Is Santa Claus A Religious Figure?
May 14, 2010 8:18 AM
Is Santa Claus a religious figure? I'm interested both in your individual personal opinions and any judicial opinions that might be out there from a church/state standpoint.
Quasi-religious maybe? In the US, no more religious than the Easter Bunny, just a tack-on to go along with the secular, materialist trappings of the holidays. Outside the US, the St. Nicholas traditions probably have roots closer to religious celebration.
posted by padraigin at 8:21 AM on May 14, 2010
posted by padraigin at 8:21 AM on May 14, 2010
It depends where you are. The Soviet Union de-religion'd him - and changed gift exchanges from Christmas to New Year's - in order to fit him into the ideology without taking the holiday away.
posted by griphus at 8:21 AM on May 14, 2010
posted by griphus at 8:21 AM on May 14, 2010
Santa Claus's origins are certainly religious in background - if I'm not mistaken, he is based on the Dutch Sinter Klaas, or Saint Nicholas.
By now, though, he couldn't be more secular if he tried.
posted by LN at 8:23 AM on May 14, 2010
By now, though, he couldn't be more secular if he tried.
posted by LN at 8:23 AM on May 14, 2010
By now, though, he couldn't be more secular if he tried.
This is not true. I feel like a broken record answering these questions but... Santa Claus is a figure that represents a Christian holiday. Some non-Christians may choose to celebrate Christmas but that does not make it a secular holiday, or Santa Claus a secular figure.
posted by amro at 8:29 AM on May 14, 2010
This is not true. I feel like a broken record answering these questions but... Santa Claus is a figure that represents a Christian holiday. Some non-Christians may choose to celebrate Christmas but that does not make it a secular holiday, or Santa Claus a secular figure.
posted by amro at 8:29 AM on May 14, 2010
No, he's a mythological figure with a religous historical background/
posted by anastasiav at 8:29 AM on May 14, 2010
posted by anastasiav at 8:29 AM on May 14, 2010
Yes on Saint Nicholas for sure. He is the patron of children among others. In our house, the secular Coca Cola Santa Claus...not so much.
Christmas Day in our home is the culmination of Advent, and really only the beginning of the Christmas Season, which ends on Epiphany or Twelfth Night. We're very big on observance of the liturgical seasons here.
posted by jquinby at 8:29 AM on May 14, 2010
Christmas Day in our home is the culmination of Advent, and really only the beginning of the Christmas Season, which ends on Epiphany or Twelfth Night. We're very big on observance of the liturgical seasons here.
posted by jquinby at 8:29 AM on May 14, 2010
The Marxist in me would argue that Santa Claus in his current form is just as religious as his origin: children praying to the red-suited God (sitting on his lap), offering tokens of sacrifice (milk and cookies), and a symbolic leap of faith (going to sleep without ever seeing the Sleigh-God coming down the chimney) all with the hope of material gain. Add to that years of mythology and artifice, we’ve got ourselves a religious figure – even if it’s only children that believe in him.
posted by Think_Long at 8:32 AM on May 14, 2010
posted by Think_Long at 8:32 AM on May 14, 2010
...Santa Claus is a figure that represents a Christian holiday.
I don't think it can be explained away that facilely. Saint Nicholas was definitely religious, but the social construction of Santa Claus through the post-war period has completely stripped him of any association with the "Christ" part of Christmas. This is why certain fundamentalists resent the idea and, for instance, exchange gifts on Three Kings Day instead of Christmas which is supposed to be devoted to Jesus.
The current incarnation of Santa is a result of the secularization of society in the post-war suburban-exodus period. Religion was something that stayed behind closed doors. A presidential candidate mentioning god as much as GWB did, for instance, would be unheard of.
posted by griphus at 8:33 AM on May 14, 2010
I don't think it can be explained away that facilely. Saint Nicholas was definitely religious, but the social construction of Santa Claus through the post-war period has completely stripped him of any association with the "Christ" part of Christmas. This is why certain fundamentalists resent the idea and, for instance, exchange gifts on Three Kings Day instead of Christmas which is supposed to be devoted to Jesus.
The current incarnation of Santa is a result of the secularization of society in the post-war suburban-exodus period. Religion was something that stayed behind closed doors. A presidential candidate mentioning god as much as GWB did, for instance, would be unheard of.
posted by griphus at 8:33 AM on May 14, 2010
The Marxist in me would argue that Santa Claus in his current form is just as religious as his origin: children praying to the red-suited God (sitting on his lap), offering tokens of sacrifice (milk and cookies), and a symbolic leap of faith (going to sleep without ever seeing the Sleigh-God coming down the chimney) all with the hope of material gain. Add to that years of mythology and artifice, we’ve got ourselves a religious figure – even if it’s only children that believe in him.
Plus, being rewarded for your goodness and punished for your naughtiness. You make a good point indeed.
posted by padraigin at 8:34 AM on May 14, 2010
Plus, being rewarded for your goodness and punished for your naughtiness. You make a good point indeed.
posted by padraigin at 8:34 AM on May 14, 2010
Saint Nicholas was definitely religious, but the social construction of Santa Claus through the post-war period has completely stripped him of any association with the "Christ" part of Christmas.
Okay, I can see what you mean. I put Santa Claus and Christmas trees on the same level: symbols of a Christian holiday that really have nothing to do with Christ. But that doesn't make them secular symbols.
posted by amro at 8:38 AM on May 14, 2010
Okay, I can see what you mean. I put Santa Claus and Christmas trees on the same level: symbols of a Christian holiday that really have nothing to do with Christ. But that doesn't make them secular symbols.
posted by amro at 8:38 AM on May 14, 2010
Some non-Christians may choose to celebrate Christmas but that does not make it a secular holiday, or Santa Claus a secular figure
Santa Claus lives at the North Pole and flies around in a sled pulled by reindeer. Would you feel comfortable invoking his holy holy name in a church?
posted by soma lkzx at 8:38 AM on May 14, 2010
Santa Claus lives at the North Pole and flies around in a sled pulled by reindeer. Would you feel comfortable invoking his holy holy name in a church?
posted by soma lkzx at 8:38 AM on May 14, 2010
No, but I wouldn't feel comfortable displaying his image in my non-christian home, either.
posted by amro at 8:41 AM on May 14, 2010
posted by amro at 8:41 AM on May 14, 2010
Though really, I don't even know what "invoking his holy name" means.
posted by amro at 8:43 AM on May 14, 2010
posted by amro at 8:43 AM on May 14, 2010
While Christmas is without doubt a Christian holiday, Santa Claus is just a Christian fairy tale, who is not believed to be factual except by small children. If Santa Claus is considered to be a religious figure, then the Grinch (from Dr. Seus) would qualify equally well.
posted by grizzled at 8:58 AM on May 14, 2010
posted by grizzled at 8:58 AM on May 14, 2010
...symbols of a Christian holiday that really have nothing to do with Christ. But that doesn't make them secular symbols.
Well, there was a sort of schism w/r/t Christmas. There is the Christmas of masses and Jesus' birth and all that, and the Christmas of reindeer and lights and presents that is adapted from the pagan Yule and the Equinox holidays present in every culture with significant winter. Due to this, this Santa-Christmas which in media and celebration is totally split off from Jesus-Christmas is pretty much a separate holiday. Santa-Christmas as Americans celebrate it is distinct from, say, the Dutch or the Danish or the Spanish. It is is a uniquely American holiday with Christian origins, just like its basis is a uniquely Christian holiday with pagan origins. Santa is not a purely secular symbol, but he is also not a religious symbol. There's some hazy middle ground the tradition occupies that allows everyone to get in on it (which was the point of the equinox celebrations in the first place) without having to overtly identify with Jesus.
posted by griphus at 8:58 AM on May 14, 2010
Well, there was a sort of schism w/r/t Christmas. There is the Christmas of masses and Jesus' birth and all that, and the Christmas of reindeer and lights and presents that is adapted from the pagan Yule and the Equinox holidays present in every culture with significant winter. Due to this, this Santa-Christmas which in media and celebration is totally split off from Jesus-Christmas is pretty much a separate holiday. Santa-Christmas as Americans celebrate it is distinct from, say, the Dutch or the Danish or the Spanish. It is is a uniquely American holiday with Christian origins, just like its basis is a uniquely Christian holiday with pagan origins. Santa is not a purely secular symbol, but he is also not a religious symbol. There's some hazy middle ground the tradition occupies that allows everyone to get in on it (which was the point of the equinox celebrations in the first place) without having to overtly identify with Jesus.
posted by griphus at 8:58 AM on May 14, 2010
If you dig far enough, no, Santa Claus isn't religious, at least not Christian, and neither is the the Christmas tree or the Easter bunny. These symbols and traditions have pagan and folktale origins. Christians infiltrated and appropriated from all kinds of religions. Still do. The Mexican Day of the Dead celebrations may seam very Catholic-flavored now, blending with All Souls Day, but the bones and offerings part goes back to the Aztecs.
Christians don't encourage people to study pagan and early religion because it confused the nice clean narrative they need you to believe. And the time line is troubling. Unless you want to believe that this was all part of God's plan.
posted by tula at 8:59 AM on May 14, 2010
Christians don't encourage people to study pagan and early religion because it confused the nice clean narrative they need you to believe. And the time line is troubling. Unless you want to believe that this was all part of God's plan.
posted by tula at 8:59 AM on May 14, 2010
...the Equinox holidays...
...theequinox celebrations...
Solstice
posted by griphus at 9:02 AM on May 14, 2010
...the
Solstice
posted by griphus at 9:02 AM on May 14, 2010
I think he's still in a state of flux on the journey of transformation from religious to non-religious. As much as amro states that I wouldn't feel comfortable displaying his image in my non-christian home, I can also tell you that going to Catholic schools in the 70's we did not include any Santa/Rudolph/Frosty songs in our holiday programs. Christmas was for celebrating the birth of Christ. Yes, we celebrated Saint Nicholas day on Dec 6, but not with the commercial Santa Claus.
So it looks to me like Santa is not religious enough for "real" Christians who celebrate the "true meaning of Christmas", but he's too religious for non-Christians.
posted by CathyG at 9:07 AM on May 14, 2010
So it looks to me like Santa is not religious enough for "real" Christians who celebrate the "true meaning of Christmas", but he's too religious for non-Christians.
posted by CathyG at 9:07 AM on May 14, 2010
See also, A Jewish parent's guide to Christmas specials By Dahlia Lithwick.
posted by alms at 9:28 AM on May 14, 2010
posted by alms at 9:28 AM on May 14, 2010
Santa Claus is no more a religious figure than Casper the Friendly Ghost is.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:31 AM on May 14, 2010
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:31 AM on May 14, 2010
Although he may not be a religious figure, his whole being is founded on morality and a reward system for children. Sometimes I feel parents use the idea of Santa the same way the church uses their central figures and notions of heaven and hell to get people in line.
But that's just cynical old me.
posted by cazoo at 9:41 AM on May 14, 2010
But that's just cynical old me.
posted by cazoo at 9:41 AM on May 14, 2010
I'm inclined toward non-religious: simply put, there is no place for Santa Claus in any religious tradition surrounding the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.
Taking it from another angle, today he functions as a commercial mascot, nothing more, which makes a holiday out of Christmas for secular people and adds a secular dimension to it for religious people.
It is true that he derives somehow from Saint Nicholas. St. Nicholas was the Bishop of Smyrna (think Turkey) hundreds of years ago, but that association is as relevant today as any "holiday" is to the religious "holy days" from which the word comes. It's just that over time, we've tacked his name onto a face and a set of traditions that have very little to do with him.
posted by kensington314 at 9:42 AM on May 14, 2010
Taking it from another angle, today he functions as a commercial mascot, nothing more, which makes a holiday out of Christmas for secular people and adds a secular dimension to it for religious people.
It is true that he derives somehow from Saint Nicholas. St. Nicholas was the Bishop of Smyrna (think Turkey) hundreds of years ago, but that association is as relevant today as any "holiday" is to the religious "holy days" from which the word comes. It's just that over time, we've tacked his name onto a face and a set of traditions that have very little to do with him.
posted by kensington314 at 9:42 AM on May 14, 2010
[A couple comments removed. The question is answerable, people are doing a pretty good job of it, but please let's skip the jokes and everybody try and keep judgemental comments pro- or con-religion out of it.]
posted by cortex at 10:12 AM on May 14, 2010
posted by cortex at 10:12 AM on May 14, 2010
David Sedaris has a (hilarious!) essay called "Six To Eight Black Men," about the differences of celebrating Santa-Christmas in different traditions and how absurd certain traditions seem to people in different cultures. The audiobook version is on YouTube, but I can't access it at work. I did, however, make a post on my blog about it (and also about the incarnation of Christmas/Santa in the USSR.)
posted by griphus at 10:21 AM on May 14, 2010
posted by griphus at 10:21 AM on May 14, 2010
I think you'll get a very different answer from people who grew up secularly Christian and people who grew up secularly with completely different religions.
To practicing or secular Christians or people who are aethiest but come from Christian backgrounds, Santa is not religious. They can still have him in their homes and it doesn't have anything to do with Christ, etc (or not have him in their homes because he has nothing to do with Christ).
But to a Jew or Muslim or whomever else, Santa is for Christmas, and Christmas is for Christians. You can get into a similar debate about "Merry Christmas" vs "Happy Holidays."
If you've only ever been around Christians or non-practicing people from Christian backgrounds, Santa is just a character who's always been around in your childhood and your home and your friends' homes, but doesn't have anything to do with "religion" or "church," whether you believe/attend or not.
But there are plenty of people in this country and around the world for whom Santa has no place. Santa does not come to Jewish children's homes for Chanukah, and he probably never will. Just like the Easter Bunny doesn't hide the afikomen on Passover.
So I'd say that he's not "religious," but he's part of Christian-American culture.
posted by thebazilist at 10:44 AM on May 14, 2010
To practicing or secular Christians or people who are aethiest but come from Christian backgrounds, Santa is not religious. They can still have him in their homes and it doesn't have anything to do with Christ, etc (or not have him in their homes because he has nothing to do with Christ).
But to a Jew or Muslim or whomever else, Santa is for Christmas, and Christmas is for Christians. You can get into a similar debate about "Merry Christmas" vs "Happy Holidays."
If you've only ever been around Christians or non-practicing people from Christian backgrounds, Santa is just a character who's always been around in your childhood and your home and your friends' homes, but doesn't have anything to do with "religion" or "church," whether you believe/attend or not.
But there are plenty of people in this country and around the world for whom Santa has no place. Santa does not come to Jewish children's homes for Chanukah, and he probably never will. Just like the Easter Bunny doesn't hide the afikomen on Passover.
So I'd say that he's not "religious," but he's part of Christian-American culture.
posted by thebazilist at 10:44 AM on May 14, 2010
As far as church/state separation goes, I know my teacher wife can't put up santa claus in her classroom as it is a symbol for Christmas. I don't know if it's a matter of allowing equal representation (i.e. one menorah per santa) or if she's flat out not allowed. I am pretty sure she's flat out not allowed.
So not a religious figure, but representative of a religious holiday.
posted by bDiddy at 10:46 AM on May 14, 2010
So not a religious figure, but representative of a religious holiday.
posted by bDiddy at 10:46 AM on May 14, 2010
But to a Jew or Muslim or whomever else, Santa is for Christmas, and Christmas is for Christians. ... Santa does not come to Jewish children's homes for Chanukah, and he probably never will.
The practices and beliefs of Jewish households in the US are varied enough that you really ought to qualify that with a lot of "somes" or "mosts". I expect I can find many Jewish households that have Hanukkah bushes or even just Christmas trees, and where Santa brings the kids presents either for Hanukkah or just for a secularized Christmas.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:04 AM on May 14, 2010
The practices and beliefs of Jewish households in the US are varied enough that you really ought to qualify that with a lot of "somes" or "mosts". I expect I can find many Jewish households that have Hanukkah bushes or even just Christmas trees, and where Santa brings the kids presents either for Hanukkah or just for a secularized Christmas.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:04 AM on May 14, 2010
There are a lot of stages here.
St. Nicolas was an invention of the early Christians. He wasn't canonized, he was... grandfathered into sainthood. He's old. Very Christian.
Sinterklaas (and Black Peter) were the Dutch fable version based on St. Nick, who introduced the whole presents thing, the rewarding the good and punishing the wicked (some religious leftovers there), so he's sorta Christian, but it's a faded sort now that's turned into a Hans Christian Anderson story.
Santa Claus was a 20th century commercial recasting (franchise reboot?) of a softer, friendlier St Nick for consumers, an invention of the Coca Cola company. He got a red suit with white fur here, and all the other images you think of as Santa today. There's really no Christianity left here.
The origins don't define the thing today. Claiming that today's "Santa Claus" is Christian makes as much sense as claiming that "Wednesday" is Norse.
posted by rokusan at 11:36 AM on May 14, 2010
St. Nicolas was an invention of the early Christians. He wasn't canonized, he was... grandfathered into sainthood. He's old. Very Christian.
Sinterklaas (and Black Peter) were the Dutch fable version based on St. Nick, who introduced the whole presents thing, the rewarding the good and punishing the wicked (some religious leftovers there), so he's sorta Christian, but it's a faded sort now that's turned into a Hans Christian Anderson story.
Santa Claus was a 20th century commercial recasting (franchise reboot?) of a softer, friendlier St Nick for consumers, an invention of the Coca Cola company. He got a red suit with white fur here, and all the other images you think of as Santa today. There's really no Christianity left here.
The origins don't define the thing today. Claiming that today's "Santa Claus" is Christian makes as much sense as claiming that "Wednesday" is Norse.
posted by rokusan at 11:36 AM on May 14, 2010
My husband and I are non-Christmas-celebrating atheists. I was brought up Christian, he was brought up secular in a home with one Muslim parent and one Jewish parent. Santa Claus doesn't come to our house, mostly on this reasoning: Santa is for Christmas, and Christmas is for Christians. (We celebrate Winter Solstice, no supernatural beings included.)
I'll tell you what is at least near-religious: the devotion of parents around us to the Santa Claus tradition. When we tell people we don't do it, they look at us like they're considering reporting us to Child Protective Services, as though our son is being terribly deprived by receiving presents from the family and friends who love him rather than a home-invading elf.
posted by Daily Alice at 11:52 AM on May 14, 2010
I'll tell you what is at least near-religious: the devotion of parents around us to the Santa Claus tradition. When we tell people we don't do it, they look at us like they're considering reporting us to Child Protective Services, as though our son is being terribly deprived by receiving presents from the family and friends who love him rather than a home-invading elf.
posted by Daily Alice at 11:52 AM on May 14, 2010
Christmas trees, holly, mistletoe and wreaths are symbols of a religion older than Christianity. Santa is based on St. Nicholas.
I was raised Catholic, went to Catholic schools, have been an atheist for a long time. Santa is part of the Christmas Industrial Complex. I've never been a huge Santa fan. But I love the candles, lights, afore-mentioned Christmas trees, holly, mistletoe and wreaths, Hannukkah menorahs, latkes, nativity scenes, and, most of all, Christmas carols. Santa, elves, reindeer, and the tyranny of red and green, which are not that great together, are part and parcel of it.
posted by theora55 at 11:53 AM on May 14, 2010
I was raised Catholic, went to Catholic schools, have been an atheist for a long time. Santa is part of the Christmas Industrial Complex. I've never been a huge Santa fan. But I love the candles, lights, afore-mentioned Christmas trees, holly, mistletoe and wreaths, Hannukkah menorahs, latkes, nativity scenes, and, most of all, Christmas carols. Santa, elves, reindeer, and the tyranny of red and green, which are not that great together, are part and parcel of it.
posted by theora55 at 11:53 AM on May 14, 2010
Some non-Christians may choose to celebrate Christmas but that does not make it a secular holiday, or Santa Claus a secular figure
And some Christians choose to celebrate an end-of-year winter solstice celebration with roots older than history and call it "Christmas," but that doesn't make it a Christian holiday, despite the fact that they reinterpret its symbols with new stories of significance.
The development of the Christmas holiday is amazingly complex (and far more recent than most people realize). I always recommend the remarkable book The Battle for Christmas for an understanding of where our ideas about it come from.
Even though there was a St. Nicholas, he was unrecognizable as today's Santa Claus. A very important step in the codification of Santa Claus was Washington Irving's work, along with a cadre of wealthy cultural leaders in the New York City of the early 1800s. He drew on the St. Nicholas story as an antecedent but created the character of the "jolly old elf" otherwise out of whole cloth. And this was for secular motives. Christmas and the elf character were not connected with religious celebrations at the time - most of the major Protestant religions which were dominant at the time basically ignored Christmas as a holiday and could have cared less what little stories you made up about it. So at the time of his invention in the US, he was a completely secular character, and Christmas a secular holiday. Even though he drew on a Dutch tradition, and Irving made much of that (it was part of his purpose; the wealthy industrialists thought Dutch people were much cleaner and more noble than the filthy poor immigrants taking over NY, and wanted to emphasize Dutch ancestry), the Santa Claus he created bears very little resemblance to the appearance, activities, or associations of Sinterklaas in the Netherlands of the time.
Is it different today? Well, Christmas got co-opted by the revivalist religions in the late 19th century, and the formerly secular seasonal traditions got absorbed into religious purpose (much as we see Halloween today being absorbed into Christian traditions with religious purpose - Hell Houses, or Fall Harvest Night, etc). Santa Claus came along with that, morphing from a little elf into the big Thomas Nast character we imagine him as today. As a result of that religious co-opting or co-evolution, if you will, Santa Claus and all the other trappings of Christmas became intensely associated with Christianity - even though they have utterly different roots.
At the same time as that process was going strong, the US saw increased numbers of immigrants from non-Christian countries, more than there ever had been before. The late 19th and early 20th centuries brought Jews to the US in great numbers. Interestingly, a lot of early Jewish immigrants adopted Christmas traditions and celebrations, because they were "American." Jewish leaders, though, seeing that they were increasingly associated not with seasonality but with Christianity, explicitly began teaching that Santa Claus, Christmas trees, etc did not belong in the lives of Jewish people. I've seen some interesting screeds from around 1890 -1910 in the Jewish press warning parents against taking up Christmas, things like "Should Jews Keep Christmas?", and recommending the celebration of Hanukkah instead. That's one reason Hanukkah, really a minor holiday in the Jewish calendar, gets much bigger play in America than elsewhere.
So the schism that developed during the religious revivals of the late 19th century was basically responsible for moving a formerly secular folk character and set of folk traditions from the secular to the Christian sphere, and in response, non-Christians abjured the celebration of Christmas and the use of its symbols.
So, yes and no. The character himself, I guess, doesn't have major religious roots, but the cultural associations that have built up around him are often now seen of exclusive of non-Christians.
posted by Miko at 12:04 PM on May 14, 2010
And some Christians choose to celebrate an end-of-year winter solstice celebration with roots older than history and call it "Christmas," but that doesn't make it a Christian holiday, despite the fact that they reinterpret its symbols with new stories of significance.
The development of the Christmas holiday is amazingly complex (and far more recent than most people realize). I always recommend the remarkable book The Battle for Christmas for an understanding of where our ideas about it come from.
Even though there was a St. Nicholas, he was unrecognizable as today's Santa Claus. A very important step in the codification of Santa Claus was Washington Irving's work, along with a cadre of wealthy cultural leaders in the New York City of the early 1800s. He drew on the St. Nicholas story as an antecedent but created the character of the "jolly old elf" otherwise out of whole cloth. And this was for secular motives. Christmas and the elf character were not connected with religious celebrations at the time - most of the major Protestant religions which were dominant at the time basically ignored Christmas as a holiday and could have cared less what little stories you made up about it. So at the time of his invention in the US, he was a completely secular character, and Christmas a secular holiday. Even though he drew on a Dutch tradition, and Irving made much of that (it was part of his purpose; the wealthy industrialists thought Dutch people were much cleaner and more noble than the filthy poor immigrants taking over NY, and wanted to emphasize Dutch ancestry), the Santa Claus he created bears very little resemblance to the appearance, activities, or associations of Sinterklaas in the Netherlands of the time.
Is it different today? Well, Christmas got co-opted by the revivalist religions in the late 19th century, and the formerly secular seasonal traditions got absorbed into religious purpose (much as we see Halloween today being absorbed into Christian traditions with religious purpose - Hell Houses, or Fall Harvest Night, etc). Santa Claus came along with that, morphing from a little elf into the big Thomas Nast character we imagine him as today. As a result of that religious co-opting or co-evolution, if you will, Santa Claus and all the other trappings of Christmas became intensely associated with Christianity - even though they have utterly different roots.
At the same time as that process was going strong, the US saw increased numbers of immigrants from non-Christian countries, more than there ever had been before. The late 19th and early 20th centuries brought Jews to the US in great numbers. Interestingly, a lot of early Jewish immigrants adopted Christmas traditions and celebrations, because they were "American." Jewish leaders, though, seeing that they were increasingly associated not with seasonality but with Christianity, explicitly began teaching that Santa Claus, Christmas trees, etc did not belong in the lives of Jewish people. I've seen some interesting screeds from around 1890 -1910 in the Jewish press warning parents against taking up Christmas, things like "Should Jews Keep Christmas?", and recommending the celebration of Hanukkah instead. That's one reason Hanukkah, really a minor holiday in the Jewish calendar, gets much bigger play in America than elsewhere.
So the schism that developed during the religious revivals of the late 19th century was basically responsible for moving a formerly secular folk character and set of folk traditions from the secular to the Christian sphere, and in response, non-Christians abjured the celebration of Christmas and the use of its symbols.
So, yes and no. The character himself, I guess, doesn't have major religious roots, but the cultural associations that have built up around him are often now seen of exclusive of non-Christians.
posted by Miko at 12:04 PM on May 14, 2010
The practices and beliefs of Jewish households in the US are varied enough that you really ought to qualify that with a lot of "somes" or "mosts".
This is probably more background than an answer per se, but just to expand a bit on the above: We're a Catholic family that celebrates a blended secular/religious Christmas (going to Mass, a tree with a crèche underneath, my kids straining to hear reindeer hooves on the roof...etc).
Two of our immediate neighbors and good friends are Jewish. Every year they join us on a Saturday two weeks or so before Christmas to help trim our tree and enjoy some celebratory food and drink. Every year we are honored in their homes one evening during Hanukkah to hear the Brachah, have my children participate in lighting a candle, and share a fantastic meal.
Don't know what this says about Santa, but in some cases a mostly prominent divide between religions is a little hazy and, for us personally, "Christmakkah" is rapidly becoming a cherished family tradition).
posted by jalexei at 12:20 PM on May 14, 2010
This is probably more background than an answer per se, but just to expand a bit on the above: We're a Catholic family that celebrates a blended secular/religious Christmas (going to Mass, a tree with a crèche underneath, my kids straining to hear reindeer hooves on the roof...etc).
Two of our immediate neighbors and good friends are Jewish. Every year they join us on a Saturday two weeks or so before Christmas to help trim our tree and enjoy some celebratory food and drink. Every year we are honored in their homes one evening during Hanukkah to hear the Brachah, have my children participate in lighting a candle, and share a fantastic meal.
Don't know what this says about Santa, but in some cases a mostly prominent divide between religions is a little hazy and, for us personally, "Christmakkah" is rapidly becoming a cherished family tradition).
posted by jalexei at 12:20 PM on May 14, 2010
You know, there's this cultural vs religious Jews discussion that seems to be rarely used in Christianity, and I am not sure why. I keep to many of the religious holidays and their rules, not because I am any kind of a theist, but because this is what my (mostly non-theistic) family does, because I choose to keep to the cultural heritage of Judaism (and other parts of it as I feel they apply to me). So is my doing X religious? In a sense, of course: the Seder, and fasting, and lighting candles, etc, are all religious rites, with religious significance. For me, personally, they are more cultural -- but I wouldn't argue that they're religion-neutral.
This is what Christmas (in North America) seems to be to a large extent: people celebrate it as a cultural event, but it's not a religion-neutral one. Santa Claus is the same: it's cultural, but it's not religion-neutral, so it's not really secular.
posted by jeather at 12:36 PM on May 14, 2010
This is what Christmas (in North America) seems to be to a large extent: people celebrate it as a cultural event, but it's not a religion-neutral one. Santa Claus is the same: it's cultural, but it's not religion-neutral, so it's not really secular.
posted by jeather at 12:36 PM on May 14, 2010
Yeah, the fat guy with the beard and red suit that we know as Santa Claus is a figment of an advertiser's paint brush, as rokusan points out. I don't think he counts as being a religious icon.
posted by crunchland at 12:41 PM on May 14, 2010
posted by crunchland at 12:41 PM on May 14, 2010
1908: "...the less Orthodox Jews (the Sadduceans) may have gradually adopted the celebration of the (Babyl. and) Persian New Year'sfestival, just as many modern Jews celebrate Christmas."
1901: "....in modern Germany, to cite an analogous case, many Jews celebrate Christmas after the manner of their Christian fellow-countrymen, insofar at least as it is a secular instition."
1917: "What of the Jewish child at Christmas?...[Some parents] believe Christmas need have no religious significance to the Jewish child, that to him it may be a Yuletide celebration with Santa Claus and gifts and merry-making - the Christ Child being simply a pretty fairy tale like Snow White or Cinderella - that there is no good reason why our children, whose rearing has differed in no way from that of their non-Jewish friends up to this point - should suddenly be deprived of innocent pleasure, in which the whole world seemingly is indulging."
1905: "Every year the rabbis have to remind their congregations that it is their duty to celebrate Chanukah, that it is their duty not to celebrate Christmas."
1904: Some of the good Jews who tremble lest the mission Christmas tree may influence the little tots who gather about it and who go away with a wee gift will spend Christmas Eve decorating trees in their own homes. Their children wait for the Christmas festival with as much impatience and as much pleasure as do their Christian neighbors, and the greeting "Merry Christmas" is more familiar to them than any Jewish salutation. The difference between the participation of the East Side children and their uptown sisters and brothers in the Christmas celebration is this: Downtown they know they are doing wrong, but wink at the sin because they know their little ones will have a good time; uptown, they think they are doing right and that to celebrate Christmas, light the Christmas tree, and exchange gifts is their obligation to society."
1905: Christmas in the Ghetto: New York: Christmas has so far made its way among the Jews as a social festival that it already eclipses the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving Day. (great photo of Russian Jews carrying market baskets home full of food for Christmas dinner).
So there was, quite literally, a battle for Christmas. It was a secular holiday with long roots in pagan Europe, that then coexisted as a secular feast alongside Catholicism, and all but disappeared along with other overly decadent celebrations during the Protestant Reformation. It was revived intentionally in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, again as a secular feast and "season of goodwill," by people actively looking to promote for reasons of cultural supremacy and perhaps as an antidote to a culture growing increasingly self-centered. Finally, a growing movement of evangelical Christianty made a bid for ownership of this holiday, and many in the Jewish community, fearing total assimilation, self-consciously advocated against the celebration of the holiday as a risk to Jewishness. Those factors combined to give the holiday a strong religious overcast, and motivated religious leaders at times to conflate the secular traditions, like Santa Claus, and the Christ story.
Today, interestingly, there is an increasing fundamentalist movement to take that conflation back - to separate presents and Santa Claus and non-religious aspects of Christmas out again. I doubt it will be widely successful. My personal view that Christmas is much bigger than any single religion or denomination. It is the outgrowth of milennia of celebrations at the darkest time of the year by an agrarian Northern hemisphere, and has survived many religious attempts to either claim or disavow it. It gets bound up with religiosity, but in its basic essence, it's a holiday of abundance at the time of greatest abundance from agriculture, at the time of year when wintry conditions made it most possible for people in these societies to have time to celebrate (and nothing much else to do).
So...I personally think that historically, SC is 100% secular, as secular as a snowman, but when it comes to questions of public religious display, public school programming, etc., I defer to those who consider him a religious symbol and who recognize his long associations with Christian versions of the winter holiday, even as I regret that things had to happen that way due to the colonizing influence of evangelical Christianity.
posted by Miko at 1:20 PM on May 14, 2010
1901: "....in modern Germany, to cite an analogous case, many Jews celebrate Christmas after the manner of their Christian fellow-countrymen, insofar at least as it is a secular instition."
1917: "What of the Jewish child at Christmas?...[Some parents] believe Christmas need have no religious significance to the Jewish child, that to him it may be a Yuletide celebration with Santa Claus and gifts and merry-making - the Christ Child being simply a pretty fairy tale like Snow White or Cinderella - that there is no good reason why our children, whose rearing has differed in no way from that of their non-Jewish friends up to this point - should suddenly be deprived of innocent pleasure, in which the whole world seemingly is indulging."
1905: "Every year the rabbis have to remind their congregations that it is their duty to celebrate Chanukah, that it is their duty not to celebrate Christmas."
1904: Some of the good Jews who tremble lest the mission Christmas tree may influence the little tots who gather about it and who go away with a wee gift will spend Christmas Eve decorating trees in their own homes. Their children wait for the Christmas festival with as much impatience and as much pleasure as do their Christian neighbors, and the greeting "Merry Christmas" is more familiar to them than any Jewish salutation. The difference between the participation of the East Side children and their uptown sisters and brothers in the Christmas celebration is this: Downtown they know they are doing wrong, but wink at the sin because they know their little ones will have a good time; uptown, they think they are doing right and that to celebrate Christmas, light the Christmas tree, and exchange gifts is their obligation to society."
1905: Christmas in the Ghetto: New York: Christmas has so far made its way among the Jews as a social festival that it already eclipses the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving Day. (great photo of Russian Jews carrying market baskets home full of food for Christmas dinner).
So there was, quite literally, a battle for Christmas. It was a secular holiday with long roots in pagan Europe, that then coexisted as a secular feast alongside Catholicism, and all but disappeared along with other overly decadent celebrations during the Protestant Reformation. It was revived intentionally in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, again as a secular feast and "season of goodwill," by people actively looking to promote for reasons of cultural supremacy and perhaps as an antidote to a culture growing increasingly self-centered. Finally, a growing movement of evangelical Christianty made a bid for ownership of this holiday, and many in the Jewish community, fearing total assimilation, self-consciously advocated against the celebration of the holiday as a risk to Jewishness. Those factors combined to give the holiday a strong religious overcast, and motivated religious leaders at times to conflate the secular traditions, like Santa Claus, and the Christ story.
Today, interestingly, there is an increasing fundamentalist movement to take that conflation back - to separate presents and Santa Claus and non-religious aspects of Christmas out again. I doubt it will be widely successful. My personal view that Christmas is much bigger than any single religion or denomination. It is the outgrowth of milennia of celebrations at the darkest time of the year by an agrarian Northern hemisphere, and has survived many religious attempts to either claim or disavow it. It gets bound up with religiosity, but in its basic essence, it's a holiday of abundance at the time of greatest abundance from agriculture, at the time of year when wintry conditions made it most possible for people in these societies to have time to celebrate (and nothing much else to do).
So...I personally think that historically, SC is 100% secular, as secular as a snowman, but when it comes to questions of public religious display, public school programming, etc., I defer to those who consider him a religious symbol and who recognize his long associations with Christian versions of the winter holiday, even as I regret that things had to happen that way due to the colonizing influence of evangelical Christianity.
posted by Miko at 1:20 PM on May 14, 2010
Is Santa Claus a religious figure?
Santa Claus is a figure that represents a Christian holiday.
Other things that can represent Christmas: pine trees, snowflakes, egg nog, gingerbread men, presents wrapped in red and green paper, stockings on fireplaces.
The fact these things can represent Christmas doesn't make these things religious figures, either.
posted by rokusan at 2:03 PM on May 14, 2010
Santa Claus is a figure that represents a Christian holiday.
Other things that can represent Christmas: pine trees, snowflakes, egg nog, gingerbread men, presents wrapped in red and green paper, stockings on fireplaces.
The fact these things can represent Christmas doesn't make these things religious figures, either.
posted by rokusan at 2:03 PM on May 14, 2010
As a protestant evangelical Christian, I do not consider Santa Claus to be a Christian thing. But then I don't consider Christmas to be a Christian thing either.
(Hence, I find it intensely frustrating when a judge or someone trying to equate things tries to equate Christmas Trees and Santa Claus with the religious paraphernalia of other religions that may in fact have true symbology for them. I don't like other people trying to determine for me what my religious symbols are.)
It doesn't stop me celebrate them as nice events, but lots of my similarly believing friends don't celebrate Christmas at all because they don't associate Christmas with Christianity, and they don't want to confuse people like I do.
posted by blue_wardrobe at 5:18 PM on May 14, 2010
(Hence, I find it intensely frustrating when a judge or someone trying to equate things tries to equate Christmas Trees and Santa Claus with the religious paraphernalia of other religions that may in fact have true symbology for them. I don't like other people trying to determine for me what my religious symbols are.)
It doesn't stop me celebrate them as nice events, but lots of my similarly believing friends don't celebrate Christmas at all because they don't associate Christmas with Christianity, and they don't want to confuse people like I do.
posted by blue_wardrobe at 5:18 PM on May 14, 2010
Hi, Catholic with the confirmed saint's name Nicholas here.
Nicholas of Myra was a bishop of the early church and, like most early church figures, was primarily engaged in direct acts of charity founded in social justice. One of the frequently told stories / myths about St. Nicholas is one wherein he left three large coin purses at the door of a man with three daughters. Often under-emphasized in the story: the three daughters were to be sold into sex slavery to repay the man's debts, and as an agent of the church, Nicholas was helping the man repay his debt while preserving his dignity and keeping children out of slavery. Pretty cool, right?
Well, as upthread has indicated, only the gift-giving part of the story translated into Santa Claus, who's a Coca Cola based retelling of a mid-millennium Nordic retelling of the saint's story. If Santa Claus were really the religious figure St. Nicholas, than we'd all spend a lot more time around the holidays focused on gifts for the poor and needy, not for ourselves. There are some remnants of this vision, both secular and Christian - the Pope's yearly Christmas address usually focuses on children, and annual collections at Christmas-time for UNICEF are about as close to Nicholas' vision as we could hope to get.
Still, the conditions under which Santa Claus gives gifts (whether or not children are "good"), would have been completely anathema to the early church and to Nicholas of Myra. In the early church (as was a theme of the early gospels), wealth was spread around according to need, not according to any arbitrary notion of merit. You could say that Santa Claus reflects the modern church's priorities a lot more than he does the Gospels, or his namesake's.
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 7:56 PM on May 14, 2010
Nicholas of Myra was a bishop of the early church and, like most early church figures, was primarily engaged in direct acts of charity founded in social justice. One of the frequently told stories / myths about St. Nicholas is one wherein he left three large coin purses at the door of a man with three daughters. Often under-emphasized in the story: the three daughters were to be sold into sex slavery to repay the man's debts, and as an agent of the church, Nicholas was helping the man repay his debt while preserving his dignity and keeping children out of slavery. Pretty cool, right?
Well, as upthread has indicated, only the gift-giving part of the story translated into Santa Claus, who's a Coca Cola based retelling of a mid-millennium Nordic retelling of the saint's story. If Santa Claus were really the religious figure St. Nicholas, than we'd all spend a lot more time around the holidays focused on gifts for the poor and needy, not for ourselves. There are some remnants of this vision, both secular and Christian - the Pope's yearly Christmas address usually focuses on children, and annual collections at Christmas-time for UNICEF are about as close to Nicholas' vision as we could hope to get.
Still, the conditions under which Santa Claus gives gifts (whether or not children are "good"), would have been completely anathema to the early church and to Nicholas of Myra. In the early church (as was a theme of the early gospels), wealth was spread around according to need, not according to any arbitrary notion of merit. You could say that Santa Claus reflects the modern church's priorities a lot more than he does the Gospels, or his namesake's.
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 7:56 PM on May 14, 2010
This is really funny. You know how we get these threads where people distinguish between things that are religiously Jewish and things that are culturally Jewish? Well, Santa is culturally Christian. Unless you're celebrating Saint Nicholas' feast day (I can't be bothered looking to see if there is such a thing) then his association with Christmas is cultural, not religious. But it's Christian culture, even if your household is avowedly secular or atheist. Jews, Muslims, and followers of other religions have religious reasons to resist the encroachment of Christian culture, so even though the introduction of Santa symbolism is cultural, and not religious, excluding it is religious!
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:44 PM on May 17, 2010
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:44 PM on May 17, 2010
« Older Pop Idols and Lolitas - I need a list | Bizarre use of typewriters by US cops in the 2000s Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by cooker girl at 8:19 AM on May 14, 2010