Who or What is Santa?
Every December, families across the world gather to watch movies and tv shows, read books and awe at commercials all moulded by the concept of Christmas. Christmas itself was a holiday inspired by pagan and Christian traditions prior to the AD centuries, later being solidified by the Roman emperor Constantine as an official celebratory holiday in the 4th century, once Christianity itself became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Across the empire, Christmas was characterised by not only the practice of religious ceremonies towards God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, but so too did it unify fractured communities and differing social classes.
Across the ages, Christmas has evolved in its societal presentation. Later, in the Middle ages, the now common tradition of gift-giving was introduced, with people offering fowls and hens, even honey and coins to both their family, but more often than not, their social superiors, like knights and lords. In addition, the cultural implication of Christmas was more verifiable as monarchs like William I of Normandy, and then England, had his coronation on this sacred day.
Moreover, the sweet treat of mince pies was first popularised in Western Europe (baked as rectangles to represent the crib of baby Jesus Christ) and their recipe was notably different to our modern counterparts, including shredded meat with locally-sourced fruits. In addition, the carol singers, most memorable from literature such as ‘A Christmas Carol’ or the iconic duo of the Home Alone and Home Alone 2 movies, originated from the Middle Ages too.
However, a prominent question now in your mind would be where is Father Christmas? Where is Santa?
Well, around the end of the Middle Ages, carols first emerged quoting the idea of a “Father Christmas”. Yet, it wouldn’t be until the late 16th century when English playwright Ben Johnson created ‘His Masque’. Within his play, Johnson conjured the character of Old Father Christmas, a grey-bearded, old-fashioned man concerned with the moral figure of every individual in his “parish”. Clearly, this niche character of Johnson’s was influential in the characterisation of Santa Claus yet his total mythical identity wasn’t fully formed.
Hence, in order to understand the intangible persona of Father Christmas, we must look backwards in time to a figure known as Saint Nicholas, a 4th century Greek Bishop who supposedly performed a variety of miracles. Most prominently, he both revived three youths from the grave following their murders and also delivered dowries to a father who was considering selling his daughters into slavery, landing in their stockings.
Without question, the somewhat identifiable essence of Santa Claus originates from this Saint, a somewhat supernatural being who advocated and carried out charitable acts. Moreover, his religious roots coincide with Christmas being an originally strictly religious event.
To readers still sceptical for the inspiration from Saint Nicholas, he notably entered and delivered charitable donations to local people by entering through chimneys or passing through locked doors. Here lies the most tangible inspiration of Santa Claus, a religious man who allegedly had abilities derived from his own faith and orbited around the idea of charity providing relief from suffering or unfortunate circumstances through physical goods. In the modern day, this sounds somewhat similar to the character of Santa Claus families across the globe would recognise.
Yet, from a world following the industrial revolution and the enhanced effects of globalisation, Santa Claus arose not fully as a fictitious character of charity and selflessness but rather as a masquerade to be utilised by corporations. Essentially, Santa Claus became a marketing tool for companies with malicious backgrounds.
Case and point, the Coca Cola Company. Since its birth, Coca Cola continuously found themselves in a series of public representation crises, from their products to their means of production. Such an example could be when during the early 20th century, Coca Cola was found to have been utilising small traces of cocaine within their soft drinks in order to increase the taste of their products.
For any younger readers, cocaine is an addictive substance/drug that leads to long-term effects such as malnutrition, heart damage and damage to other organs like the lips and lungs. Whilst the death toll of cocaine is difficult to calculate, alone in the USA in 2023, 29,449 people died from cocaine overdoses or associated health complications. With this, contextually speaking, it is vile to imagine that a soft drink company purposefully deceived their customers regarding the health and safety implications regarding their products.
But how does this all relate to Santa Claus?
Well, likely in a bid to regenerate their reputation, the Coca Cola Company (only two years later after they discontinued their implementation of cocaine into their products in 1929) released an advertisement of Santa Claus merely with the motto “This Christmas, give something only you can give”. How insulting! For an international business to utilise an infamous figure to cover up their horrendous malpractice and their clear violations of the health of their consumers.
Hence, we find the impropriety of a commercialised Santa Claus. In the modern era, Santa Claus is utilised as a marketing chess piece in order to circumvent the deserved effects of companies’ scandals, likely loss in customer trust and a rapid decline in sales. Moreover, Santa Claus has since become mellowed in terms of his moral values, instead being a mass-produced piece of packaging from which companies can “connect” to their brand and therefore their fans. Another example can be seen by the Cadbury Company, who unethically sourced cocaine through unpaid labour and so too utilised the iconography of Santa Claus to cover up their wrongdoings! Henceforth, the commercialised Santa Claus doesn’t resemble Johnson’s Father Christmas or even Saint Nicholas, instead a monotonous, inexpressive figurehead to draw in sales during a celebratory time period.
Readers, this Santa Claus is inexcusably the antithesis of what he, the character of Santa Claus, stands for! Never did Saint Nicholas deliver faulty or improperly-formed contributions to the insufficiently funded or the desolate, nor did Johnson’s Father Christmas ever push the corporately greedy agenda of an external agency or business. Rather, Santa Claus or Father Christmas should promote charity, fairness, equality and above all kindness with care, not the interests of millionaires and billionaires. To that end, I ask you; Who is Santa Claus to you?
