Santa Clause is well known and then again not so. The true story begins with Nicholas, born during the third century in the village of Patara. His wealthy parents died in an epidemic while Nicholas was still young. Obeying Jesus' words to "sell what you own and give the money to the poor," Nicholas used his whole inheritance to assist the needy, the sick, and the suffering. He dedicated his life to serving God and was made Bishop of Myra while still a young man. Bishop Nicholas became known throughout the land for his generosity to those in need, his love for children, and his concern for sailors and ships. He is known to have done many a good deed, mainly distributing gifts to needy children on Christmas eve.
Yet today we have many perception “flaws” regarding this exemplary man, mainly due to exploited brand endorsements during the Yule season. Of course, there is nothing wrong in taking Santa Clause as a brand endorsee, for in fact he is a well known entity in the Christmas scene, yet its consequences are not to be thought of lightly since it has now ruined the true image and story of Santa Clause from a charitable and generous “saint” to a symbol of fun and amusement only.
This wrong perception of Santa Clause can be clearly witnessed through fake Santas who dress up at Christmas parties and carol services to give the crowd a cheer and laugh. No worries if they just do a normal dance and frolic around, giving away sweets to the cheering crowd, but today they don’t stop with that. No! They do all kinds of belly dances, body shaking dances and all kinds of sexy flirtatious moves with the audience that makes one wonder whether this “fun figure” is at all truly Christmassy.
It’s true that even originally the thought of Santa Clause was fun and joy since he gave away surprise gifts to the less fortunate children on Christmas eve. This however should not lead to the consideration that Santa Clause means fun alone. We should keep in mind that he is in fact a Saint in the Catholic Church, the highest rank of God’s favor possible to any human. We do not see people taking any figure out of the nativity scene as brand endorsees, this is because it is very well known that they are holy and heavenly and not symbols to play around with. The same should be applied to Santa Clause who was once a holy priest and now a saint.
Although this seems like a less significant error in our Christmas celebrations, it matters a lot in the future, for we will be creating a generation who will one day go to such an extent with Santa Clause that he “might” be solely a sex symbol at Christmas. Hence it is important that we have our fun while giving respect to those to have earned it and while refraining from ruining the true histories surrounding Christmas, which make it the blessed event it should be.
Yet today we have many perception “flaws” regarding this exemplary man, mainly due to exploited brand endorsements during the Yule season. Of course, there is nothing wrong in taking Santa Clause as a brand endorsee, for in fact he is a well known entity in the Christmas scene, yet its consequences are not to be thought of lightly since it has now ruined the true image and story of Santa Clause from a charitable and generous “saint” to a symbol of fun and amusement only.
This wrong perception of Santa Clause can be clearly witnessed through fake Santas who dress up at Christmas parties and carol services to give the crowd a cheer and laugh. No worries if they just do a normal dance and frolic around, giving away sweets to the cheering crowd, but today they don’t stop with that. No! They do all kinds of belly dances, body shaking dances and all kinds of sexy flirtatious moves with the audience that makes one wonder whether this “fun figure” is at all truly Christmassy.
It’s true that even originally the thought of Santa Clause was fun and joy since he gave away surprise gifts to the less fortunate children on Christmas eve. This however should not lead to the consideration that Santa Clause means fun alone. We should keep in mind that he is in fact a Saint in the Catholic Church, the highest rank of God’s favor possible to any human. We do not see people taking any figure out of the nativity scene as brand endorsees, this is because it is very well known that they are holy and heavenly and not symbols to play around with. The same should be applied to Santa Clause who was once a holy priest and now a saint.
Although this seems like a less significant error in our Christmas celebrations, it matters a lot in the future, for we will be creating a generation who will one day go to such an extent with Santa Clause that he “might” be solely a sex symbol at Christmas. Hence it is important that we have our fun while giving respect to those to have earned it and while refraining from ruining the true histories surrounding Christmas, which make it the blessed event it should be.
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