Hi everyone I'm back!
Exams are all over and done and now I'm looking forward to Christmas and relaxing... yeah this is going to be a kind of Christmasy post, only because I thought I'd share with you this speech I did on Christmas characters. It's more of a an expose, but I really enjoyed researching it so I hope you enjoy it as well! (Note: I am not implying that you should stop doing Christmas or anything, this is just purely for interest)
Christmas Characters
When you think of Christmas what comes to mind?...
Santa Claus or Father Christmas is what we might think of but for children and adults across the centuries, many other Christmas characters come to mind...
In this post I'm going to cover a few characters from different countries and ages. For each one we're going to look at their Christmas legend, their origins and also how they compare to Santa Claus.
The first character is Odin. Odin was a old Norse god, often depicted as having a long beard, a broad floppy hat and a dark cloak. He carries a spear and has only one eye (as the other was lost in some battle)
Exams are all over and done and now I'm looking forward to Christmas and relaxing... yeah this is going to be a kind of Christmasy post, only because I thought I'd share with you this speech I did on Christmas characters. It's more of a an expose, but I really enjoyed researching it so I hope you enjoy it as well! (Note: I am not implying that you should stop doing Christmas or anything, this is just purely for interest)
Christmas Characters
When you think of Christmas what comes to mind?...
Santa Claus or Father Christmas is what we might think of but for children and adults across the centuries, many other Christmas characters come to mind...
In this post I'm going to cover a few characters from different countries and ages. For each one we're going to look at their Christmas legend, their origins and also how they compare to Santa Claus.
The first character is Odin. Odin was a old Norse god, often depicted as having a long beard, a broad floppy hat and a dark cloak. He carries a spear and has only one eye (as the other was lost in some battle)
Odin's link to Christmas is that every year during the Winter Solstice (21st of December) he would lead a ghostly procession of the dead across the sky, on his eight legged horse Sleipnir. During this time children would leave hay and carrots in their boots by the chimney, as food for Sleipnir and in return Odin would leave a present by their boots.
Apart from this Odin is known as someone who searches for and gives wisdom, yet has no regard for
laws or justice. He is a complex character, both a 'war god' and a 'poetry god', and generally is a bit sinister.
Similarly to Santa he leaves presents in footwear and rides an animal through the night sky. An interesting thing to note is that Odin's stead has eight legs and Santa has eight reindeer. But other than that Odin seems and interesting choice for a children's hero.
La Befana
La Befana is the Italian gift giver who holds a place equal to Santa for many Italians. She is a good witch who is seen flying on her broomstick on Epiphany eve (January 5th) with her sack full of presents and candy for good children, and she also carries lumps of coal for the bad ones.
As popular legend has it Befana was visited by the three wise men on their way to see baby Jesus. She invited them to stay the night at her house as she was the only housekeeper in the village. In return the Magi invited her to come with them on their journey, but Befana declined saying she had too much cleaning to do and so the wise men left. Later on Befana changed her mind and after gathering some presents she went after them, but the star disappeared and she got lost. And ever since then, she has been giving present to children in the hopes of getting baby Jesus.
But, however, the origins of Befana seem much older than Christianity...Many believe she is based on the Roman goddess Strina who gave gifts at New Year. Befana may also be the older state of the Celtic mother nature who's figure used to be burnt on a bonfire at the end of each year. Interestingly enough a figure of Befana is still sometimes burnt on a bonfire.
Befana is similar to Santa in the way that she flies through the air and carries gifts in a sack. Befana is also known to slip down the chimney to deliver her gifts. However she said to be poorer than Santa and so Italian children ask Santa for the expensive presents and Befana for the lighter, more inexpensive presents that Santa didn't bring.
Julenisse
The Julenisse, as you can see here, looks a lot like Santa. He is about the size of a child and is rather slim. He wear a red cap and traditional Scandinavian farmers clothes.
On Christmas eve the Julenisse travels around Scandinavia with his sack full of presents, knocking on doors and asking if there are "any good children inside."
The Julenisse is a blend of several characters, but he is mostly based on the Nisse, a figure from Scandinavian folklore. The Nisse were solitary, temperamental barn sprites that loved playing practical jokes. They were only found on farms, where they would help the farm prosper by doing farm work and taking care of the animals. In return all they asked for was respect and Christmas porridge with butter on top on Christmas eve. There is one story about a Nisse flying into a rage and killing a cow because the farmer had accidentally put the butter on the bottom of the porridge instead of the top. When the Nisse came back and ate the porridge he realized what a terrible mistake he'd made and so to patch things up, he went an stole a cow from another farm.
The Nisse however have origins in ancestor worship as the present farmer would try and appease the spirit of the original farmer (the Nisse) to gain his favor.
The modern Julenisse (Julenisse = Christmas Nisse) unlike Santa lives in a nearby country or forest. He doesn't slide down the chimney, instead he walks right up to the door. However he has now been more 'santafied' as he now rides in a sleigh drawn by reindeer, although these reindeer can't fly.
Santa
Most of us know that Santa came from St Nicholas, and was popularized by the Coca Cola ad in 1930. What is not so well known is that Santa was heavily influenced by the Holly King.
The Holly King was the Celtic winter god who would battle with the Oak King (the summer god) during the winter and summer solstices to figure out who would reign. And funnily enough the Holly King won every winter solstice (21st of December). The Holly King is documented to have worn red, and ridden in a sleigh pulled by eight deer. Interestingly Santa nowadays has a sprig of holly in his hat.
Santa is also linked to Odin as before mentioned, with his night-riding and gift giving.
His jolly character, flying vehicle and red clothes may also come from the Norse god Thor (yes that's the god of thunder and lightning)
Others trace aspects of his legend to Freyr (lord of the elves) La Befana and the Nisse.
So when it comes to Christmas who are we really celebrating?
