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The tradition of Santa Claus comes from a whole host of pre-Christian Nordic, north-western European and Slavic traditions with different mythical figures which

The tradition of Santa Claus comes from a whole host of pre-Christian Nordic, north-western European and Slavic traditions with different mythical figures which got distilled into St. Nicholas in the Netherlands and taken to the new world by Dutch settlers. There Sinterklaas - as he's called in Dutch - got bastardised into Santa Claus, mixed up with some more Nordic folklore including possibly Odin's 8-legged horse Sleipnir who got transformed into flying reindeer. While the Dutch version of St. Nicholas rides a horse which can walk over rooftops, Santa Claus rides a flying sleigh pulled by reindeer. That sleigh is also found with the Nordic 'Jultomte' (a 'tomte' can be a brownie or gnome but in this case he's usually portrayed as a human-sized long-bearded man-like figure, sometimes it is pulled by a goat ('Julbocken' or the Yule Goat) for another link towards Nordic mythology. So, is Santa Claus a religious figure? In as much as traditions, myths and customs often have relations to religion he might be but that is taking the term 'religious figure' too far. The modern-day Santa Claus generally appears at Christmas but even that does not link him to a single religion since the Christmas holiday itself comes from the Germanic Yule - in Swedish Christmas is called 'Jul' and still retains several links to the older Yuletide. In short, calling Santa Claus 'a religious figure' is incorrect, he is a mythological figure who was assimilated into different traditions over the span of centuries. The American version of Santa Claus - the jolly fat man in red - is more of a commercial figure than anything else.

edanm 6y ago
Interesting! But I'm not sure that that history is really relevant. Every religious figure or ritual that exists comes from somewhere - most "modern" religions have pagan ancestors. That fact alone doesn't make something a religious figure or not, or we'd basically have to say that almost no figure is a religious. What matters is the symbol as seen and interacted with today. Just look at the first line of Wikipedia describing Santa Claus (aka Father Christmas in some places): > Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary character originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts to the homes of well-behaved children on the night of Christmas Eve (24 December) or during the early morning hours of Christmas Day (25 December). You can't really say that that isn't tied to Christianity, at least in the US and England.

edanm 6y ago

Interesting! But I'm not sure that that history is really relevant. Every religious figure or ritual that exists comes from somewhere - most "modern" religions have pagan ancestors. That fact alone doesn't make something a religious figure or not, or we'd basically have to say that almost no figure is a religious. What matters is the symbol as seen and interacted with today. Just look at the first line of Wikipedia describing Santa Claus (aka Father Christmas in some places): > Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary character originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts to the homes of well-behaved children on the night of Christmas Eve (24 December) or during the early morning hours of Christmas Day (25 December). You can't really say that that isn't tied to Christianity, at least in the US and England.