Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Father Christmas and Saint Nicholas (Santa Claus) were originally entirely separate figures; it's only in the 20th century that they got "merged". The best description of the "original" Father Christmas is probably "The Ghost of Christmas Present" in Dickens' "A Christmas Carol".
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When I was reading that story, I was coming to the same conclusion. And we all know that Christmas is a merger between Christian and Germanic traditions...
A nice little mix, I'd say
Quote:
Originally Posted by yvanleterrible
Here Christmas has always been meant for children.
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Several years ago we have, as many family groups, adopted a "make your gifts" approach instead of buying stuff nobody wants because, face it, what do you buy rich uncles who have everything?
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What you describe here, is what most families do if the children don't believe in Saint Nicholas anymore, but they still want to celebrate Saint Nicholas.
Saint Nicholas is a real children holiday. He "lives" in Spain, and comes here every november (by steamboat), stays till December 6th and then "goes" home. He rides a white horse.
Originally, the children would put some hay and a carrot in their shoes and put it near the fireplace. The Black Pieters will take those gifts and put something back in its place (they are black because they have to climb down the chimneys!). There are Pieters for everything. Everyone has one task (a bit like the smurfs in fact!).
But, at the age between 6 and 8, children stop believing in him. So, they start to make "surprises". The gifts inside are generally cheap (most of the time, a maximum amount is decided upon), it's not so much the getting but the giving that's important. And making a nice "box" in which to hide the gift. And everything is allowed for those boxes!
Fun times, it was
Get a nice little gift, wrap it safely in paper, type, more paper, more tape, more paper, some tape (and I'm not talking about the tape you use to wrap a present, but rather tape which you use to close boxes!). And put that in a nicely formed box, add some syrup and confetti in it...