by Ralph Lawrence

Created on: December 10, 2008   Last Updated: December 26, 2008

THE GENEALOGY OF SANTA CLAUS

In most Christian worship services during the holiday season, as part of a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, a family genealogy beginning with the patriarch Abraham is included in the veneration. This illustrates the importance that the early converts placed upon family and historic events. In like fashion, the derivation of the father figure we all know as Santa Claus can be examined in the legends, folklore and mythology of many ancient cultures.

Perhaps, the oldest known claimant to the crown of Father Christmas is explained in a cup held in a collection of the Hittite Empire at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. This vessel, dated to the 14th century BC is decorated with scenes depicting the Hittite God Telepinu. In addition, it boasts scenes with all the elements of our traditional Christmas favorites: a pine tree, a bag full of gifts and a vehicle drawn by deer. The legend recounts in the reliefs on the cup, that in honor of a lost son, Telepinu, the Storm God, hung a sack of gifts on a tree as an offering for good health and prosperity. Under the tree was placed a sacrificial deer. Pieces of broken bread called Labka decorated the tree. Descendents of the Hittites now live in Anatolia or modern Turkey, where Saint Nicholas is said to have lived.

Another myth originated in early Germanic folklore. The god Odin (Wodan, for which our Wednesday is named) would each year at Yule, host a large hunting party with his fellow gods and heroes who had fallen in battle. Children would place their boots filled with straw and sugar near the chimney for Odin's flying horse, Sleipnir, said to be the swiftest because of its eight legs. Odin returned the generosity with gifts and candy. The vision of the God Odin, an old and bearded mysterious man nicely dovetails with early depictions of Saint Nicholas.

Also credited to the region, a tale of a holy man, St Nicholas and a demon or troll who was the Devil locked in a fierce battle. The monster would slither down the chimneys to slaughter the children of the house, disemboweling them. The saint sought out the demon, shackled it with blessed chains. In some locales, these bindings were attributed to Christ's before His crucifixion. Others claimed they were used on Saint Peter or Paul of Tarsus.

Saint Nicholas is revered as the patron of seamen, merchants, prisoners and children. From Russia, where he is a patron saint of the country, comes a picture of a jolly, rotund older man known

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>