Santa, the Christmas Hero
Once again, it’s CHRISTMAS TIME!!! Who doesn’t look forward to this wonderful holiday associated with joy, gift-giving, Christmas trees, decorative twinkling lights, family get-togethers and of course, the jolly bearded red-suited old man?
You better watch out, you better not cryYou better not pout, I’m telling you whySanta Claus is coming to town
As this popular Christmas rhyme goes, Santa is the one cause for celebration for children, when Christmas comes around. According to popular tradition, Santa Claus lives in the North Pole with his nine reindeer (eight + Rudolph), and has a toy workshop in which a large number of magical elves help him to produce all the toys before Christmas Eve. In a single night, he manages to distribute all the toys to children all over the world according to a ‘naughty and nice’ list, driven around on his reindeer-driven sleigh. The nice kids get toys, and the naughty kids get a lump of coal (actually, I would appreciate the coal right now- fuel is getting pretty expensive).
The origins of the present idea of Santa Claus are drawn from many cultures. He is inspired primarily by Saint Nicholas of Myra in Turkey, a 4th century Greek Christian bishop known to be very benevolent and generous to the poor. A lot of parallels have been drawn between Santa and the Norse god Odin, who would lead a great hunting party through the sky during the Germanic holiday of Yule on his eight-legged horse named Sleipnir. According to some traditions, children would place their boots filled with straw, carrots or sugar for Sleipnir to eat, and Odin would then reward the children for their kindness by replacing Sleipnir’s food with gifts or candy. Santa’s present image of being jovial, bearded and plump, and wearing a fur-lined red robe was spawned by the imagination of many cartoonists over the years.
Poor Santa has been receiving a lot of flak lately. Many Christians believe that Santa takes away the focus of Christmas being the birth of Jesus Christ, to being a commercial holiday season. This is actually quite true. When you first think of Christmas, how many of you actually remember it to be the celebration of the birth of Jesus, rather than a joyful secular holiday associated with gifts, Christmas trees, snow, mistletoe and Santa Claus? Santa has been burdened with materialism, corporate greed and domination by the media. A section of society also believes that it is wrong to go to such great lengths to deceive children into believing in the existence of a magical being who distributes gifts.
However, it cannot be denied that Santa Claus contributes greatly to the Christmas spirit. In this cynical and sceptical age, it is important to believe that generosity and love and joy exist. How dreary would the world be without Santa Claus! Without Santa, you might as well not believe in fairies or magic. He becomes real in our hearts with childlike faith in the joy and beauty of Christmas. As Santa Claus would say, “Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas everybody!”
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