Santa and Conspiracy

It is days after Christmas and we are going to be talking about conspiracy, that, and the true origin of Santa Claus. 

St. Nicholas

Let me introduce you to St. Nicholas, a monk who used his whole inheritance to help the needy. In 16th century Europe he was known as Father Christmas. Sailors know him as the patron saint of voyagers because he prayed and saved a ship. He is also the patron and protector of children. He died in 343 AD and his tomb was found in Turkey. This man was the starting point of Santa Claus. St. Nicholas Day is celebrated December 6th. 

If you want more on St. Nicholas, see my last three sources. He was an amazing man and he was real. He is declared a Saint. He has many descriptions throughout time, but the red suit is here to stay. While the holiday has lost some of the original sincerity and love, his popularity as a Saint has not gone away. He took seriously Christ's command to give money to and care for the poor. It would be a good idea to remember that Santa Claus was never just about getting stuff.

Conspiracy Theories

And now we commence with the conspiracy theories that are so far from St. Nicholas you can't even believe they exist. This may, in fact, be why you clicked this link. To quote Monty Python, let's get on with it.

Coca Cola and Santa Claus may be used quite often together, but did Coca Cola invent him?! As mentioned above, his appearance did change throughout time. 1913 is when Coca Cola started putting the man in the red suit in their advertisements. While this was probably just a PR campaign move to get more business during Christmas, some think they created our image of Santa Claus we see today. This myth has been busted by those that say (and quite possibly correctly) that the image of Santa we know today is a hybrid of St. Nicholas and all the images that were created of him over time. 

This next conspiracy comes with a warning. I am going to tell you now that if you won't sleep at night reading the following myth, you should stop reading at the bold asterisks (**) and draw your eyes to the second bold asterisks (**). 

**  

You've been warned. This theory is so weird that I am going to tell you that I don't believe this one to be true at any level. St. Nicholas is the origin of Santa Claus, as far as I am concerned. 

With that said, many of you have probably noticed that Santa can become Satan by a mere switching of letters or spelling mistake. Parents have actually misspelled Santa on presents before. Dyslexia in this case makes one word another word it should never have been. Due to this fact, a few people do believe Santa is Satan because he is drawing our focus from Christ to gift-giving. The color red is associated with Satan. Do I believe that? Heck, no. Are there super-conservative people who do? Yes. 

It gets worse. Some think Santa then ate children after going down chimneys. I have no words to express how weird and awful that belief is. They think St. Nicholas convinced Santa to change his ways, thus we have gifts coming from Santa as compensation for the deceased children. I think this deserves a Captain Picard facepalm. I will not dwell on this any longer. 

**

Elf on the shelf, a tradition that a good handful of parents and teachers participate in every year, is known all around the world. Look up the memes and there is your proof. If you think they are watching you to see if you are good, well, consider who else could be watching you. Did the CIA pop into your mind? For some of the population, it did. A small portion of the humans around us think the CIA is using these elves for surveillance on our political stance and habits. While it is possible to buy nanny-cams and other devices, I doubt that these plastic toys are logging your political stance, not if they are cheap at dollar stores. Are they creepy? Sure, but the CIA has better things to do.

This is another warning because I would like you to sleep at night. This next one is Krampus related. Read onto the next paragraph at your own risk.

Krampus is half human and half goat. He travels with Santa punishing the naughty children. This German idea was said to roam towns at midnight on December 6th. He had a long tongue, fangs, long dark hair, and horns. He lashed out with chains and bells, also swatting bad kids with birch sticks. He could throw kids into the underworld if they were naughty enough. Isn't that charming to think about (sarcasm)? If you want your kids to be good all year and they believe in Santa, tell them this bedtime story and you might scare them into obedience and good behavior (which is most likely the purpose of this legend to begin with).

I'm done talking about Krampus now, so you can read on again if you skipped it.

If anyone has claimed that Christmas is a pagan holiday, they are mistaken. While there were celebrations in December, Sol Invictus and Saturnalia, for example, it is not the same thing. Saturnalia was a three-day fool's feast with gifts that ran from December 17-19. Sol Invictus is celebrated December 25th (yes, Christmas day, but no, not the same) and celebrates the Roman sun god. Sol Invictus was invented after Christmas was celebrated (so, stolen from Christians, technically), and Saturnalia is over by Christmas day. Romans saw Christmas as an opportunity to create their own holiday spin. Sol Invictus and Christmas are not the same.

Another claim is that our Christmas symbols are taken from pagans.  My research says otherwise. It makes the point, a valid point, that one thing can represent many things over years. The rainbow can mean God's promise to never destroy with water again or it can be the homosexual community symbol. It started as one and became another over time. The Nazi symbol at one time meant peace and harmony, and now it represents the Nazis. The point is that one thing means many things by now. We don't have as many new ideas as we may think. On top of this, we also have to consider that a bad thing can (sometimes, situation permitting) be turned around for good. While the Nazi symbol has no hope of that, other symbols do. The cross as a symbol of Christ is a glowing example of a bad thing (shameful, violent punishment on a cross) turned into a good thing (Christ paying for our sins on the cross). 

Conclusions

 A select few of those were a bit past the line of sanity, but now that you know they exist your Christmas conversations can be more interesting than snow and bad roads. I don't believe any of these theories to be true. The only thing I call true in today's content is the origin of Santa Claus being St. Nicholas. 

Now that you can scare your kids into good behavior, I will wish you a blessed day and Merry Christmas! Christ is the reason for the season. Take care of yourself out there.

Pictures:

Christianity Today

Marketing Land

Mediacollege.com

The Guide Liverpool

Sources:

 https://www.friendsofbeamish.co.uk/articles/santa.html

https://www.indigomusic.com/whats-up/christmas-conspiracies

https://catholicstand.com/catholicism-conspiracies-christmas/

https://nypost.com/2017/10/04/archaeologists-discover-the-tomb-of-santa-claus/#:~:text=Yes%2C%20Virginia%2C%20there%20was%20a,1%2C500%2Dyear%2Dold%20St.
https://www.stnicholascenter.org/who-is-st-nicholas
https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/santa-claus