Happy Holidays

So today, I was feeling very Holiday ish, and was thinking how can I tie myth in with Christmas without being obvious and saying "oh hey!  Nick, and Saint Nick=Santa...." we have already covered that in class.  Instead I googled myths of christmas, here are my findings in an article...

Were there really Three Kings? Which pagan festival was a time for gift-giving and candle lighting? Why is mistletoe hung at Christmas?
I’ll try not to be the Grinch here. But the truth is that almost everything we cherish about Christmas traditions –lights, trees, gifts, jolly old men– has some interesting background –much of it from a time long before there was a Christmas. In fact, advent is really a time to bring out your inner pagan. In the next few weeks, I will be posting some blogs about the “mythic” roots of many of the most cherished Christmas traditions.
1. What does Santa Claus have to do with Saint Nicholas?
December 6 is the feast of Saint Nicholas. It makes a perfect day to consider one of the first of the “myths” of Christmas. Where does Santa Claus comes from? And what does he have to do with a 4th-century Christian miracle worker from Turkey?
In Christian tradition and legend, Saint Nicholas was an early hero of the church, the archbishop of Myra in what is now Turkey. Legend has it that he once threw gold coins through the window of three poor girls so they would have dowries and get married. Without dowries, their father feared that they would be forced into prostitution. This was just one of many legendary acts of charity attributed to Nicholas, which included putting coins in childrens shoes. Since his feast day — the date of his death on the church calendar– falls in early December, his generosity was eventually connected to the Christmas season, Advent and the idea of the “three kings,” or wise men, who brought gifts to the baby Jesus.
So how did this rather thin, ascetic Turkish bishop –the way he is traditionally depicted in sacred art—morph into a large, bearded man with a red suit and a large sled full of toys pulled by eight flying reindeer?
Many of the Santa Claus traditions can be traced back to the Norse god Odin. The Norse celebrated the winter solstice with a long festival. In their legend, Odin brought the sun god back to the world on the solstice. He rode across the night sky on a horse named named Stepnir –an eight-legged horse. Norse children would put out hay and straw for the horse in their shoes. In the Christian era, the legend of Odin became a Father Christmas figure and was merged with the religious legend of Saint Nicholas. The eight-legged horse became eight tiny reindeer.
The Dutch brought Saint Nicholas to America as SinterKlaas and the name was later anglicized as Santa Claus. In Europe, children still put out their shoes on different nights, but here, the tradition was changed to stockings hung by the chimney with care.

Whether he is called Father Christmas, Pere Noel or Saint Nick, or Odin, for that matter, there is something more important to know:
“Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.”
Read the text of newsman Frank P. Church’s letter to a small girl in New York that inspired that famous line here (via the Newseum):http://www.newseum.org/yesvirginia/

I found the eight legged horse to be the most interesting, but how on earth did we turn an eight legged horse into reindeer?  Stories change over time, and it is always interesting to see how they choose to morph. 

Speaking of morphing, it is interesting to me that Stepnir had to have originated from one of the original horses.  My next blog will go into more detail....