1 Peter 3
Jeremiah 35-36
Psalm 136
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Thoughts and Commentary on Today's Reading
Continuing with day three on Christmas and its traditions, today we will look at the origins of Santa Claus, or "saint Nick" as he is sometimes called. Where did the Santa tradition come from?
In pre-Christian Scandinavia, Nimrod was
called Odin (who was called Nimrod in ancient Babylon), whose son was Yule (Tammuz). During the Norsemen’s December celebrations
of Yuletide (Yule's birthday - remember Tammuz was born on December 25?), the Yule log – which happened to be another
phallic symbol – was burned in a huge bon fire for 12 days.
During
these twelve days of Yuletide, animals and humans were sacrificed on the Yule
fire as an offering to Odin and his unholy son, Yule. It is these sacrifices that are remembered
(with a few modern adaptations) in the well-known Christmas
carol, “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”
The Norsemen developed the tradition of placing a flame in the
window of their homes throughout the season of Yuletide. This flame proclaimed
their loyalty to Odin and Yule for all to see. By lighting this flame every
night throughout this season, the occupants of the home demonstrated that they
were keeping the spirit of Yule in their home.
The more candles, or later oil lamps, were displayed in a
home, the more fervently did they proclaim their worship and loyalty to Yule. This
pagan practice is the reason why we have Christmas lights on homes to this day.
Another
Christmas tradition is the hanging of mistletoe. Where did the idea of a young woman having to
give a young man a kiss if under mistletoe come from?
This
Christmas tradition hales from witchcraft.
Practitioners
Thus,
the mistletoe tradition lended to the sexual orgy atmosphere associated
with ancient December 25 celebrations.
The tradition of decking the halls with boughs of
holly is another pagan practice which hales from pre-Christian druidic
witchcraft.
Holly
was believed to possess the mystical power to ward off evil spirits. Its protective capabilities were said to be
strengthened when the holly was fashioned into a sun-shaped ring. Anciently,
these wreaths were worn on one’s head, and hung about the home.
And that brings us to Santa himself...
Who is Santa Claus, the jolly old elf with supposed god-like qualities? Actually the
myth of Santa is a joining of many pagan teachings from several countries.
Many believed in the stories of hearth
gods who would bless your house with warmth
and well-cooked food by coming down the chimney once a year dressed in red
suits.
It is
from the tradition of leaving milk and cookies to please the hearth gods that
we get the Christmas tradition of leaving treats for Santa.
But the
hearth gods were more like dwarves in height.
Santa’s own height and bearded appearance came from Odin, of the
pre-Christian Norsemen.
Odin,
the Norse supreme god, was believed to wander throughout the land during the
time of the winter solstice. This was not a happy occasion for the pagan
believers however, as Odin’s presence meant possible death. The Norsemen believed it was up to Odin to
determine which persons would prosper and which would die during this
terrifying time.
Another ingredient dumped into the Santa
composite is the myth of Father Christmas.
Father Christmas, known in some places as Saint Nicholas, was said to
have captured and enslaved the devil himself. Thus, Father Christmas traveled
the land accompanied by his devilish familiar in the shape of a black goat,
called Knecht
Father
Christmas would travel from house to house during the winter solstice asking
the children to repeat a verse or do some other task he asked. If Father
Christmas was not satisfied with the goodness of the child, by their ability to
comply, he would turn them over to Knecht Ruprecht to be taken (if they were really bad),
or given switches for if they were deemed only a bit bad. Nineteenth century writer, Theodore Storm, wrote in
some detail how children were to use these switches given by Knecht Ruprecht in
sadomasochistic practices.
If
the child had been good, Ruprecht would drop candy and small gifts into
the children’s shoes – set out by the fireplace for this purpose. It is this pagan belief
that is behind the tradition of hanging
Christmas stockings to this day.
To smooth over the demonic truth about the
myth of St. Nicholas and Knect Ruprecht (pictured on the right) this
legend came to be directly associated with the Christ child. This was nothing
short of blasphemous.
In Germany, St.
Nicholas was also known as Weihnactsmann, which is translated as Santa
Claus.
Because the shape of Knecht Ruprect was
obviously like the well-known demonic goat,
those attempting to Christianize this pagan teaching knew that St. Nicholas’
famous familiar needed to be disguised a bit if Christians were going to be tempted to join the festivities.
In about 1819, an Episcopalian minister Clement Clarke
Moore, wrote a decidedly secular tale originally titled A Visit from Saint
Nicholas.
The poem later came to be known as The Night Before Christmas.
The
sinister Knecht Ruprecht had
been replaced by eight magical reindeer and the stern St. Nicholas had fully metamorphosized into the jolly Santa Claus.
Moore’s
poem was published in the Troy Sentinel in New York. It became an overnight sensation. Now the
evolution of Christmas was complete.
Gone were the obvious shades of darkness as the satanic elf and his devilish
familiar were now packaged kiddy cute.
At first,
Moore (pictured on the left) feared that the Christian reaction to his decidedly pagan poem would harm
his position as a minister. Thus, years
went by and the poem remained unclaimed by him.
Eventually,
the public’s praise of this poem grew to such a height that Moore could not
resist admitting it to be his work.
Santa
Claus, and his horned magical reindeer, had come to stay due to the work of
this minister.
And there's more to the story, but I'll save that for the next (and final) segment on Unwrapping Christmas... For now, let me leave it with a Scripture:
Revelation 18:1-5 "And after these things I saw another angel come down from Heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities."
