Thursday, July 31, 2008

Santa Revisited

Another comment on an old post arrived today, which contains information which I really should pass on. It seems that Valleys Mam caused offence in Lapland. I'm not sure of the details of my original post, except that it concerned disagreements within the world Santa movement. Here's the comment I received this morning;

Santa has left a new comment on your post "The Spirits of Xmas.":

I have just read the comment about commercialism and Santa and I'm sorry but I feel it has to be addressed.

"Santa is a cocoa cola marketing symbol enough said"

By Valleys Mam

I am really sorry you feel that because you have been misled by the marketing. Santa has been around for many hundreds of years, in one form or another. Santa has worn a red suit for most of this time although Father Christmas was often seen in a green suit harking back to his appearance as a winter solstice visitor in Druidic times.

The Cocal-Cola company loves telling people that they invented Santa, they are wrong. Nobody denies that they helped make him more popular but Santa is far more than just a marketing agencies creation.

If you were to research this you would find that the Santa as expressed by the artist for Coke, he has 5 buttons down his front and fur around his neck and to the hem of his jacket.

By far the majority of Santas around the world follow the 'bishop' style of suit with the fur in a line down the front and no buttons showing. That style comes through from Saint Nicholas, the Bishop of Myra.

Yes, shopping centres and big stores capitalise on the image of Santa for Christmas in the hope of making a pound or two in the Christmas Season. Most of us real Santas know in our hearts that this is the only way many children are going to see Santa so we accept the commercial trappings in the goal of spreading our love and hugs as widely as we can.

Valleys Mam, please don't fall into the trap of believing the commercial hype, the real Santa is alive and well and still the lovely man you used to know as a child. Look into your heart, remember the great joy that Santa would bring, and find a way to share that joy with the young ones of today, they surely don't get enough chances to be innocent children so you can help share that with them.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

what a load of patronising drivel Glyn, you are really showing you true colours publishing this rubbish.

Unknown said...

You're rather early Glyn, starting already to talk about Christmas!
If the stores see your blog they'll begin to stock up with Christmas cards and the usual commercial paraphernalia.
Did you jump the gun on purpose?

Dr. Christopher Wood said...

anon #1> Glyn is coming down from a very significant family event. Give him a break for heavens sake.

Glyn Davies said...

anon - Drivel Yes - but why is it patronising? I had no time to compose yesterday, so simply posted a comment that amused me. Sorry, but its the sort of thing that happens on this blog.

Alan - my contribution to the slump on the High Street.

Christopher - I'm never alone when you're around.

Anonymous said...

load of sentimental clap trap, Valleys mam is quite correct in what she says Check it out
Now if you are talking St Nicholas thats quite different , he was the original "santa Claus" , no red suit though, thats thanks to Coke