I wanted to write something about Santa Claus, counting four days before Christmas. I am not an avid fan of Santa Clauses, nor is he the ultimate symbol of my Christmases. I’d rather look at beautiful Christmas trees, big or small, and wonder on its enchanting glitters and how an ordinary tree is dressed up to be my ultimate sign of Christmas.
But this ain’t about Christmas trees; again, this is about Santa Clauses, yes that burly white-haired old man in red overall suit that carries a knapsack of gift for the nice children.
As a young boy, together with my siblings, we use to hang socks on our walls and we would wake up and our socks full of goodies. I remember it vaguely, It was a magical feeling I guess…until I found out that what we have in our socks were the same goodies sold at my lola’s (grandmother) sari-sari store.
So there, all that childhood yearning for a Santa Claus went pfftt, and I think I was seven years-old then.
Many of us are particularly aware of the Roman Catholic and Christian traditions of Santa Claus, from Saint Nicholas (which originated in Dutch as Sint Nikolaas or Sinterklaas) to the Hagios Nikolaos of the Greek, who, as the Bishop of Myra (present day Turkey) gave donations in gold coins anonymously and was believed to have started the Christmas tradition of gift giving.
Santa Claus (United States and Canada) comes in many different names: Shengdan Laoren (China), Father Christmas (England), Pere Noel (France), Christindl (Germany), Papai Noel (Brazil and Peru), Babbo Natale (Italy), Black Peter (Morocco), Jultomten (Sweden), Pa Norsk (Norwegian) and many others most notably Joulupukki in Finland.
Joulupukki is a pagan tradition in Finland wherein people dress up in goat skin and horns to ward off evil spirits. It is the santa demanding gifts from people, an ugly creature that dances and scares off children.
Again. There! It’s Santa Claus but there are many names and version off it. And its very intruiging that most of what we have in the present takes root from pagan traditions that aren’t as pleasant as they are today. And that Santa Claus was also part of the changing times.
Credits from:
http://www.lone-star.net/mall/main-areas/santafaq.htm
and many more countless links in the web.. hwew!!!
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