Many Europeans reject Santa Claus. In Prague, Czech Republic, several advertising agencies are waging a campaign called “Santa Claus Go Home!” In Paderborn, Germany, Catholics too are speaking out loud and clear. And last year, in Glasgow, Scotland, a billboard went up announcing that “Santa Gives More To Rich Kids Than Poor Kids” and “Stop Lying To Your Children About Santa Claus”.
Many across the world resent the ousting of the infant Jesus in the mangeras the traditional symbol of Christmas, and of old heroes like Saint Nick, by the interloper, the “American Santa”, who to them stands for cultural colonization and callous commercialization.
Moreover, Santa is not who he purports to be. As his name suggests, he claims to be based on the popular Sinterklaas, who in turn is based on Saint Nicholas, a real historical figure of the early Christian Church. But, though Santa too is dressed in a bishop’s red and white, he is no longer a “Saint” in the technical sense of the word. His secularism may, admittedly, be an advantage in the 21st century, but then again he owes this quality to his commercial origin.
The prologue to the creation of this enormous icon of American culture is set in 1822, when Clement Moore wrote “The Night Before Christmas”. This song purports to be about Saint Nick. But wait… Reindeer pulling a sleigh? Saint Nick dressed in fur? The worst is still to come: merry dimples, cheeks like roses, a nose like a cherry, a droll little mouth and a round belly? A chubby and plump, a jolly old elf smoking a pipe? Oh dear! Saint Nick is dignified, strict, tall and appropriately, ascetically, lean. Any jolliness is left to his servants). If you dare to laugh at him, you bet there will be something to dread!
Nevertheless this was the image that Americans loved. So in 1863 and 1886 the popular magazine Harper’s Weekly ran a series of engravings by the illustrator Thomas Nast, based on Moore’s picture. But Santa triumph came in 1931, when Coca-Cola ran similar images by Haddon Sundblom for its ads.
So when many Europeans despise Santa Claus, they are offended by the apparent mockery of their own more dignified symbols for cheer at the end of the year. They scorn the fact that he is artificial and “simple”, not having grown, like their Saint Nick, out of a long and time-tested cultural historical process. Lastly, Santa stands for Coca Cola… which they revile just as they drink it, often by the liter!
More in Customs and Holidays:
- Sinterklaas or St. Nicholas: pagan, Christian, and Colonial versions of the Children's Saint
- Belgium and Holland's Black Peter: Ruprecht, Schmutzlis, Krampus, Housecker, Pere Fouettard, and St. Nick's other helpers
- The Historical St. Nicholas: Eastern Europe reveres the man some call Sinterklaas
- A detailed Christmas Timeline
