'Give Santa the sack - he's not the real thing'

The Scotsman ^ | November 25, 2006 | ALLAN HALL

[MadIvan]

GERMANS and Austrians are uniting against a kindly old man who brings joy to children all over the world. Their call: Ban Santa.

Campaigners in both countries claim Father Christmas is an invention of the Coca-Cola company in the United States and should be ditched.

In Austria, "Pro Christkind" - it means "For Christ Child" - want images of the baby Jesus and St Nicholas to replace the white-haired, portly old man dressed in red and white, who they see as symbolic of the commercialisation of Christmas. Their campaign, with a logo featuring a picture of Santa with a red line through him, begins on 2 December, the day before the first Sunday in Advent, at an event where traditional Christmas wreaths are made.

Thousands of "Santa Free Zones" stickers have been printed and pamphlets have been handed out reminding people that the traditional bringer of presents is St Nicholas. There are even kits on sale with stickers to turn chocolate Santas into St Nicholas.

An internet campaign is urging people in Switzerland, Germany and Austria to sign up to promote activities that support a traditional Christmas and not the Santa-led celebrations that have appeared in recent years.

In some places, such as the east Austrian town of St Wolfgang, Santa has even been banned from the local Christmas market and shopkeepers have been restricted to offering traditional Austrian products and gifts as well as typical local culinary delights.

Bettina Schade, of the Frankfurter Nicholas Initiative, said: "We object to the material things, the hectic rush to buy gifts and the ubiquity of the bearded man in the red suit taking away from the core meaning of Christmas.

"The Christian origins of Christmas, like the birth of Jesus, have receded into the background. It's becoming more and more a festival that is reduced to simply worldly gifts and commerce."

A Swedish-American artist, Haddon Sundblom, created the jolly Santa character for Coke and it was used in advertising campaigns in the 1930s and 40s. He was based on a previous figure produced for Harper's Weekly in the 19th century by Thomas Nast, a German immigrant to the US.

The character is thought to have been based on several figures, including St Nicholas, a 4th-century bishop who had a reputation for generosity - Santa Claus is a corruption of the Dutch "Sinterklaas", meaning St Nicholas - the Russian character Ded Moroz, meaning Grandfather Frost, who gives presents to children, and the pagan Green Man.

Early depictions of Father Christmas in Britain often showed him wreathed in ivy and dressed in green. Before Coca-Cola made red his signature colour, the Victorians would dress him in a range of colours including red, blue and purple.

[MadIvan]

And "bah, humbug" to you too Germany and Austria. Just some people are allergic to having fun.

Regards, Ivan

[MadIvan]

Ping!

[saveliberty]

LOL

Who says that German and Austrian schools are good? December 5th or 6th, depending on where you are that Sankt Niklaus comes with candy for the good children and Knecht Ruprecht (the servant who uses the switch on bad children)?

BTW, it was a German tradition to add a Christmas tree, but oops, it's a pagan celebration of Winter soltice. Can they understand the word Idiotenhaft?

No, I thought not.

[Dallas59]

From 2002....

Aussie pre-schools ban Santa

[kb2614]

I wasn't aware the words "fun" and "German" go together, unless invading Poland at least once a century is considered fun.

;-)

[sumocide]

That's not fun either, they hardly fight back.

[samtheman]

European Nanny-Staters fulfilling one of Ray Bradbury's predictions of the future.

[proudofthesouth]

My Mom (who was born and raised in Germany) celebrated St. Nicholas when she was a kid and received coal in her shoes a couple of times. I celebrated as well when I was a kid and my favorite toy was always a Slinky.

[Darkwolf377]

I suggest they replace the Santa Claus image with stats of the death camps, you know, to make the campaign informative about history there in the land of kindergarten. This "campaign" will disappear faster than a bottle of Scotch at the Kennedy compound.

[nathanbedford]

Here in Bavaria they have virtually the identical practice on December 5. The week before the parents write out an indictment of the child's declensions over the year but balance them with some reference to the child's better characteristics. The parents register in our town with the bank and two men set out at sunset to make the rounds with the parents' double entry ledger in their hands. At the threshold of the House they find a selection of gifts wrapped and labeled for each child. When it is dark and expectations have long been aroused, an ominous knock will be heard at the door and chains will be shaken and there will be an unearthly growl. That is the Grampus a hideous figure with blackened face wearing a bearskin rug in a bearskin cap and possessed in one hand of switches and in the other, chains which are brandished freely throughout.

St. Nicholas is also along and he does all the talking. He is dressed in ecclesiastical garb although he has a white cotton beard. He reads the child's sins from the ledger and with every indictment, Grampus shakes his chains and brandishes his switches. The performance is really quite terrifying, especially of St. Nicholas Grampus have been wassailing along the way. No matter, in the end all is well as the child's good points are emphasized and the Christmas gifts are distributed.

And yes,kb2614, the Germans do know how to have fun.

[ccmay]

That's not fun either, they hardly fight back.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. The valiant Poles fight as hard as anyone. They were severely under-equipped to face the Nazi invasion, but they did their very best, inculding suicidal cavalry charges against the Panzers.

My Dad was a fighter pilot in the RAF. He had a Free Polish squadron in his group. They hated the Nazis so much, and were so brave and foolhardy, that they would try to ram the German planes or saw their tails off with their own propellers if they ran out of ammunition. He won't tolerate anyone speaking ill of the Poles in his presence.

-ccm

[Ditter]

"It wasn't so much that the naked Santa surprised Helga, it was the size of his sack."


Sorry, but I got a risque Christmas card with that comment on it, and I thought it would fit in here.

[kb2614]

And yes,kb2614, the Germans do know how to have fun.

I know, just kidding. :-) I was stationed over in the UK for a while in my USAF days. Traveled Europe quite a bit while over there, including Germany.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. The valiant Poles fight as hard as anyone.

I'm aware of Polands effort in WWII. I wasn't denigrating it. Just making a lame joke. No offence intended. :-)

[doberville]

Thank you for setting that straight.

The Poles definitely need a good PR agent.

[kb2614]

Wrong, wrong, wrong. The valiant Poles fight as hard as anyone.

I'm aware of Polands effort in WWII. I wasn't denigrating it. Just making a lame joke. No offence intended. :-)

[sumocide]

"I'm aware of Polands effort in WWII. I wasn't denigrating it. Just making a lame joke. No offence intended. :-)"

I thought I made that lame joke. But thanks for doing my replies, it's pretty close to what I was about to post.

[jimfree]

Here is an Austrian post card from the 1820s showing that eccesiastical garb.

http://www.stnicholascenter.org/stnic_gallery_popup.jsp?image_sakey=3511

Mrs. jimfree is the historian for a house museum in the Maryland suburbs of DC. Riversdale is a federal period (early 19th c.) mansion first resided in by natives of Antwerp. For one of the programs she does a Sint Niklaas (Flemish spelling) day event for children. One of our volunteer interpreters has wonderful long white hair and beard. David presides for us as this version of Father Christmas.

[DManA]

It's not just a coincicence that Santa wears Coca-Cola red.

invention of the Coca-Cola company

[LonePalm]

Sorry Ivan,

I'm with them this time. I wish we could get away with it here in the states.

Putting the 'Christ' back in Christmas, it would scare the hell out of the ACLU and the liberals.

What a lovely thought.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[MadIvan]

I'm libertarian on this issue. If you want to keep Santa out of it, that's your own choice - but don't tell others how to celebrate Christmas. As for me, I have space in my Christmas for both Santa and Jesus, for both egg nog and Mass. There's space for fun as well as reflection.

Regards, Ivan

[Mrs.Nooseman]

LOL.
Good Morning Save.:)

That is a tradition that still goes on at my house and the kids ,despite being teens ,still love finding little gifts on the morning of the 6TH.

I think it is funny that they blame Coca Cola for St.Nick when this tradition has been around a lot longer then Coca cola.

Idiotenhaft nails it.

[TN4Liberty]

I thought I made that lame joke.

Ah, the Jon Carry excuse. (please note, this is MY attempt at a lame joke) :)

[nathanbedford]

Yes, that's the garb exactly.

I think the Austrians have it right, secular Santa Claus is ultimately the enemy of Christ. But I would not so legislate, as they might have in the eastern Austrian Christkindlemarkt.

[Chewie84]

"Campaigners in both countries claim Father Christmas is an invention of the Coca-Cola company in the United States and should be ditched."

WHAT?
Santa Claus was around long before Coca- Cola was invented.
Still, it would be a good thing for the public to learn about the real St. Nicholas.

[DManA]

Coca Cola advertising is responsible for the iconic image of santa that we now have. Red and white were not the official colors of Christmas before that ad campaign.

[IronJack]

I don't see anything wrong with returning some of the spirituality of the season to Christmas, and if downplaying the "Santa Claus" aspect does that, then I'm in favor.

But part of Santa's success comes from the fact that he is the mythological embodiment of charity -- giving purely for the sake of giving. Let Santa live, but move away from the gift-GETTING part of the season to the gift-GIVING part, and let Santa be the mascot for that.

Bettina Schade

Just as a side note, isn't "Schade" German for "dark, shadowy," as in "permanently depressed, Frau Buzzkill?"

[LonePalm]

I think we're in violent agreement here.

I am all in favor with letting companies, like Best Buy, know that I am unhappy with their decision to take Christmas out of their stores.

I want to keep the GOVERNMENT out of it one way or the other. In our case, the leftists are scared to death of people with strong religious convictions (if you are Christian or Jewish) because they underscore the liberal's lack of core moral beliefs.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[luckystarmom]

I thought that came from "Twas the Night Before Christmas".

[ccmay]

For more on Polish bravery, Google the name "Jan Sobieski", and then give him silent thanks that you are not now a savage Muslim.

-ccm

[School of Rational Thought]

"That's not fun either, they hardly fight back."

This is just a plain stupid statement.

[DManA]

I see Snopes disagrees with me. I think they are wrong on this one.

http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/santa.asp

[Incorrigible]

Physics Of Santa Clause

 

As a result of an overwhelming lack of requests, and with research help from that renowned scientific journal SPY magazine (January, 1990) - I am pleased to present the annual scientific inquiry into Santa Claus.

1. No known species of reindeer can fly. BUT there are 300,000 species of living organisms yet to be classified, and while most of these are insects and germs, this does not COMPLETELY rule out flying reindeer which only Santa has ever seen.

2. There are 2 billion children (persons under 18) in the world. BUT since Santa doesn't (appear) to handle the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist children, that reduces the workload to to 15% of the total - 378 million according to Population Reference Bureau. At an average (census) rate of 3.5 children per household, that's 91.8 million homes. One presumes there's at least one good child in each.

3. Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west (which seemes logical). This works out to 822.6 visits per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with good children, Santa has 1/1000th of a second to park, hop out of the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the next house. Assuming that each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly distributed around the earth (which, of course, we know to be false but for the purposes of our calculations we will accept), we are now talking about .78 miles per household, a total trip of 75-1/2 million miles, not counting stops to do what most of us must do at least once every 31 hours, plus feeding and etc.This means that Santa's sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, 3,000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man-made vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a pokey 27.4 miles per second - a conventional reindeer can run, tops, 15 miles per hour.

4. The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a medium-sized lego set (2 pounds), the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting Santa, who is invariably described as overweight. On land, conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting that "flying reindeer" (see point #1) could pull TEN TIMES the normal anount, we cannot do the job with eight, or even nine. We need 214,200 reindeer. This increases the payload - not even counting the weight of the sleigh - to 353,430 tons. Again, for comparison - this is four times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth. 5.353,000 tons travelling at 650 miles per second creates enourmous air resistance - this will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as spacecrafts re-entering the earth's atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer will absorb 14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy. Per second. Each. In short, they will burst into flame almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them, and create deafening sonic booms in their wake. The entire reindeer team will be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second. Santa, meanwhile, will be subjected to centrifugal forces 17,500.06 times greater than gravity. A 250-pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim) would be pinned to the back of his sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force.

In conclusion: If Santa ever DID deliver presents on Christmas Eve, he's dead now.

 

[AnalogReigns]

I think the Germans have the right idea. Since Santa really is a non-judgemental, politically-correct corruption of St. Nicholas, bring back the real Saint!

[AD from SpringBay]

Beautiful

[RGSpincich]

Coca Cola advertising is responsible for the iconic image of santa that we now have. Red and white were not the official colors of Christmas before that ad campaign.

Thanks, Coke. Works for me.

[Kirkwood]

Santa = Saint and Claus = Nicklaus. Are these people total idiots?

[AnalogReigns]

Santa = Saint and Claus = Nicklaus. Are these people total idiots?

Of course not! It would take an idiot though NOT to see the popular image of Santa is entirely different from the traditional understanding of Saint Nicholas....

They are rebelling agains the Coca-cola, politically correct, always jolly, never judgemental, (and wholly unhistorical--and actually functionally un-Christian) modern Santa, who bears no relationship, other than the origins of the corruption of his name, to the real Saint Nicholas.

[XR7]

"The Christian origins of Christmas, like the birth of Jesus, have receded into the background. It's becoming more and more a festival that is reduced to simply worldly gifts and commerce."

How is this really any different from Christians in the USA who every year remind us to put "Christ back in Christmas?
It was in the public schools where they first started removing Christ from Christmas and replacing His name with an "X."
Now you see "Xmas" written everywhere. In school, that's how they encourage our kids to write it, so as not to offend anyone.
These Germans and Austrians are probably just sick of it happening over there. They're saying, "Enough is enough!"
Good for them.

[Petronski]

X is the Greek letter Chi, the first letter in the name Christ when spelled in Greek.

It's a perfectly legitimate abbreviation.

[saveliberty]

:-) Any kind of chocolate was my favorite.

[saveliberty]

:-) What a great story!

And yes, Germans are great about having a good time.

BTW when we have an Oktoberfest, everyone wants to come and we all have a blast!

[dljordan]

"Putting the 'Christ' back in Christmas, it would scare the hell out of the ACLU and the liberals."

I thought the Christians stole Christmas from the Pagans?

[AnalogReigns]

For the well educated, Xmas is perfectly legitimate...as they know the Greek origins Chi.

However, I would wager 99% who use or see Xmas, have no idea of X being for the chi in Christ--so it does tend to obscure Christ in Christmas.

[saveliberty]

:-) Good afternoon, Mrs. Nooseman! Long time, no see.

LOL, who could argue with St. Nicholas day?

[bd476]

Thanks for sharing your Dad's first hand experience as a fighter pilot in the RAF and about your Dad's respect for the Free Polish Squadron's brave courage in fighting the Nazis.

[Petronski]

However, I would wager 99% who use or see Xmas, have no idea of X being for the chi in Christ--so it does tend to obscure Christ in Christmas.

I would wager that those 99% or use or see Xmas are automatically pronouncing it "Christmas" in their heads or aloud. No obscurity.

[AnalogReigns]

Actually, a good argument is for the pagans stealing Christmas from Christians.... See the FreeRepublic posting here.

[bd476]

Fascinating! Thanks for sharing, Nathan.

[Petronski]

Just as there are probably many folks with a chrome "Jesus Fish" who know nothing of its origin as an acronym: IXThUS (ΙΧΘΥΣ) for "Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior."

[Xenalyte]

There are even kits on sale with stickers to turn chocolate Santas into St Nicholas.

Unless the stickers are also made of chocolate, I'm not sure this will work out so well.