Will the Real Santa Claus
Please Stand Up?
by Sybil Fogg
In my home, we celebrate Yule, the Winter Solstice, but we also celebrate Christmas. When I first began to delve seriously into Paganism, I dropped many of the holidays I had been raised celebrating and replaced them with their Pagan brothers and sisters. Easter became Ostara, Halloween became Samhain, and Christmas became Yule. Over time, I realized that aspects of the holidays of my childhood began to creep back in, particularly surrounding the celebrations on the dark half of the year. My fourth child was born on the Winter Solstice and, in an attempt to give him this sacred day as his own, we began pushing back Yule until Christmas pretty much reappeared as if it had never left. My older children taught my younger ones about Santa Claus as they knew him from literature and before I realized it, he had taken up residence in my home. I also discovered I knew very little about the old gent. My youngest child was born on December 6, which I knew to be Odin’s day and hence, that is his middle name. I learned quickly that it is also Saint Nicholas’s Day and Krampusnacht (Krampus Night). More research dug up where the popular red and white Santa Claus originated, as well as Kriss Kringle and the Christkind. I began to wonder if the real Santa Claus would ever stand up.
Today, there is much information on the internet connecting the Norse God, Odin to the origins of Santa Claus. It is true that Odin was often depicted as an old man with a bearded face moving through the sky on his eight-legged horse, Sleipnir, who could leap great distances. On December 25, he leads the Wild Hunt, a ghostly procession through the sky. He often leaves small gifts and trinkets for children in their shoes as they slept. He is honored by his followers on December 6.
The story of Santa Claus begins with Saint Nicholas, who lived during the third century. History states that St. Nicholas was wealthy but gave up his material possessions to the poor and focused his energies on helping those in need. He became known throughout the land as a patron of children, sailors, and ships. The name Santa Claus very likely stems from the German name for Saint Nicholas, Sinterklass. We celebrate the anniversary of his death on December 6.
There are many legends surrounding Saint Nicholas telling of his life and deeds. He was loved and renowned for his kind character and protective nature, always seeking to assist those most needy.
One of the most popular tales of Saint Nicholas’s kind deeds tells of how he granted dowries to three sisters whose father was preparing to sell them into slavery or prostitution because he could not pay for their weddings. Saint Nicholas tossed bags of gold, one for each daughter, through their window and the money landed in stockings or shoes that had been laid out to dry by the fire. It is believed that this led to the custom of hanging a stocking or putting out shoes to be filled with gifts from Saint Nicholas.
Popular in Europe, Saint Nicholas’s Day was celebrated in a variety of ways. In Germany and Poland, boys would dress as bishops begging alms for the poor. In the Netherlands, candy was tossed through doorways. In Holland and Germany, children left out shoes to be filled with treats and small gifts. Bad children received coal.
In Germany, Austria, and many other parts of Europe, Saint Nicholas comes to bring treats for the well behaved and mannered children, while his counterpart, The Krampus appears to punish those who have misbehaved. The visual appearance of Krampus (also known as Knecht Ruprecht, Certa, Perchten, Black Peter, Schmutzli, Pelznickel, Klaubauf2) is close to the depiction of the Christian devil—cloven foot, horned, tailed, and covered in fur. He would appear with whip in hand to discipline bad children before whisking them away in a basket to whence he came. Today, Krampusnacht is enjoying a comeback, mostly amongst adults who hold Krampus parties and parades, where Krampuses will dance down the street carrying switches accompanied by Saint Nicholas, white winged angels and children in cages.
Another well-known Santa Claus reference is Kriss Kringle, who derives his name from the German, Christkindchen, meaning ChristKind, a figure introduced by Martin Luther to deter people from honoring Saint Nicholas. The Christkind is a sprite-like, winged child with golden hair and clothed in white, bringing presents to children on Christmas Eve, effectively moving the date away from December 6 and all reference to Saint Nicholas. The Christkind was meant to be a version of Jesus as an infant, but over time, the figure of Saint Nicholas replaced the Christkind and the name became Americanized.
Sometime in the sixteen century, England was introduced to the concept of Father Christmas, likely by King Henry VIII. Father Christmas embodied the spirit of the holiday and he was honored and celebrated with great feasting and merrymaking on Christmas Day, moving the holiday further from the sixth and cementing its connection to the birth of Jesus. His celebrations and visage became quite popular during the Victorian era and immortalized in Charles Dickens’s work, A Christmas Carol.
The poet, Clement Moore penned the famous work, “A Visit from St. Nicholas” in 1822, drawing on solstice traditions, German and Scandinavian lore, and what he had learned of the church teachings of Saint Nicholas. He gave Saint Nicholas a fey touch and added the flying reindeer.3
And as time went on, more people added flourishing touches to Saint Nicholas, adding a backstory that includes the North Pole outpost complete with a toy shop and Christmas elves. These days, many people are familiar with the fact that the Coca Cola Company outfitted our hero in the white and red fur that we know and love. In our household, we honor Santa Claus on Saint Nicholas’s Day by hanging stockings. We each choose a family member randomly from a hat and then leave treats in their stocking each day, culminating on Christmas Eve. Then we announce our identity and feast and celebrate together. Santa Claus represents charity and kindness towards our fellow beings. The winter holidays are an excellent time to remember and practice this. So mote it be.