gave only to those who were needy and that today Santa Claus seems to be more about conspicuous consumption:

Our jolly old Saint Nicholas reflects our culture to a T, for he is fanciful, exuberant, bountiful, over-weight, and highly commercial. He also mirrors some of our highest ideals: childhood purity and innocence, selfless giving, unfaltering love, justice, and mercy. (What child has ever received a coal for Christmas?) The problem is that, in the process, he has become burdened with some of society's greatest challenges: materialism, corporate greed, and domination by the media. Here, Santa carries more in his baggage than toys alone![134]

In the Czech Republic, a group of advertising professionals started a website against Santa Claus, a relatively recent phenomenon in that country.[135] "Czech Christmases are intimate and magical. All that Santa stuff seems to me like cheap show business," said David König of the Creative Copywriters Club, pointing out that it is primarily an American and British tradition. "I'm not against Santa himself. I'm against Santa in my country only." In the Czech tradition, presents are delivered by Ježíšek, which translates as Baby Jesus.

In the United Kingdom, Father Christmas was historically depicted wearing a green cloak.[citation needed] As Father Christmas has been increasingly merged into the image of Santa Claus, that has been changed to the more commonly known red suit.[136] Santa had been portrayed in a red suit in the 19th century by Thomas Nast among others.[137]

A law in the U.S. state of Ohio prohibits the usage of Santa Claus or his image to sell alcoholic beverages. The law came to attention when the beer brand Bud Light attempted to use its mascot Spuds MacKenzie in a Santa Claus outfit during a December 1987 ad campaign; Bud Light was forced to stop using the imagery.[138]

Debates on representation to children

See also: Paternalistic deception
 
Parent-initiated activities, like visiting a Santa actor at a shopping center, promote belief in Santa Claus by young children.[139]

Psychologists generally differentiate between telling fictional stories that feature Santa Claus and actively deceiving a child into believing that Santa Claus is real. Imaginative play, in which children know that Santa Claus is only a character in a story, but pretend that he is real, just like they pretend that superheroes or other fictional characters are real, is valuable. Actively deceiving a child into believing in Santa Claus's real-world existence, sometimes even to the extent of fabricating false evidence to convince them despite their growing natural doubts, does not result in imaginative play and can promote credulity in the face of strong evidence against Santa Claus's existence.[140][141] Children will eventually know that their parents deceived them.[142]

Various psychologists and researchers have wrestled with the ways that young children are convinced of the existence of Santa Claus, and have wondered whether children's abilities to critically weigh real-world evidence may be undermined by their belief in this or other imaginary figures. For example, psychology professor Jacqueline Woolley helped conduct a study that found, to the contrary, that children seemed competent in their use of logic, evidence, and comparative reasoning even though they might conclude that Santa Claus or other fanciful creatures were real:

The adults they count on to provide reliable information about the world introduce them to Santa. Then his existence is affirmed by friends, books, TV and movies. It is also validated by hard evidence: the half-eaten cookies and empty milk glasses by the tree on Christmas morning. In other words, children do a great job of scientifically evaluating Santa.[143]

— Jacqueline Woolley

Woolley posited that it is perhaps "kinship with the adult world" that causes children not to be angry that they were lied to for so long.[143] In one study, it was found that children did not trust their parents less and adults did not recall an increase in lack of trust. [144] Austin Cline argued the problem is not with length, but with a complicated series of very large lies.[145]

Typical objections to presenting Santa Claus as a literally real person, rather than a story, include:

With no greater good than having some fun, some have charged that the deception is more about the parents, their short-term happiness in seeing children excited about Santa Claus, and their nostalgic willingness to prolong the age of magical thinking, than it is about the children.[141] Philosopher David Kyle Johnson wrote, "It's a lie, it degrades your parental trustworthiness, it encourages credulity, it does not encourage imagination, and it's equivalent to bribing your kids for good behavior."[147]

Others see little harm in the belief in Santa Claus. Psychologist Tamar Murachver said that because it is a cultural, not parental, lie, it does not usually undermine parental trust.[148] The New Zealand Skeptics also see no harm in parents telling their children that Santa is real. Spokesperson Vicki Hyde said, "It would be a hard-hearted parent indeed who frowned upon the innocent joys of our children's cultural heritage. We save our bah humbugs for the things that exploit the vulnerable."[148]

Most children do not remain angry or embarrassed about the deception for very long.[144][149] They are most likely to have a positive feeling about it if they are able to figure it out logically (e.g., by realizing the impossibility of one person visiting every home in a single night) and gradually.[144][149] According to psychologist John Condry, "The most common response to finding out the truth was that they felt older and more mature. They now knew something that the younger kids did not".[149] In other studies, a small fraction of children felt betrayed by their parents, but disappointment was a more common response.[141] Some children have reacted strongly, including rejecting the family's religious beliefs on the grounds that if the parents lied about the existence of Santa Claus, then they might lie about the existence of God as well.[141] One study found long-term negative reactions in about one out of every 16 people.[144]

Age-appropriate behavior

Babies and toddlers do not understand the concept of a fictional character, but most children become developmentally able to "believe in" Santa Claus around age three or four.[150][139] The prevalence of belief in Santa Claus is high at age five, and declines precipitously when children are seven or eight years old.[151][152][153][154] Although the age at disillusionment has been fairly stable for decades – in 1978, 85% of American five year olds believed that Santa was real, but only 25% of eight year olds still did – it may be getting slightly lower over time.[155]

See also

Related figures

  • Amu Nowruz
  • Ayaz Ata — Grandfather Frost in Turkic folklore
  • Badalisc
  • Befana — a friendly witch who delivers gifts to children on 5 January.
  • Belsnickel — a German gift-giver and punisher of naughty children, a.k.a. Kriskringle
  • Companions of Saint Nicholas
  • Ded Moroz — (Father Frost, Russian: Дед Мороз) plays a role similar to Santa Claus
  • Joulupukki — original Santa-Claus from Finland
  • Krampus — in German-speaking Alpine folklore, a horned figure who, during the Christmas season, punishes children who have misbehaved
  • Mikulás — Hungary, Poland, Romania Slovenia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, a figure who brings treats before Christmas
  • Moș Gerilă — name of a character from Romanian communist propaganda
  • Olentzero — Basque character, possibly derived from Roman traditions
  • Saint Nicholas of Myra
  • Saint Basil —who is believed to bring Christmas gifts for children in Greek Orthodox tradition
  • Sinterklaas — Dutch mythical figure
  • The Three Kings — in Spain tradition, gifts for children are brought by the biblical three wise men on 6 January.
  • Tomte — Scandinavian mythical character
  • Yule Goat — Scandinavian Christmas symbol
  • Yule Lads — a group of Icelandic figures who may leave gifts or rotting potatoes in the days before Christmas

Other

References

Citations

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General and cited references

  • Belk, Russell. 1989. "Materialism with the modern U.S. Christmas 1 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine". In Interpretive Consumer Research, ed. by Elizabeth C. Hirschman, Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research, 75–104.
  • Bowler, Gerry, Editor (2004). The World Encyclopedia of Christmas 28 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Limited. ISBN 978-0-7710-1535-9 (0-7710-1535-6)
  • Bowler, Gerry, (2007). Santa Claus: A Biography 28 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Limited. ISBN 978-0-7710-1668-4 (0-7710-1668-9)
  • Crump, William D. Editor (2006). The Christmas Encyclopedia, 2nd edition 9 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, ISBN 978-0-7864-2293-7
  • Nissenbaum, Stephen (1997). The Battle for Christmas 6 October 2021 at the Wayback Machine, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, ISBN 978-0-679-74038-4 (0-679-74038-4)

Further reading

  • Joffe-Walt, Chana (19 December 2012). "Without Magic, Santa Would Need 12 Million Employees". All Things Considered. NPR. Retrieved 20 December 2012.

External links

  • An article on the History of Santa Claus from the St. Nicholas Center
  • The History of Santa Claus and Father Christmas
  • "The Knickerbockers Rescue Santa Claus: 'Claas Schlaschenschlinger' from James Kirke Paulding's The Book of Saint Nicholas" (1836)
  • NORAD Tracks Santa
  • emailSanta.com Tracker

December 18, 2023
santa, claus, santa, redirects, here, other, uses, disambiguation, santa, disambiguation, also, known, father, christmas, saint, nicholas, saint, nick, kris, kringle, simply, santa, legendary, figure, originating, western, christian, culture, said, bring, gift. Santa redirects here For other uses see Santa Claus disambiguation and Santa disambiguation Santa Claus also known as Father Christmas Saint Nicholas Saint Nick Kris Kringle or simply Santa is a legendary figure 1 originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Christmas Eve He is said to accomplish this with the aid of Christmas elves who make the toys in his North Pole workshop and with the aid of flying reindeer who pull his sleigh through the air 2 3 Santa ClausSanta Claus portrayed by Jonathan Meath in 2010Other namesSaint NicholasSaint NickKris KringleKnown forDelivering gifts to children at ChristmasSpouseMrs ClausThe modern figure of Santa is based on folklore traditions surrounding Saint Nicholas the English figure of Father Christmas and the Dutch figure of Sinterklaas Santa is generally depicted as a portly jolly white bearded man often with spectacles wearing a red coat with white fur collar and cuffs white fur cuffed red trousers a red hat trimmed with white fur a black leather belt and boots carrying a bag full of gifts for children He is popularly associated with a deep hearty laugh frequently rendered in Christmas literature as ho ho ho ˈ h oʊ ˈ h oʊ ˈ h oʊ This image originated in North America during the 19th century and has been maintained and reinforced through song radio television children s books family Christmas traditions films and advertising Contents 1 Predecessor figures 1 1 Saint Nicholas 1 2 Father Christmas 1 3 Dutch Belgian and Swiss folklore 1 4 Germanic paganism Wodan and Christianization 2 History 2 1 Origins 2 2 19th century 2 3 20th century 3 In popular culture 4 Traditions and rituals 4 1 Chimneys 4 2 Christmas Eve 4 3 Appearance 4 4 Ho ho ho 4 5 Home 4 6 Parades department stores and shopping malls 4 7 Letter writing 4 8 Tracking 5 Criticism 5 1 Opposition from some Christian denominations 5 2 Opposition under state atheism 5 3 Symbol of commercialism 5 4 Debates on representation to children 5 4 1 Age appropriate behavior 6 See also 6 1 Related figures 6 2 Other 7 References 7 1 Citations 7 2 General and cited references 8 Further reading 9 External linksPredecessor figures nbsp A 13th century depiction of St Nicholas from Saint Catherine s Monastery SinaiSaint Nicholas Main article Saint Nicholas Saint Nicholas was a 4th century Greek Christian bishop of Myra now Demre in the region of Lycia in the Roman Empire today in Turkey Nicholas was known 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 4 He was very religious from an early age and devoted his life entirely to Christianity In continental Europe more precisely the Netherlands Belgium Austria the Czech Republic and Germany he is usually portrayed as a bearded bishop in canonical robes In 1087 while the Greek Christian inhabitants of Myra were subjugated by the newly arrived Muslim Seljuq dynasty and soon after their Greek Orthodox church had been declared to be in schism by the Catholic church 1054 AD a group of merchants from the Italian city of Bari removed the major bones of Nicholas s skeleton from his sarcophagus in the Greek church in Myra Over the objection of the monks of Myra the sailors took the bones of St Nicholas to Bari where they are now enshrined in the Basilica di San Nicola Sailors from Bari collected just half of Nicholas skeleton leaving all the minor fragments in the church sarcophagus These were later taken by Venetian sailors during the First Crusade and placed in Venice where a church to St Nicholas the patron of sailors was built on the San Nicolo al Lido St Nicholas vandalized sarcophagus can still be seen in the St Nicholas Church in Myra This tradition was confirmed in two important scientific investigations of the relics in Bari and Venice which revealed that the relics in the two Italian cities belong to the same skeleton Saint Nicholas was later claimed as a patron saint of many diverse groups from archers sailors and children to pawnbrokers 4 5 He is also the patron saint of both Amsterdam and Moscow 6 During the Middle Ages often on the evening before his name day of 6 December children were bestowed gifts in his honour This date was earlier than the original day of gifts for the children which moved in the course of the Reformation and its opposition to the veneration of saints in many countries on 24 and 25 December The custom of gifting to children at Christmas was propagated by Martin Luther as an alternative to the previous very popular gift custom on St Nicholas to focus the interest of the children to Christ instead of the veneration of saints Martin Luther first suggested the Christkind as the bringer of gifts But Nicholas remained popular as gifts bearer for the people 7 8 Father Christmas nbsp Ghost of Christmas Present an illustration by John Leech made for Charles Dickens s festive A Christmas Carol 1843 Main article Father Christmas Father Christmas dates back as far as 16th century in England during the reign of Henry VIII when he was pictured as a large man in green or scarlet robes lined with fur 9 He typified the spirit of good cheer at Christmas bringing peace joy good food and wine and revelry 9 As England no longer kept the feast day of Saint Nicholas on 6 December the Father Christmas celebration was moved to 25 December to coincide with Christmas Day 9 The Victorian revival of Christmas included Father Christmas as the emblem of good cheer 10 His physical appearance was variable 11 with one image being John Leech s illustration of the Ghost of Christmas Present in Charles Dickens s festive story A Christmas Carol 1843 as a great genial man in a green coat lined with fur who takes Scrooge through the bustling streets of London on the current Christmas morning sprinkling the essence of Christmas onto the happy populace 9 10 Dutch Belgian and Swiss folklore nbsp Sinterklaas Netherlands 2009 on his horse called Amerigo nbsp 1850 illustration of Saint Nicolas with his servant Pere Fouettard Zwarte PietSee also Sinterklaas and Saint Nicholas In the Netherlands and Belgium the character of Santa Claus competes with that of Sinterklaas based on Saint Nicolas Santa Claus is known as de Kerstman in Dutch the Christmas man and Pere Noel Father Christmas in French For children in the Netherlands Sinterklaas remains the predominant gift giver in December 36 of the Dutch only give presents on Sinterklaas evening or the day itself 6 December 12 while Christmas 25 December is used by another 21 to give presents Some 26 of the Dutch population gives presents on both days 13 In Belgium presents are offered exclusively to children on 6 December and on Christmas Day all ages may receive presents Saint Nicolas Sinterklaas assistants are called Pieten in Dutch or Pere Fouettard in French so they are not elves 14 In Switzerland Pere Fouettard accompanies Pere Noel in the French speaking region while the sinister Schmutzli accompanies Samichlaus in the Swiss German region Schmutzli carries a twig broom to spank the naughty children 15 Germanic paganism Wodan and Christianization nbsp An 1886 depiction of the long bearded Norse god Odin by Georg von RosenPrior to Christianization the Germanic peoples including the English celebrated a midwinter event called Yule Old English geola or giuli 16 With the Christianization of Germanic Europe numerous traditions were absorbed from Yuletide celebrations into modern Christmas 17 such as the Wild Hunt frequently attested as being led by the god Odin Wodan bearing among many names the names Jolnir meaning Yule figure and Langbardr meaning long beard in Old Norse 18 Wodan s role during the Yuletide period has been theorized as having influenced concepts of St Nicholas and Santa Claus in a variety of facets including his long white beard and his gray horse for nightly rides compare Odin s horse Sleipnir or his reindeer in North American tradition 19 Folklorist Margaret Baker maintains that the appearance of Santa Claus or Father Christmas whose day is the 25th of December owes much to Odin the old blue hooded cloaked white bearded Giftbringer of the north who rode the midwinter sky on his eight footed steed Sleipnir visiting his people with gifts Odin transformed into Father Christmas then Santa Claus prospered with St Nicholas and the Christchild became a leading player on the Christmas stage 20 In northern Europe the Yule goat was an earlier bearer of gifts which has to some degree become conflated with Santa Claus for instance in the Finnish Joulupukki tradition 21 HistoryOrigins Early representations of the gift giver from Church history and folklore especially St Nicholas merged with the English character Father Christmas to create the mythical character known to the rest of the English speaking world as Santa Claus a phonetic derivation of Sinterklaas in Dutch In the English and later British colonies of North America and later in the United States British and Dutch versions of the gift giver merged further For example in Washington Irving s History of New York 1809 Sinterklaas was Anglicized into Santa Claus a name first used in the U S press in 1773 22 but lost his bishop s apparel and was at first pictured as a thick bellied Dutch sailor with a pipe in a green winter coat Irving s book was a parody of the Dutch culture of New York and much of this portrait is his joking invention 23 Irving s interpretation of Santa Claus was part of a broader movement to tone down the increasingly wild Christmas celebrations of the era which included aggressive home invasions under the guise of wassailing substantial premarital sex leading to shotgun weddings in areas where the Puritans waning in power and firmly opposed to Christmas still held some influence and public displays of sexual deviancy the celebrations of the era were derided by both upper class merchants and Christian purists 23 19th century nbsp Illustration to verse 1 of Old Santeclaus with Much Delight nbsp 1881 illustration by Thomas Nast who along with Clement Clarke Moore s 1823 poem A Visit from St Nicholas helped to create the modern image of Santa Claus nbsp Francis Pharcellus Church author of the famous 1897 The Sun editorial which responding to a letter from eight year old Virginia O Hanlon contains the line Yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus In 1821 the book A New year s present to the little ones from five to twelve was published in New York It contained Old Santeclaus with Much Delight an anonymous poem describing Santeclaus on a reindeer sleigh bringing rewards to children 24 Some modern ideas of Santa Claus seemingly became canon after the anonymous publication of the poem A Visit From St Nicholas better known today as The Night Before Christmas in the Troy New York Sentinel on 23 December 1823 Clement Clarke Moore later claimed authorship though some scholars argue that Henry Livingston Jr who died nine years before Moore s claim was the author 4 25 St Nick is described as being chubby and plump a right jolly old elf with a little round belly that shook when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly in spite of which the miniature sleigh and tiny reindeer still indicate that he is physically diminutive The reindeer were also 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 26 By 1845 Kris Kringle was a common variant of Santa in parts of the United States 27 A magazine article from 1853 describing American Christmas customs to British readers refers to children hanging up their stockings on Christmas Eve for a fabulous personage whose name varies in Pennsylvania he is usually called Krishkinkle but in New York he is St Nicholas or Santa Claus The author 28 quotes Moore s poem in its entirety saying that its descriptions apply to Krishkinkle too 29 As the years passed Santa Claus evolved into a large heavyset person One of the first artists to define Santa Claus s modern image was Thomas Nast an American cartoonist of the 19th century who immortalized Santa Claus with an illustration for the 3 January 1863 issue of Harper s Weekly in which Santa was dressed in an American flag and had a puppet with the name Jeff written on it reflecting its Civil War context In this drawing Santa is also in a sleigh pulled by reindeers citation needed The story that Santa Claus lives at the North Pole may also have been a Nast creation His Christmas image in the Harper s issue dated 29 December 1866 was a collage of engravings titled Santa Claus and His Works which included the caption Santa Claussville N P 30 A color collection of Nast s pictures published in 1869 had a poem also titled Santa Claus and His Works by George P Webster who wrote that Santa Claus s home was near the North Pole in the ice and snow 31 The tale had become well known by the 1870s A boy from Colorado writing to the children s magazine The Nursery in late 1874 said If we did not live so very far from the North Pole I should ask Santa Claus to bring me a donkey 32 The idea of a wife for Santa Claus may have been the creation of American authors beginning in the mid 19th century In 1889 the poet Katharine Lee Bates popularized Mrs Claus in the poem Goody Santa Claus on a Sleigh Ride Is There a Santa Claus is the title of an iconic editorial by Francis Pharcellus Church in the 21 September 1897 edition of The New York Sun that became the most reprinted in the U S and included the famous reply Yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus 33 34 In Russia Ded Moroz emerged as a Santa Claus figure around the late 19th century 35 where Christmas for the Eastern Orthodox Church is kept on 7 January 20th century nbsp A man dressed as Santa Claus fundraising for Volunteers of America on the sidewalk of street in Chicago Illinois in 1902 He is wearing a mask with a beard attached L Frank Baum s The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus a children s book was published in 1902 Much of Santa Claus s mythos was not firmly established at the time leaving Baum to give his Neclaus Necile s Little One a variety of immortal support a home in the Laughing Valley of Hohaho and ten reindeer who could not fly but leapt in enormous flight like bounds Claus s immortality was earned much like his title Santa decided by a vote of those naturally immortal This work also established Claus s motives a happy childhood among immortals When Ak Master Woodsman of the World exposes him to the misery and poverty of children in the outside world Santa strives to find a way to bring joy into the lives of all children and eventually invents toys as a principal means Santa later appears in The Road to Oz as an honored guest at Ozma s birthday party stated to be famous and beloved enough for everyone to bow even before he is announced as The most Mighty and Loyal Friend of Children His Supreme Highness Santa Claus nbsp Rose O Neill s illustration for the 1903 issue of PuckImages of Santa Claus were conveyed through Haddon Sundblom s depiction of him for The Coca Cola Company s Christmas advertising in the 1930s 4 36 The image spawned urban legends that Santa Claus was invented by The Coca Cola Company or that Santa wears red and white because they are the colors used to promote the Coca Cola brand 37 Coca Cola s competitor Pepsi Cola used similar Santa Claus paintings in its advertisements in the 1940s and 1950s Historically Coca Cola was not the first soft drink company to utilize the modern image of Santa Claus in its advertising White Rock Beverages had used a Santa figure in monochrome advertisements for mineral water in 1915 and in 1923 25 the same company used colour images of Santa Claus in adverts for drink mixers 38 Earlier Santa Claus had appeared dressed in red and white and essentially in his current form on several covers of Puck magazine in the first few years of the 20th century 39 nbsp Nick Tribuzio as Santa Claus in 1961 Kent Studio Hayward CA The image of Santa Claus as a benevolent character became reinforced with its association with charity and philanthropy particularly by organizations such as the Salvation Army Volunteers dressed as Santa Claus typically became part of fundraising drives to aid needy families at Christmas time In 1937 Charles W Howard who played Santa Claus in department stores and parades established the Charles W Howard Santa School the oldest continuously run such school in the world 40 In some images from the early 20th century Santa was depicted as personally making his toys by hand in a small workshop like a craftsman Eventually the idea emerged that he had numerous elves responsible for making the toys but the toys were still handmade by each individual elf working in the traditional manner The 1956 popular song by George Melachrino Mrs Santa Claus and the 1963 children s book How Mrs Santa Claus Saved Christmas by Phyllis McGinley helped standardize and establish the character and role of Mrs Claus in the US 41 Seabury Quinn s 1948 novel Roads draws from historical legends to tell the story of Santa and the origins of Christmas Other modern additions to the story of Santa include Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer the 9th and lead reindeer created in 1939 by Robert L May a Montgomery Ward copywriter and immortalized in a 1949 song by Gene Autry In popular culture nbsp Santa on the December 1905 cover of Puck magazine v 58 no 150See also Santa Claus in film and SantaCon Elves had been portrayed as using assembly lines to produce toys early in the 20th century That shift was reflected in the modern depiction of Santa s residence now often humorously portrayed as a fully mechanized production and distribution facility equipped with the latest manufacturing technology and overseen by the elves with Santa and Mrs Claus as executives or managers 42 In 1912 actor Leedham Bantock became the first actor to be identified as having played Santa Claus in a film Santa Claus which he also directed included scenes photographed in a limited two tone color process and featured the use of detailed models 43 Since then many feature films have featured Santa Claus as a protagonist including Miracle on 34th Street The Santa Clause and Elf In the cartoon base Santa has been voiced by several people including Mickey Rooney Jim Cummings Mel Smith Ricky Tomlinson Jim Belushi and Alec Baldwin Santa has been described as a positive male cultural icon Santa is really the only cultural icon we have who s male does not carry a gun and is all about peace joy giving and caring for other people That s part of the magic for me especially in a culture where we ve become so commercialized and hooked into manufactured icons Santa is much more organic integral connected to the past and therefore connected to the future TV producer Jonathan Meath who portrays Santa 2011 44 Norman Corwin s 1938 comic radio play The Plot to Overthrow Christmas set entirely in rhyme details a conspiracy of the Devil Mephistopheles and damned figures of history to defeat the good will among men of Christmas by sending the Roman emperor Nero to the North Pole to assassinate Santa Claus Through a battle of wits Santa saves himself by winning Nero over to the joys of Christmas and gives him a Stradivarius violin The play was re produced in 1940 and 1944 nbsp Santa Claus with reindeer at Hersheypark Hershey Pennsylvania 2021Many television commercials comic strips and other media depict this as a sort of humorous business with Santa s elves acting as a sometimes mischievously disgruntled workforce cracking jokes and pulling pranks on their boss For instance a Bloom County story from 15 December 1981 through 24 December 1981 has Santa rejecting the demands of PETCO Professional Elves Toy Making and Craft Organization for higher wages a hot tub in the locker room and Aggressive recruitment of a wider gender spectrum of employee short broads with the elves then going on strike President Reagan steps in fires all of Santa s helpers and replaces them with out of work air traffic controllers an obvious reference to the 1981 air traffic controllers strike resulting in a riot before Santa vindictively rehires them in humiliating new positions such as his reindeer 45 In the 2001 The Sopranos episode To Save Us All from Satan s Power Paulie Gualtieri says he Used to think Santa and Mrs Claus were running a sweatshop over there The original elves were ugly traveled with Santa to throw bad kids a beatin and gave the good ones toys nbsp 2009 Liverpool Santa DashIn Kyrgyzstan a mountain peak was named after Santa Claus after a Swedish company had suggested the location be a more efficient starting place for present delivering journeys all over the world than Lapland In the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek a Santa Claus Festival was held on 30 December 2007 with government officials attending 2008 was officially declared the Year of Santa Claus in the country The events are seen as moves to boost tourism in Kyrgyzstan 46 The Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of Santa Clauses is held by Thrissur Kerala India where on 27 December 2014 18 112 Santas overtook the previous record Derry City Northern Ireland had held the record since 9 September 2007 when a total of 12 965 people dressed up as Santa or Santa s helpers Prior to that the record was 3 921 which was set during the Santa Dash event in Liverpool City Centre in 2005 47 A gathering of Santas in 2009 in Bucharest Romania attempted to top the world record but failed with only 3 939 Santas 48 Santa Claus appears in a few video games 49 Traditions and ritualsChimneys nbsp The Feast of Saint Nicholas by Jan Steen c 1665 1668 The tradition of Santa Claus being said to enter dwellings through the chimney is shared by many European seasonal gift givers 50 In pre Christian Norse tradition Odin would often enter through chimneys and fire holes on the solstice citation needed In the Italian Befana tradition the gift giving witch is perpetually covered with soot from her trips down the chimneys of children s homes citation needed Christmas Eve nbsp A man dressed as Santa Claus waves to children from an annual holiday train in Chicago 2012 In the United States and Canada children may leave a glass of milk and a plate of cookies intended for Santa in Britain and Australia sherry or beer and mince pies are left instead In Denmark Norway and Sweden it is common for children to leave him rice porridge with sugar and cinnamon instead In Ireland it is popular to leave Guinness or milk along with Christmas pudding or mince pies In Hungary St Nicolaus Mikulas or Father Winter Telapo comes on the night of 5 December and the children get their gifts the next morning They get sweets in a bag if they were good and a golden colored birch switch if not On Christmas Eve Little Jesus comes and gives gifts for everyone 51 In Slovenia Saint Nicholas Miklavz also brings small gifts for good children on the eve of 6 December Bozicek Christmas Man brings gifts on the eve of 25 December and Dedek Mraz Grandfather Frost brings gifts in the evening of 31 December to be opened on New Years Day nbsp Hanging up stockings for Santa Claus in Worthington Ohio 1928After the children have fallen asleep parents play the role of Santa Claus and leave their gifts under the Christmas tree which may be signed as being from Santa Claus 52 53 54 nbsp A classic American image of Santa ClausAppearance Santa is generally depicted as a portly jolly white bearded man often with spectacles wearing a red outfit consisting of jacket trousers and hat all lined with white fur accessorized with black leather belt and boots and carrying a bag full of gifts for children The 1823 poem A Visit from St Nicholas popularized this image in North America during the 19th century Caricaturist and political cartoonist Thomas Nast also played a role in the creation of Santa s image 55 56 57 Though most often portrayed as white Santa is also depicted as black or of other races His race or color is sometimes a subject of controversy 58 59 Ho ho ho Ho ho ho redirects here For other uses see Ho ho ho disambiguation Ho ho ho is the way that many languages write out how Santa Claus laughs Ho ho ho Merry Christmas It is the textual rendition of a particular type of deep throated laugh or chuckle most associated today with Santa Claus and Father Christmas The laughter of Santa Claus has long been an important attribute by which the character is identified but it also does not appear in many non English speaking countries The traditional 1823 Christmas poem A Visit from St Nicholas relates that Santa has a little round bellyThat shook when he laugh d like a bowl full of jelly Home See also Santa s workshop Location nbsp The Santa Claus Village in Lapland nbsp Santa s House at Jerusalem Old City St Peter StreetSanta Claus s home is traditionally said to include a residence and a workshop where he is said to create often with the aid of elves or other supernatural beings the gifts he is said to deliver to good children at Christmas Some stories and legends include a village inhabited by his helpers surrounding his home and shop In North American tradition in the United States and Canada Santa is said to live at the North Pole which according to Canada Post lies within Canadian jurisdiction in postal code H0H 0H0 60 a reference to ho ho ho Santa s notable saying although postal codes starting with H are usually reserved for the island of Montreal in Quebec On 23 December 2008 Jason Kenney Canada s minister of Citizenship Immigration and Multiculturalism formally awarded Canadian citizenship status to Santa Claus The Government of Canada wishes Santa the very best in his Christmas Eve duties and wants to let him know that as a Canadian citizen he has the automatic right to re enter Canada once his trip around the world is complete Kenney said in an official statement 61 There is also a city named North Pole in Alaska where a tourist attraction known as the Santa Claus House has been established The United States Postal Service uses the city s ZIP code of 99705 as their advertised postal code for Santa Claus A Wendy s in North Pole AK has also claimed to have a sleigh fly through 62 Each Nordic country claims Santa s residence to be within their territory Norway claims he lives in Drobak In Denmark he is said to live in Greenland near Uummannaq In Sweden the town of Mora has a theme park named Tomteland The national postal terminal in Tomteboda in Stockholm receives children s letters for Santa In Finland Korvatunturi has long been known as Santa s home and two theme parks Santa Claus Village and Santa Park are located near Rovaniemi In Belarus there is a home of Ded Moroz in Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park 63 In France Santa is believed to reside in 1 Chemin des Nuages Pole Nord 1 Alley of Clouds North Pole The French national postal service has operated a service that allows children to send letters to Pere Noel since 1962 64 In the period before Christmas any physical letter in the country that is addressed to Santa Claus is sent to a specific location where responses for the children s letters are written and sent back to the children 65 Parades department stores and shopping malls See also Santa s workshop Santa Claus grottos and department stores nbsp Eaton s Santa Claus Parade 1918 Toronto Canada Having arrived at the Eaton s department store Santa is readying his ladder to climb up onto the building nbsp Representation of Santa Claus in ItalyActors portraying Santa Claus are present at various venues in the weeks leading up to Christmas The practice of this has been credited dubious discuss to James Edgar as he started doing this in 1890 in his Brockton Massachusetts department store 66 Having a Santa actor set up to take pictures with children is a ritual that dates back at least to 1918 67 An area is often set aside for the actors portraying Santa to use for the duration of the holiday season It usually features a chair for the actors to sit in surrounded by various holiday themed decorations In Canada malls operated by Oxford Properties established a process by which autistic children could visit Santa Claus at the mall without having to contend with crowds 68 The malls open early to allow entry only to families with autistic children who have a private visit with the actor portraying Santa Claus In 2012 the Southcentre Mall in Calgary was the first mall to offer this service 69 In the United Kingdom discount store Poundland changes the voice of its self service checkouts to that of Santa Claus throughout the Christmas retail period 70 There are schools offering instruction on how to act as Santa Claus For example children s television producer Jonathan Meath studied at the International School of Santa Claus and earned the degree Master of Santa Claus in 2006 It blossomed into a second career for him and after appearing in parades and malls 71 he appeared on the cover of the American monthly Boston Magazine as Santa 72 There are associations with members who portray Santa for example Mr Meath was a board member of the international organization called Fraternal Order of Real Bearded Santas 73 Due to the COVID 19 pandemic many Santa grottos were not operating for the 2020 Christmas season Due to this some companies offered video calls for a fee using apps such as Zoom where children could speak to an actor who was dressed as Santa Claus 74 In 2021 Walt Disney World and Disneyland featured for the first time Black cast members portraying Santa 75 Letter writing Letters to Santa redirects here For the Muppet television film see A Muppets Christmas Letters to Santa For the Polish film see Letters to Santa film Children sometimes write letters to Santa Claus often with a wish list of presents that they wish to receive 76 77 Some postal services recognize this tradition and may accept letters addressed to Santa Claus 78 Writing letters to Santa Claus has the educational benefits of promoting literacy computer literacy and e mail literacy A letter to Santa is often a child s first experience of correspondence Written and sent with the help of a parent or teacher children learn about the structure of a letter salutations and the use of an address and postcode 79 According to the Universal Postal Union UPU s 2007 study and survey of national postal operations the United States Postal Service USPS has the oldest Santa letter answering effort by a national postal system The USPS Santa letter answering effort started in 1912 out of the historic James Farley Post Office 80 in New York and since 1940 has been called Operation Santa to ensure that letters to Santa are adopted by charitable organizations major corporations local businesses and individuals in order to fulfill the wishes of children 78 Those seeking a North Pole holiday postmark through the USPS are told to send their letter from Santa or a holiday greeting card by 10 December to North Pole Holiday Postmark Postmaster 4141 Postmark Dr Anchorage AK 99530 9998 81 In 2006 according to the UPU s 2007 study and survey of national postal operations France s Postal Service received the most letters for Santa Claus or Pere Noel with 1 220 000 letters received from 126 countries 82 France s Postal Service in 2007 specially recruited someone to answer the enormous volume of mail that was coming from Russia for Santa Claus 78 Other Santa letter processing information according to the UPU s 2007 study and survey of national postal operations include 78 Countries whose national postal operators answer letters to Santa and other end of year holiday figures and the number of letters received in 2006 Germany 500 000 Australia 117 000 Austria 6 000 Bulgaria 500 Canada 1 060 000 Spain 232 000 United States no figure as statistics are not kept centrally Finland 750 000 France 1 220 000 Ireland 100 000 New Zealand 110 000 Portugal 255 000 Poland 3 000 Slovakia 85 000 Sweden 150 000 Switzerland 17 863 Ukraine 5 019 United Kingdom 750 000 In 2006 Finland s national postal operation received letters from 150 countries representing 90 of the letters received France s Postal Service from 126 countries Germany from 80 countries and Slovakia from 20 countries In 2007 Canada Post replied to letters in 26 languages and Deutsche Post in 16 languages Some national postal operators make it possible to send in e mail messages which are answered by physical mail All the same Santa still receives far more letters than e mail through the national postal operators proving that children still write letters National postal operators offering the ability to use an on line web form with or without a return e mail address to Santa and obtain a reply include Canada Post 83 on line web request form in English and French France s Postal Service on line web request form in French 84 85 and New Zealand Post 86 on line web request form in English 87 In France by 6 December 2010 a team of 60 postal elves had sent out reply cards in response to 80 000 e mail on line request forms and more than 500 000 physical letters 79 From 2002 to 2014 Canada Post replied to approximately one million letters or more a year and in total answered more than 24 7 million letters 88 as of 2015 it responds to more than 1 5 million letters per year in over 30 languages including Braille answering them all in the language they are written 89 The tradition also exists in Great Britain 90 and Finland 79 In Latin America letters are sometimes tied to balloons instead of being sent through the mail 91 An example of a public and private cooperative venture is the opportunity for expatriate and local children and parents to receive postmarked mail and greeting cards from Santa during December in the Finnish Embassy in Beijing People s Republic of China 92 Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi Finland and the People s Republic of China Postal System s Beijing International Post Office 93 94 95 Tracking nbsp The Christmas issue of NOAA s Weather Bureau Topics with Santa Claus streaking across a weather radar screen 1958A number of websites have been created by various organizations that have claimed to track Santa Claus yearly journey Some such as NORAD Tracks Santa the Google Santa Tracker the emailSanta com Tracker 96 and the Santa Update Project have endured Others such as the Airservices Australia Tracks Santa Project 97 98 99 the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport s Tracks Santa Project 100 101 102 the NASA Tracks Santa Project 103 and the Bing Maps Platform Tracks Santa Project 104 105 have not nbsp 1955 Sears ad with the misprinted telephone number that led to the creation of the NORAD Tracks Santa programNORAD Tracks Santa originated in 1955 when a Sears Roebuck ad incorrectly printed the number for their Santa hotline and the Continental Air Defense Command received the calls intended for the Sears hotline The program was transferred to NORAD when it was jointly founded by the United States and Canada in 1958 106 107 In December 2000 the Weather Channel built upon these local efforts to provide a national Christmas Eve Santa tracking effort called SantaWatch in cooperation with NASA the International Space Station and Silicon Valley based new multimedia firm Dreamtime Holdings 108 Currently most local television stations in the United States and Canada rely upon outside established Santa tracking efforts such as NORAD Tracks Santa 109 In addition to providing holiday themed entertainment Santa tracking websites raise interest in space technology and exploration 110 serve to educate children in geography 111 and encourage them to take an interest in science 112 Many websites exist that claim to track Santa and his workshop One particular website called emailSanta com was created when a 1997 Canada Post strike prevented Alan Kerr s young niece and nephews from sending their letters to Santa in a few weeks over 1 000 emails to Santa were received and the site had received 1 000 emails a day one year later 113 114 Some websites such as Santa s page on Microsoft s former Windows Live Spaces or emailSanta com have used or still use bots or other automated programs to compose and send personalized and realistic replies 115 116 Microsoft s website has given occasional profane results 117 118 CriticismSee also Christmas controversies Opposition from some Christian denominations Santa Claus has partial Christian roots in Saint Nicholas particularly in the high church denominations that practice the veneration of him in addition to other saints In light of this the character has sometimes been the focus of controversy over the holiday and its meanings A number of denominations of Christians have varying concerns about Santa Claus which range from acceptance to denouncement 119 120 Some Christians particularly Calvinists such as the Puritans disliked the idea of Santa Claus as well as Christmas in general believing that the lavish celebrations were not in accordance with their faith 121 Other nonconformist Christians condemn the materialist focus of contemporary gift giving and see Santa Claus as the symbol of that culture 122 Condemnation of Christmas was prevalent among the 17th century English Puritans and Dutch Calvinists The American colonies established by these groups reflected this view Tolerance for Christmas increased after the Restoration although Puritan attitudes toward the holiday remained unfavorable 123 In the Dutch New Netherland colony season celebrations focused on New Year s Day nbsp Excerpt from Josiah King s The Examination and Tryal of Father Christmas 1686 published shortly after Christmas was reinstated as a holy day in EnglandFollowing the Restoration of the monarchy and with Puritans out of power in England 124 the ban on Christmas was satirized in works such as Josiah King s The Examination and Tryal of Old Father Christmas Together with his Clearing by the Jury 1686 125 Reverend Paul Nedergaard a clergyman in Copenhagen Denmark attracted controversy in 1958 when he declared Santa to be a heathen goblin en hedensk trold in Danish after Santa s image was used on the annual Christmas stamp julemaerke for a Danish children s welfare organization 126 Mary Baker Eddy the founder of the Christian Science movement wrote the children should not be taught that Santa Claus has aught to do with this Christmas pastime A deceit or falsehood is never wise Too much cannot be done towards guarding and guiding well the germinating and inclining thought of childhood To mould aright the first impressions of innocence aids in perpetuating purity and in unfolding the immortal model man in His image and likeness 127 Opposition under state atheism Under the Marxist Leninist doctrine of state atheism in the Soviet Union after its foundation in 1917 Christmas celebrations along with other religious holidays were prohibited as a result of the Soviet antireligious campaign 128 129 The League of Militant Atheists encouraged school pupils to campaign against Christmas traditions among them being Santa Claus and the Christmas tree as well as other Christian holidays including Easter the League established an antireligious holiday to be the 31st of each month as a replacement 130 131 In December 2018 the city management office of Langfang in Hebei province released a statement stating that people caught selling Christmas trees wreaths stockings or Santa Claus figures in the city would be punished 132 Symbol of commercialism nbsp Santa Claus Sydney 1933In his 2005 book Nicholas The Epic Journey from Saint to Santa Claus writer Jeremy Seal describes how the commercialization of the Santa Claus figure began in the 19th century In the 1820s he began to acquire the recognizable trappings reindeer sleigh bells said Seal in an interview 133 They are simply the actual bearings in the world from which he emerged At that time sleighs were how you got about Manhattan Writing in Mothering writer Carol Jean Swanson makes similar points noting that the original figure of St Nicholas gave only to those who were needy and that today Santa Claus seems to be more about conspicuous consumption Our jolly old Saint Nicholas reflects our culture to a T for he is fanciful exuberant bountiful over weight and highly commercial He also mirrors some of our highest ideals childhood purity and innocence selfless giving unfaltering love justice and mercy What child has ever received a coal for Christmas The problem is that in the process he has become burdened with some of society s greatest challenges materialism corporate greed and domination by the media Here Santa carries more in his baggage than toys alone 134 In the Czech Republic a group of advertising professionals started a website against Santa Claus a relatively recent phenomenon in that country 135 Czech Christmases are intimate and magical All that Santa stuff seems to me like cheap show business said David Konig of the Creative Copywriters Club pointing out that it is primarily an American and British tradition I m not against Santa himself I m against Santa in my country only In the Czech tradition presents are delivered by Jezisek which translates as Baby Jesus In the United Kingdom Father Christmas was historically depicted wearing a green cloak citation needed As Father Christmas has been increasingly merged into the image of Santa Claus that has been changed to the more commonly known red suit 136 Santa had been portrayed in a red suit in the 19th century by Thomas Nast among others 137 A law in the U S state of Ohio prohibits the usage of Santa Claus or his image to sell alcoholic beverages The law came to attention when the beer brand Bud Light attempted to use its mascot Spuds MacKenzie in a Santa Claus outfit during a December 1987 ad campaign Bud Light was forced to stop using the imagery 138 Debates on representation to children See also Paternalistic deception nbsp Parent initiated activities like visiting a Santa actor at a shopping center promote belief in Santa Claus by young children 139 Psychologists generally differentiate between telling fictional stories that feature Santa Claus and actively deceiving a child into believing that Santa Claus is real Imaginative play in which children know that Santa Claus is only a character in a story but pretend that he is real just like they pretend that superheroes or other fictional characters are real is valuable Actively deceiving a child into believing in Santa Claus s real world existence sometimes even to the extent of fabricating false evidence to convince them despite their growing natural doubts does not result in imaginative play and can promote credulity in the face of strong evidence against Santa Claus s existence 140 141 Children will eventually know that their parents deceived them 142 Various psychologists and researchers have wrestled with the ways that young children are convinced of the existence of Santa Claus and have wondered whether children s abilities to critically weigh real world evidence may be undermined by their belief in this or other imaginary figures For example psychology professor Jacqueline Woolley helped conduct a study that found to the contrary that children seemed competent in their use of logic evidence and comparative reasoning even though they might conclude that Santa Claus or other fanciful creatures were real The adults they count on to provide reliable information about the world introduce them to Santa Then his existence is affirmed by friends books TV and movies It is also validated by hard evidence the half eaten cookies and empty milk glasses by the tree on Christmas morning In other words children do a great job of scientifically evaluating Santa 143 Jacqueline Woolley Woolley posited that it is perhaps kinship with the adult world that causes children not to be angry that they were lied to for so long 143 In one study it was found that children did not trust their parents less and adults did not recall an increase in lack of trust 144 Austin Cline argued the problem is not with length but with a complicated series of very large lies 145 Typical objections to presenting Santa Claus as a literally real person rather than a story include that lying is normally bad 141 that parents intentionally lying to their children promotes distrust 141 that it promotes selfishness greed and materialism 146 that it associates good behavior with being materially rewarded with presents from Santa Claus 146 and that tricking children into believing falsehoods interferes with the development of critical thinking 145 140 With no greater good than having some fun some have charged that the deception is more about the parents their short term happiness in seeing children excited about Santa Claus and their nostalgic willingness to prolong the age of magical thinking than it is about the children 141 Philosopher David Kyle Johnson wrote It s a lie it degrades your parental trustworthiness it encourages credulity it does not encourage imagination and it s equivalent to bribing your kids for good behavior 147 Others see little harm in the belief in Santa Claus Psychologist Tamar Murachver said that because it is a cultural not parental lie it does not usually undermine parental trust 148 The New Zealand Skeptics also see no harm in parents telling their children that Santa is real Spokesperson Vicki Hyde said It would be a hard hearted parent indeed who frowned upon the innocent joys of our children s cultural heritage We save our bah humbugs for the things that exploit the vulnerable 148 Most children do not remain angry or embarrassed about the deception for very long 144 149 They are most likely to have a positive feeling about it if they are able to figure it out logically e g by realizing the impossibility of one person visiting every home in a single night and gradually 144 149 According to psychologist John Condry The most common response to finding out the truth was that they felt older and more mature They now knew something that the younger kids did not 149 In other studies a small fraction of children felt betrayed by their parents but disappointment was a more common response 141 Some children have reacted strongly including rejecting the family s religious beliefs on the grounds that if the parents lied about the existence of Santa Claus then they might lie about the existence of God as well 141 One study found long term negative reactions in about one out of every 16 people 144 Age appropriate behavior Babies and toddlers do not understand the concept of a fictional character but most children become developmentally able to believe in Santa Claus around age three or four 150 139 The prevalence of belief in Santa Claus is high at age five and declines precipitously when children are seven or eight years old 151 152 153 154 Although the age at disillusionment has been fairly stable for decades in 1978 85 of American five year olds believed that Santa was real but only 25 of eight year olds still did it may be getting slightly lower over time 155 See also nbsp Christianity portal nbsp Holidays portal nbsp Mythology portalRelated figures Amu Nowruz Ayaz Ata Grandfather Frost in Turkic folklore Badalisc Befana a friendly witch who delivers gifts to children on 5 January Belsnickel a German gift giver and punisher of naughty children a k a Kriskringle Companions of Saint Nicholas Ded Moroz Father Frost Russian Ded Moroz plays a role similar to Santa Claus Joulupukki original Santa Claus from Finland Krampus in German speaking Alpine folklore a horned figure who during the Christmas season punishes children who have misbehaved Mikulas Hungary Poland Romania Slovenia Czech Republic Slovakia a figure who brings treats before Christmas Moș Gerilă name of a character from Romanian communist propaganda Olentzero Basque character possibly derived from Roman traditions Saint Nicholas of Myra Saint Basil who is believed to bring Christmas gifts for children in Greek Orthodox tradition Sinterklaas Dutch mythical figure The Three Kings in Spain tradition gifts for children are brought by the biblical three wise men on 6 January Tomte Scandinavian mythical character Yule Goat Scandinavian Christmas symbol Yule Lads a group of Icelandic figures who may leave gifts or rotting potatoes in the days before ChristmasOther Jack Frost and Old Man Winter Mythical characters associated with winter Christmas controversy Christmas elf Easter Bunny Flying Santa a northeastern US tradition of pilots delivering presents to families in remote lighthouses Fraternal Order of Real Bearded Santas Pancho Claus a Tex Mex version of Santa Claus Sandman Santa Claus in film Santa Claus Indiana a small Midwestern United States town named after the figure and home to Holiday World amusement park Santa Claus s reindeer SantaCon Tooth fairy Yes Virginia there is a Santa ClausReferencesCitations Santa Claus History Legend amp Facts Encyclopedia Britannica Archived from the original on 25 December 2021 Retrieved 10 August 2020 B K Swartz Jr The Origin of American Christmas Myth and Customs Archived 30 April 2011 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 22 December 2007 Jeff Westover The Legendary Role of Reindeer in Christmas Archived 3 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 22 December 2007 a b c d Santa Claus The real man behind the myth NBC News 22 December 2009 Archived from the original on 1 September 2020 Retrieved 27 December 2009 Saint Nicholas People Stnicholascenter org Archived from the original on 27 December 2010 Retrieved 21 December 2010 Saint Nicholas Places Stnicholascenter org Archived from the original 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knew that he s in demand this time of year Haelsen says Mary Ann Georgantopoulos 23 December 2007 Miracle on Mass Ave City Santa takes suit seriously The Boston Globe Archived from the original on 5 March 2016 Retrieved 13 November 2010 Santa Claus is coming to town More accurately he s from town Cambridge that is Jonathan Meath is the perfect fit for a Santa Santa Glen secretary October 2010 Minutes of meeting San Diego Chapter of F O R B S Archived from the original on 22 October 2010 Retrieved 13 November 2010 Hello fellow Santas Once again we had an informative and fun gathering Ten Santas were in attendance and we were happy to welcome Karilyn Curran the chair person of our up and coming Santa Luncheon for 2011 Fashion Show Jonathan Meath Santa to visit virtually as Christmas grottos cancelled BBC News 5 November 2020 Archived from the original on 6 August 2021 Retrieved 17 November 2020 Chang Rachel There Are Now Black Santas at Walt Disney World and Disneyland for the First Time in History Travel Leisure Meredith Archived from the original on 21 December 2021 Retrieved 1 December 2021 Halkoaho Jenniina Laaksonnen Pirjo 2009 Understanding What Christmas Gifts Mean to Children PDF Young Consumers 10 3 251 doi 10 1108 17473610910986053 Archived from the original PDF on 27 September 2011 Retrieved 12 December 2010 Otnes Cele Kim Kyungseung Kim Young Chan 1994 Yes Virginia there is a gender difference Analyzing children s requests to Santa Claus Journal of Popular Culture 28 1 23 doi 10 1111 j 0022 3840 1994 2801 17 x a b c d Santa Claus receives more than six million letters annually and growing 20 Dec 2007 Asian Tribune Archived from the original on 8 May 2011 Retrieved 12 December 2010 a b c No small job for postal elves 15 Dec 2010 Universal Postal Union UPU Archived from the original on 22 December 2010 Retrieved 17 December 2010 Operation Santa Claus at James Farley Post Office 2012 Operation Santa Claus Santa s Blog 15 November 2011 Archived from the original on 28 November 2011 Retrieved 10 December 2011 Santa Mail Letters to Santa Archived from the original on 12 November 2020 Retrieved 25 November 2014 France answers the most Santa letters 21 Dec 2007 xmas co uk 21 December 2007 Archived from the original on 17 March 2012 Retrieved 12 December 2010 Canada Post Holiday Santa s Corner Canadapost ca Archived from the original on 25 December 2010 Retrieved 21 December 2010 LA POSTE Pere Noel in French Laposte fr Archived from the original on 20 July 2011 Retrieved 21 December 2010 Father Christmas s French office open 18 Nov 2010 The Connexion Archived from the original on 13 December 2010 Retrieved 12 December 2010 Send a letter to Santa New Zealand Post Nzpost co nz Archived from the original on 21 January 2012 Retrieved 21 December 2010 NZ Post to tighten net for Santa by Alexis Grant 30 Nov 2004 The New Zealand Herald 30 November 2004 Archived from the original on 10 August 2011 Retrieved 12 December 2010 Time to write to Santa Canada Post 19 November 2015 Archived from the original on 9 April 2016 Retrieved 2 August 2016 Write to Santa and he ll write you back Canada Post 5 November 2015 Archived from the original on 17 August 2016 Retrieved 2 August 2016 Christmas letters to Santa Royal Mail Archived from the original on 19 June 2018 Retrieved 27 December 2013 Letters to Santa Claus 2000 In The World Encyclopedia of Christmas Gerry Bowler Editor Toronto McClelland amp Stewart Limited pp 131 132 About this site Embassy of Finland Beijing Consulates General of Finland Shanghai and Guangzhou Current Affairs Finland cn 16 May 2007 Archived from the original on 11 July 2007 Retrieved 21 December 2010 Beijing Post Office Beijing Your Way Archived from the original on 7 July 2011 Retrieved 21 December 2010 Beijing International Post Office Vip fesco com cn Archived from the original on 7 January 2008 Retrieved 21 December 2010 Say hello to Santa Claus November 24 2010 by Zhao Hongyi Beijing Today Archived from the original on 1 December 2011 Retrieved 12 December 2010 Ribeiro Ricky EmailSanta com How Santa Claus Went Digital BizTech Magazine Archived from the original on 12 November 2021 Retrieved 19 July 2020 Santa 2010 website by Airservices Australia Mirror airservicesaustralia com Archived from the original on 20 December 2010 Retrieved 21 December 2010 Safe Travels Santa We will Be Watching 19 Dec 2005 NASA s Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex Archived from the original on 16 February 2011 Retrieved 4 December 2010 New technology to map Santa s flight 24 Dec 2009 The Observer Archived from the original on 6 July 2011 Retrieved 5 December 2010 DFW airport unveils Santa Tracker website 18 Dec 2006 PegNews wire Archived from the original on 26 August 2011 Retrieved 4 December 2010 DFW Airport s Santa Tracker Is Operational by BJ Austin 24 Dec 2009 PBS KERA Archived from the original on 5 August 2011 Retrieved 4 December 2010 From NORAD Santa Tracker To Twitter Santa Tracking For Christmas Eve 2009 by Danny Sullivan 23 Dec 2009 Search Engine Land 24 December 2009 Archived from the original on 21 May 2011 Retrieved 5 December 2010 Here Comes Santa Claus Watch it on the Web 24 Dec 2005 WRAL com Raleigh Durham Fayetteville North Carolina s TV Station website Archived from the original on 8 August 2011 Retrieved 4 December 2010 Welcome to The North Pole A Virtual Earth 3D Experience Today msnbc msn com Archived from the original on 11 August 2011 Retrieved 21 December 2010 Tracking Santa with Bing Maps by Chris Pendleton 24 Dec 2009 Microsoft Archived from the original on 1 January 2010 Retrieved 5 December 2010 Gurnon Emily 23 December 2014 How A Sears Typo Led To NORAD s Santa Tracker Forbes Archived from the original on 20 May 2021 Retrieved 24 December 2014 Norad Santa Tracker Christmas tradition began with a wrong number CBC News CBC 24 December 2014 Archived from the original on 25 December 2014 Retrieved 24 December 2014 SantaWatch Hunt for Santa to Include Clues from the International Space Station by Dreamtime 18 Dec 2000 Dreamtime 18 December 2000 Archived from the original on 27 December 2021 Retrieved 11 December 2010 Keep track of Santa thanks to NORAD by WKTV News 24 Dec 2009 Dreamtime Archived from the original on 27 September 2011 Retrieved 11 December 2010 NORAD Tracks Santa Citation Space Certification Program as a Corporate Patron Level Partner in the Certified Imagination Product Category December 2007 Space Foundation Archived from the original on 25 September 2010 Retrieved 31 December 2009 Hi tech helps track Santa Claus December 24 2008 BBC News 24 December 2008 Archived from the original on 16 September 2021 Retrieved 31 December 2009 You d Better Not Pout Booz Allen Supports NORAD to Track Santa s Approach This Year December 1 2010 by Booz Allen Hamilton Booz Allen Hamilton Archived from the original on 10 December 2010 Retrieved 1 December 2010 Rueb Emily S 21 December 2019 Trying to Reach the North Pole Check Your Wi Fi The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on 3 November 2021 Retrieved 14 June 2020 Calgary Santa receives wishes and cries for help in emails from around the world Calgary Herald Archived from the original on 4 November 2021 Retrieved 14 June 2020 Ribeiro Ricky 19 December 2012 EmailSanta com How Santa Claus Went Digital BizTech Magazine Archived from the original on 12 November 2021 Retrieved 19 July 2020 It now offers kids and parents personalized messages from Santa which run from an ASP script that Kerr built himself Vnuk Helen 7 December 2017 Email Santa and get a reply the website making my kids believe MamaMia com au Archived from the original on 2 November 2021 Retrieved 19 July 2020 The one thing that s convinced my daughter more than anything else that Santa is real is a website emailSanta com Microsoft pulls plug on potty mouth Santa by John Fontana 4 Dec 2007 Network World Archived from the original on 13 October 2012 Retrieved 9 December 2010 For a Jolly Good Time Chat With Santa on Windows Live Messenger 13 Dec 2006 Microsoft Archived from the original on 24 October 2007 Retrieved 9 December 2010 Santa Claus The great imposter Archived 19 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine Terry Watkins Dial the Truth Ministries Cochran Sylvia To Santa or Not to Santa familiesonlinemagazine com Archived from the original on 5 June 2008 Kippenberg Hans G Kuiper Yme B Sanders Andy F 1 January 1990 Concepts of Person in Religion and Thought Walter de Gruyter p 363 ISBN 978 3110874372 Bowler Gerry 27 July 2011 Santa Claus A Biography Random House ISBN 978 1551996080 When Christmas Was Banned The early colonies and Christmas Archived from the original on 8 January 2010 History Ten Ages of Christmas BBC 13 March 2005 Archived from the original on 13 March 2005 Retrieved 21 December 2010 Nissenbaum chap 1 Clar Mimi October 1959 Attack on Santa Claus Western Folklore 18 4 337 doi 10 2307 1497769 JSTOR 1497769 Eddy Mary Baker 1925 Miscellany p 261 in Prose Works other than Science and Health Trustees under the will of Mary Baker G Eddy Boston USA Connelly Mark 2000 Christmas at the Movies Images of Christmas in American British and European Cinema I B Tauris p 186 ISBN 9781860643972 A chapter on representations of Christmas in Soviet cinema could in fact be the shortest in this collection suffice it to say that there were at least officially no Christmas celebrations in the atheist socialist state after its foundation in 1917 Echo of Islam MIG 1993 In the former Soviet Union fir trees were usually put up to mark New Year s day following a tradition established by the officially atheist state Luzer Daniel 26 November 2013 What a Real War on Christmas Looks Like Pacific Standard Archived from the original on 14 November 2022 Retrieved 12 November 2014 There were several anti religious campaigns the most dramatic of which occurred in the 1920s According to a piece published by the School of Russian and Asia Studies In 1925 Christmas was effectively banned under the officially atheist Soviets and was not to return to Russian lands until 1992 The New Year celebration usurped the traditions of a Christmas Tree Yolka Santa known in Russian as Ded Mopoz or Grandfather Frost and presents In the Russian tradition Grandfather Frost s granddaughter the Snow Maiden Snegurochka always accompanies him to help distribute the gifts Elves are not associated with the holiday The state prohibited people from selling Christmas trees There were even festivals organized by the League of Militant Atheists specifically to denigrate religious holidays Their carnivals were inspired by similar events staged by activists after the French Revolution From 1923 to 1924 and then again from 1929 to 1930 the Komsomol Christmases and Easters were basically holiday celebrations of atheism Ramet Sabrina Petra 10 November 2005 Religious Policy in the Soviet Union Cambridge University Press p 138 ISBN 9780521022309 The League sallied forth to save the day from this putative religious revival Antireligioznik obliged with so many articles that it devoted an entire section of its annual index for 1928 to anti religious training in the schools More such material followed in 1929 and a flood of it the next year It recommended what Lenin and others earlier had explicitly condemned carnivals farces and games to intimidate and purge the youth of religious belief It suggested that pupils campaign against customs associated with Christmas including Christmas trees and Easter Some schools the League approvingly reported staged an anti religious day on the 31st of each month Not teachers but the League s local set the programme for this special occasion Santa Claus won t be coming to this town as Chinese officials ban Christmas South China Morning Post 18 December 2018 Archived from the original on 12 January 2019 Retrieved 23 December 2018 Christmas is not a recognised holiday in mainland China where the ruling party is officially atheist and for many years authorities have taken a tough stance on anyone who celebrates it in public The statement by Langfang officials said that anyone caught selling Christmas trees wreaths stockings or Santa Claus figures in the city would be punished While the ban on the sale of Christmas goods might appear to be directed at retailers it also comes amid a crackdown on Christians practising their religion across the country On Saturday morning more than 60 police officers and officials stormed a children s Bible class in Guangzhou capital of southern China s Guangdong province The incident came after authorities shut down the 1 500 member Zion Church in Beijing in September and Chengdu s 500 member Early Rain Covenant Church last week In the case of the latter about 100 worshippers were snatched from their homes or from the streets in coordinated raids Interview Jeremy Seal St Nicholas Center Archived from the original on 1 January 2023 Retrieved 1 January 2023 In defense of Santa Claus Archived from the original on 26 December 2007 Retrieved 7 September 2016 Carol Jean Swanson Mothering Fall 1992 Better Watch Out Better Not Cry Archived from the original on 20 January 2007 Retrieved 13 December 2007 Hilda Hoy The Prague Post 13 December 2006 Santa goes green BBC 26 November 2007 Archived from the original on 20 May 2021 Retrieved 24 April 2023 Nast Thomas Merry Old Santa Claus Encyclopaedia Britannica Britannica com Archived from the original on 6 April 2011 Retrieved 11 June 2013 Spuds Can t Promote Beer Dressed as Santa Associated Press News 2 December 1987 Archived from the original on 29 September 2018 Retrieved 23 November 2012 a b Kapitany Rohan Nelson Nicole Burdett Emily R R Goldstein Thalia R 17 June 2020 Jong Jonathan ed The child s pantheon Children s hierarchical belief structure in real and non real figures PLOS ONE 15 6 e0234142 Bibcode 2020PLoSO 1534142K doi 10 1371 journal pone 0234142 ISSN 1932 6203 PMC 7299553 PMID 32555692 a b Johnson David Kyle Say Goodbye to the Santa Claus Lie Psychology Today Archived from the original on 27 December 2021 Retrieved 12 December 2018 a b c d e f Lowe Scott C ed 2010 Christmas Philosophy for Everyone Better than a Lump of Coal Malden Mass Wiley Blackwell pp 143 147 ISBN 9781444330908 OCLC 539086689 Heizer Sophie 9 December 2018 We asked five experts should I lie to my children about Santa The Conversation Archived from the original on 1 January 2023 Retrieved 1 January 2023 a b Woolley Jacqueline 23 December 2006 Opinion Do You Believe in Surnits The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on 28 March 2017 Retrieved 1 January 2023 a b c d Mills Candice M Goldstein Thalia R Kanumuru Pallavi Monroe Anthony J Quintero Natalie B 13 November 2023 Debunking the Santa myth The process and aftermath of becoming skeptical about Santa Developmental Psychology doi 10 1037 dev0001662 ISSN 1939 0599 PMID 37956037 S2CID 265157363 a b The Pagan Origins of Santa Claus Learn Religions Archived from the original on 1 January 2023 Retrieved 1 January 2023 a b Vines Gail 2011 The Santa Delusion New Scientist 210 2809 29 Bibcode 2011NewSc 210Q 29M doi 10 1016 S0262 4079 11 60920 2 Archived from the original on 20 May 2021 Retrieved 12 December 2018 Lying To Kids About Santa Can Erode Their Trust Psychologists Say Vocativ 25 November 2016 Archived from the original on 19 January 2021 Retrieved 6 December 2018 a b How to deal with the is Santa real The Dominion Post Archived from the original on 19 December 2010 Retrieved 7 November 2011 a b c Kutner Lawrence 21 November 1991 Children can learn the wrong lessons from little lies The New York Times Archived from the original on 8 February 2023 Retrieved 24 April 2023 Howard Jacqueline 19 December 2017 How many kids still believe in Santa CNN Retrieved 4 September 2023 Khazan Olga 21 December 2014 When Do Kids Stop Believing in Santa The Atlantic Retrieved 4 September 2023 Children stop believing in Santa Claus by age of eight Survey Hindustan Times 17 December 2018 Retrieved 4 September 2023 When do kids stop believing in Santa Is your kid ready www boston com Retrieved 4 September 2023 Daley Jason When Do Children Give Up on Santa Smithsonian Magazine Retrieved 4 September 2023 Victor Daniel 25 December 2018 Kids Please Don t Read This Article on What Trump Said About Santa Claus The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved 4 September 2023 General and cited references Belk Russell 1989 Materialism with the modern U S Christmas Archived 1 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine In Interpretive Consumer Research ed by Elizabeth C Hirschman Provo UT Association for Consumer Research 75 104 Bowler Gerry Editor 2004 The World Encyclopedia of Christmas Archived 28 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine Toronto McClelland amp Stewart Limited ISBN 978 0 7710 1535 9 0 7710 1535 6 Bowler Gerry 2007 Santa Claus A Biography Archived 28 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine Toronto McClelland amp Stewart Limited ISBN 978 0 7710 1668 4 0 7710 1668 9 Crump William D Editor 2006 The Christmas Encyclopedia 2nd edition Archived 9 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine Jefferson North Carolina McFarland amp Company Inc Publishers ISBN 978 0 7864 2293 7 Nissenbaum Stephen 1997 The Battle for Christmas Archived 6 October 2021 at the Wayback Machine New York Alfred A Knopf ISBN 978 0 679 74038 4 0 679 74038 4 Further readingJoffe Walt Chana 19 December 2012 Without Magic Santa Would Need 12 Million Employees All Things Considered NPR Retrieved 20 December 2012 External linksSanta Claus at Wikipedia s sister projects nbsp Definitions from Wiktionary nbsp Media from Commons nbsp News from Wikinews nbsp Quotations from Wikiquote nbsp Travel information from Wikivoyage An article on the History of Santa Claus from the St Nicholas Center The History of Santa Claus and Father Christmas Research guides for Thomas Nast and Santa Claus at The Morristown amp Morris Township Public Library NJ The Knickerbockers Rescue Santa Claus Claas Schlaschenschlinger from James Kirke Paulding s The Book of Saint Nicholas 1836 NORAD Tracks Santa emailSanta com Tracker Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Santa Claus amp oldid 1190577455 Letter writing, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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