Who’s the Fat Guy in the Red Suit?

Ah Christmas time. It brings warmth to your soul just thinking about the season doesn’t it? We all have fond memories of family and friends, Christmas gatherings and giving and receiving gifts.

Where did it all begin?

Christmas is celebrated throughout the world by almost every culture in one form or another. There are winter stories told as long as stories have ever been passed down from generation to generation.

Here in America Christmas has a decidedly Christian flare, but it wasn’t always that way. Did you know almost every Christmas tradition predates the Christian religion?

This sort of talk always makes Christians angry, because it infringes on “their holiday”. At the risk of making even more Christians dislike me, and this web site, let’s take a brief look at one Christmas icon, Santa Claus, or if you’d prefer, Father Christmas.

The figure of Santa Claus, which we can all relate to, is actually an amalgamation of several gods from time gone by. The “Reader’s Digest Big Book of Christmas” relates that Santa’s origins stem from the Norse king of gods, Odin. He certainly looks the part as the father of Norse mythology, a larger-then-life figure with a full white beard.

Although Odin looks the part his son, Thor, may have had a hand in creating some of the legend as well.

You see it’s been told that Odin’s son, Thor, rode through the skies in his chariot being pulled by two magical goats named, Tanngrísnir (Tooth-Gnasher) and Tanngnjóstr (Tooth-Grinder). Hmm, yelling, “on Gnasher, on Grinder” doesn’t sound as nice as the current reindeer names do they?

The Christians added their own entry with stories of a kind man named Nicholas, who was very giving and in one instance dropped three bags of gold down a chimney so that their father could afford their dowry and they could marry. The gold just happened to land in each of the girl’s stockings that were being hung by the fireplace to dry.

Nicholas the gift giver became St. Nicholas, and a feast for him was celebrated on the 6th of December. When the church stopped celebrating different days for different saints, St. Nicholas merged into the December 25th celebration of the birth of Christ.

What is more fascinating is that many cultures had their own twist on a kindly old gentleman who brought gifts during the time of winter celebrations. In Germany it was Christkind (meaning Christ Child) or Kris Kringle, the Dutch had Sinter Claas, a shortend form of Sint Nikolaas (Dutch for St. Nicholas) who would place gifts by the cinders of a fireplace.


Santa Claus didn’t really take off as the striking figure he is today until Clement Clarke Moore wrote, “An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas" in 1822, which later became, “The Night Before Christmas”. In his poem Moore describes St. Nicholas as a “right jolly old elf” with “a little round belly”, who had a “miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer”. Rudolph wasn’t with him in those days.

Describing St. Nicholas as an elf brings into the mix the stories from the Norse and Germanic peoples who tell of a Yule Elf that brought them presents on winter solstice if they left offerings of porridge. This brings us back to Odin, who was a Norse god, and identified as “Jolnir”, the “Lord of the Yule”.

As an elf, Santa is also linked to the faerie folk. Did you know that bringing Christmas trees inside, and other evergreen decorations such as wreaths, were originally to give the faerie folk a place to come in and stay out of the harsh cold of winter? If you provided these magical creatures a temporary haven from the winter weather they would bestow upon your home their favor and blessings for the year ahead.

Elves seem to get most of the press, and are the workforce for Santa, and why not? Elves love little shiny things such as toys and lights, and enjoy being little tricksters. Being related to these little people, Santa is a bit of a trickster himself. After all, if you’re naughty you will get a lump of coal.

Be thankful you didn’t live in some European towns long ago. It was known there, that St. Nicholas traveled with a helper called, “Black Peter” who carried a sack of switches. If they visited a home with naughty children Black Peter would beg St. Nicholas to let him punish them. Luckily, St. Nicholas was so kind that he would almost always intervene and give all the children presents anyway.

Guess a lump of coal isn’t so bad after all.

Do I believe in Santa Claus? You bet I do. To me, Father Christmas shows that the spirit of Christmas is caring for each other. It’s giving to others, whether gifts to loved ones, or to those less fortunate then we are. He’s the ambassador to “Peace on Earth and Goodwill”.

In my heart, Santa Claus exists. Every year he magically enters our home, eating our carefully prepared cookies, and washing them down with milk. His reindeer also get a much-needed snack after pulling the little fat cookie addict all over the world in his sleigh.

Our home is decorated with evergreens, and little lights to please the faerie folk, and with any luck they will bless on our home this coming year.

More important, Santa Claus instills magic in the hearts of our children, and a twinkle in their eyes as they wander around taking in every sight of this wonderful time of year. When they go to bed they dream fantastic dreams, and anxiously wait for the day when they are visited by a kind and gentle man, letting them know that they have been good enough for his treats yet again.

How can you not believe in Santa Claus if he has the power to have this much impact on the children of the world?

It’s time for me to wrap this article up, and head off to bed. Perhaps I will dream of Christmas, the faerie folk, and Santa. I can’t imagine a world without the image of St. Nicholas, and I feel sorry for those who deprive their children of the magic of the Christmas season.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Thanks!

Imagine living in a crude log home. The winter is coming soon, and you have no food to get you through. You look at your neighbor and wonder how long you could get by if you cooked him. But your neighbor is getting just as thin as you are, and you realize there isn’t enough meat on his bones to feed you and your family for long. Enduring many months on a ship to make it to your new home where you are free from religious oppression, and now it seems that you will all die.

As all of these terrible thoughts are going through your head, you see a movement in the bushes on the other side of the clearing. The native people of this new land have seen your plight and have come to help feed you, and to show you how to make a living off the land of your chosen new home. This one act of friendship, and caring, will mean the destruction of these same natives.

We celebrate Thanksgiving and fondly remember the kind Native-Americans who provided the necessary food for our forefathers to survive on this continent. Without them, things may have been a lot different in the world. Unfortunately, I don’t think the Native-Americans would have survived no matter who first claimed North America.

The sad truth is, if it weren’t for one group of white men it would be another. England, Spain, France and others were all poised to try and claim North America for their own. The downfall of the Native-Americans was that they were too nice. They were the unfortunate casualty of progress in the modern world.

As we celebrate Thanksgiving, let’s remember the Native-Americans, the African-Americans, the Irish-Americans, and all of the other hyphenated Americans and emigrants that helped to build this country up to what it is today. Many different cultures poured a lot of sweat and blood into this country, and many more have gave their lives defending that way of life even today.

There will be a lot of articles that will talk about the men and women that are now serving this country at home and overseas. This is just another one of those articles. I’d like to think that the quantity of these types of articles show that Americans do understand what is at stake, and just who is to thank for their ability to eat turkey until they have to undo their pants and sit on the couch to watch football.

Our military are on every continent, and just about in every country on this planet. Every one of them is there for one purpose and one purpose only. To ensure that those of us that are living back here in the United States have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving.

Many of our military will spend the holiday season eating sand and walking around with targets painted on their backs so that they draw the attention, and the war, away from their families and friends in this country.

The attack on 9-1-1 was horrendous. Not simply because we were being attacked on our own soil, but for who was attacked. Thousands of innocent people were slaughtered with no remorse of the action. Historically an enemy would focus their attacks on military targets. That is what the military does. Its purpose is to place itself in harms way so that the people they represent don’t have to. Almost every country believes this, and follows this unspoken rule; until recently.

The enemy we now face is the worst form of coward I have ever known. They sneak around blowing up innocent non-combatant civilians. For some bizarre reason they think that their war involves anyone who does not think as they do. They are like a cancer on this planet, and they spread their vile filth to the minds of their children. Never mind the fact that their twisted sense of war has not worked throughout the history of this planet, and will never work or allow them to ever achieve their goals.

This is why the rest of the world views them for what they are, spineless, cowardly, murderers of innocent people. Nice religion folks. I would really love to see some sort of goals based on their beliefs. Do they honestly think they can kill every living soul who does not believe as they do? Do they honestly think that this will attract more people over to their way of thinking?

It’s easy to brainwash idiotic citizens when you prevent them from learning and to thrive with freedom. Once the communication doors are open, and freedom takes hold in a country, it’s hard to put the genie back in the bottle. The Soviet Union attempted this a while back and it didn’t go very far at all. Free people will not be oppressed again. They will fight to remain free!

This Thanksgiving we all have a lot to be thankful for. Top on the list is our freedom. A close second is the ability to bring freedom to others who have known only fear and hatred. Terrorist will eventually run out of steam, and supporters. The eyes of the Earth are being pried open slowly. Soon, there will be very few people left who are in the dark.

I am thankful for the men and women, both past and present, which have fought for the freedom that we now enjoy. I am thankful for a strong president that was able to stand up against the weaker of our nation and lead the fight a little further to rid this world of evil. And I am thankful that I live in a country where I am free to write down my views and share with you all my thoughts whether they are a popular position or not.

Happy Thanksgiving!