When North Pole’s most celebrated citizen says:

Ho, Ho, Ho

He means ‘Tis the season to be jolly’:

Aditha DISSANAYAKE

Set down this, set down this. “An analysis of more than a hundred thousand documents recently leaked by a disgruntled elf has revealed several surprising facts about the North Pole’s most famous citizen.” So writes Ben Greenman, in the New Yorker.

In his tongue in cheek article Greenman describes Santa has, over the years, acted to undermine potential successors, privately disparaging one of his nephews as “lazy,” another as “not really committed to the whole Christmas thing,” and yet another as “incapable of growing a beard of the appropriate size”. The ‘Leaks’ also reveal Santa suffered a serious hip injury, in the late seventies presumably while crawling down a chimney and contrary to popular belief, Santa cannot really tell when you’re sleeping or when you’re awake, but he will fly into a rage if his ability to do so, is questioned.

Twisting the truth yet further, Caroline Bicks and Michelle Ephraim in “Letters To Santa Written By Shakespeare Characters” imagine Romeo and Juliet writing to Santa: “Dear Santa, sweet, sweet Santa:

This Christmas, we wish for nothing more than peace, love, and understanding (LOL). We pray that you will fly like a nimble-pinioned dove to bring our parents copies of Chicken Soup for the Vengeful Soul.” Among the items on their wish list is a Quick-Escape Portable Ladder.

“Santa!I had this crazy dream that I ate your reindeer.” writes Falstaff. “But then this morning your face appeared in a puddle of maple syrup. So I licked you up.”

Humour apart, it is no secret Santa Claus is the center of attention, come December. Unquestionably he deserves it, for rumor has it that he takes into account the wishes of everyone who sends him letters, and travels around the world in just one night to deliver all of the presents in your wish list. But how can he do all this by himself?

Apparently, it turns out, Santa’s not alone. According to folklore, working hard behind the scenes are Santa’s elves. Typically under-appreciated during the holidays, the amount of labor these tiny, mythical creatures clock in is astounding. We have to assume that like the team who helped President Obama to win the election, without the help of the elves, Santa would have a lot more stress leading up to Christmas and would not be nearly as jolly.

Unlike the elves, though, Santa’s reindeer are very visible during Christmas. Santa is hardly ever seen without his sleigh pulled by the eight reindeer. As Christmas legends go, the story of the sleigh with Santa’s reindeer is very new. Even though stories about Santa has been around since the fourth century it was not until the 19th century that the eight famous reindeer entered the Christmas scene. Believe it or not, prior to this, Santa travelled on a white horse in Europe and a donkey in South America.

The reindeer who pull Santa’s sleigh filled with toys, across the sky all have names: they are Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzer. They first appeared with Santa, in 1823, in the poem “A Visit From St. Nicholas,” by Clement C. Moore.

But when did the most famous reindeer of all come into the picture? Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, was created in 1939 by Robert May, an employee of Mongomery Ward. The department store wanted to create a free giveaway book for children as a promotion. May wrote the story in rhyme for the book, and in 1947, when May’s words were set to music, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” recorded by Gene Autry became a huge hit, cementing Rudolph’s place in Christmas history.

Now to the chimney. Who decided Santa should slide down chimneys to fill all those socks with presents? What kind of magic is at work to help the over weight gentleman with a huge bag of presents get down chimneys? Why can’t he simply knock at the door?

Some scholars have looked to pre-Christian pagan lore and practice to find the origins of Santa’s chimney entrance.

Hearths, for example, were thought to house spirits or gods who were critical to the prosperity of the household, and fire itself was held sacred. It would not be surprising, then, for a myth to develop in which bounty is bestowed by way of openings like chimneys associated with these sacred powers.

What of Santa himself? What is the real life story of the man who goes ‘Ho, Ho, Ho, whenever he sees a kid? The character of Santa Claus is largely based on St. Nicholas. (The name Santa Claus, evolved from Sinter Klaas, a shortened form of Sint Nikolaas - Dutch for Saint Nicholas). It is believed that Nicholas was born sometime around 280 A.D. in Patara, near Myra in modern-day Turkey. Much admired for his piety and kindness, it is said that he gave away all of his inherited wealth and traveled the countryside helping the poor and sick.

In 1809, Washington Irving helped to popularize the legend of Sinter Klaas when he referred to St. Nicholas as the patron saint of New York in his book, “The History of New York”.

In the early 1890s, when the Salvation Army needed money to pay for the free Christmas meals they provided to needy families, they began dressing up unemployed men in Santa Claus suits and sending them into the streets of New York to solicit donations.

Thus began the familiar ritual of a bell ringing Santa making the rounds at shopping malls and popular food outlets.

Do you believe Santa exists? Yes, he does. If you let the spirit of giving enter your heart, Santa lives within you.

Be Santa: give yourself, totally to everyone around you this Christmas. Thank the girl at the supermarket from the bottom of your heart, gift the postman a diary, take a few minutes to chat with the Mudalali of the grocery round the corner.

Time to sign off for this year. Let me too turn Santa before I go. Thank you for reading my articles throughout 2012. Thank you for being a part of my life, even though we have never met.

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