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Santa Claus: Difference between revisions
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{{Useful Notes}}{{featured article}}
[[File:santa reindeer sleigh 5423.jpg|frame| Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!]]
{{quote|''Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas!''}}
The best known (at least in modern times) mascot of Christmas, developed in the United States as an amalgam of the story of St. Nicholas of Myra and various other seasonal folk heroes, with many aspects provided by the classic poem ''A Visit From St. Nicholas'' (popularly known by its first line, '' '[[Twas the Night Before Christmas]]'').
The '''Santa Claus''' myth is based largely on the Dutch holiday of "Sinterklaas" (a hastily pronounced "St. Nicholas", who comes down the chimney on the 5th/6 December) and the imagery of the Saint in question carried over to his North Pole incarnation. In the original stories, Sinterklaas was accompanied by black slaves; these have become demons ([[The Krampus]]) in German-speaking culture, and [[Christmas Elves|friendly elves]] in the USA. In the Netherlands, the black
Santa Claus is universally envisioned as a [[Big Fun|festively overweight]] old man with [[Badass Beard|a long white or silver beard]], who wears a red suit [[Pretty in Mink|with white trim]] (originally a red bishop's robe and [[wikipedia:Camauro|''camauro]]) and a matching [[Nice Hat|cap]], black boots and a vast black belt worn across his belly. He lives at the North Pole (or in Lapland, or in Spain, or somewhere else depending on your culture - the original St. Nick was Greek, from a city in what is now Turkey) in a large workshop staffed by elves (diminutive commercial-friendly elves, not tall proud Tolkien-type elves) who are often [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|far older than they look]], which produces toys year round, and every Christmas Eve he sets out in a flying sleigh pulled by eight reindeer named Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen (with an option on a ninth, in the form of [[Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer|Rudolph]], on nights with poor visibility), and delivers toys and other gifts to the children of the world out of the [[Bag of Holding|improbably roomy sack]] he carries with him, entering their houses by the chimney, filling their stockings, partaking of whatever food and drink the family left out for him, then leaving how he came in.
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Also, for humorous effect he is often portrayed as a [[Bad Santa|cold-hearted tyrant]], running his workshop with an iron fist while the elves are a disgruntled workforce. The most vicious recent skewering was at the hands of ''[[Futurama]]'', which introduced a futuristic robot-Santa who judged the entire world as naughty {{spoiler|except Zoidberg}} and hunted down the worst offenders every Christmas. Running a close second is the revelation by Anya in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' that not only did Santa Claus exist, he was in fact a bloodthirsty demon - perhaps inspired by the devil present in older stories of him.
Since straight portrayals of Santa Claus in fiction have become classics, and re-aired every year, most recent works involving Santa Claus are parodies, deconstructions, or other twists on the legend. Even in strict children's fare, there is always some kind of wry twist on the material: in ''[[Narnia|The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe]]'', for example, Father Christmas muses that he hasn't been to Narnia for many, many years, and proceeds to hand out lethal weaponry such as bows, arrows, and swords to three of the prepubescent protagonists. A major exception is the recent film ''[[The Polar Express]]'' (although, in all fairness, he's portrayed as less jolly than Santa usually is).
Since the beginning of the twentieth century, there has also been a small movement to explain how Santa came to be, and continues to be. The most prominent backstory for the modern Santa (meaning, not derived from various folklore), comes from [[L. Frank Baum]]'s (of ''[[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]]'' fame) novel, ''The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus''. This story gives Santa a bit of [[The Lord of the Rings]] treatment, as there's plenty of strife and battles between the good fairies that raised Santa, and their enemies, a group of rock-monsters. This story has been made into at least two animated films, and continues to be one of the most popular backstories for Santa over 100 years after its first publication. Speaking of Tolkien, he too made his own spin on Santa Claus in ''[[The Father Christmas Letters]]''. ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' has Harry saying that Santa is a fairy.<ref>Butcher has hinted that he is basically the Fairy King of Winter and a counterpoart of sorts to Mab. One may assume he represents the goodwill and generosity that the harshness of Winter (Mab) brings out in people. Either way, he is a [[Badass]], and Harry knows it.</ref> Harry's not willing to summon him either. He'll mess with [[The Fair Folk]], but Santa, no way.
The name "Santa Claus" comes from a Dutch variation of the name "St. Nicholas", "Sinterklaas". It is ''not'', despite what fundamentalist [[Moral Guardians]] like to claim, an anagram of [[Satan]]. Well, it is, but that's decidedly unintentional. And his last name is spelled C-L-A-U-S, ''not'' C-L-A-U-S-E; the latter is part of a sentence or part of a legal contract. This was the basis for a famous Marx Brothers joke. ("There ain't no sanity clause!") The title of the movie ''[[The Santa Clause (film series)|The Santa Clause]]'' was an intentional pun on this.
An additional note, often in England and Australia Santa Claus is called "Father Christmas" (such as the C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien examples above). Although Santa Claus and Father Christmas have picked up many attributes from each other, and are now considered the same person, they were originally distinct characters. Father Christmas was an incarnation of Christmas, particularly of the feasting and drinking, and wore a robe rather than the suit that Santa Claus wears. He was considered to be as old as the first Christmas (unlike St. Nicholas who lived in the fourth century).<ref>As Wiccans will be happy to tell you, he may even be older than that, as the Yule Father, the dating is ambiguous though</ref> Examples of Father Christmas from before his merger with Santa Claus can be found in the Ghost of Christmas Present in ''[[A Christmas Carol]]'' by Dickens, and in the traditional plays of English [[Mummers]].
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* The model for the infamous old man on the lying cover of [[Phalanx]] had just come from a Santa shoot.
* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''[[Prospero's Daughter|Prospero Lost]]'', when Miranda is seeking refuge from demons, she is guided into a mall and finds that the [[Mall Santa]] really is Father Christmas. Later, she and Mab visit him to use his pool to look for some children. While there, she takes a gift from [[The Fair Folk|an elf]]—usually a foolish thing, but she knows under his roof, it must be safe.
* [[Harlan Ellison]]'s "Santa Claus vs. S.P.I.D.E.R." reveals that "Kris" is a secret agent in the [[James Bond]] (movie) style, his corpulence an [[Powered Armor|armored suit]] with rocket-assisted jumping, machine guns, and high-pressure hoses up the sleeves to blast out either water or [[Kill It with Fire|flaming gasoline]]. His red nose and white beard are disguised weapons, too. He's working against an evil group that's taken over the minds of key U.S. politicians to make them racists, war-mongers, and polluters.
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