Wishing it was Christmas every day. According to the British Journal of Medicine, Santa is a bad example for children. DR

Who killed Santa?

A children’s idol and overhyped end-of-year media star in the West, Santa Claus also gets no end of flak. The jolly old white-beard is said to have a pernicious influence on kids: Pagan icon, ambassador of capitalism, brazen hedonist...the European press lets fly.

Published on 24 December 2009 at 17:05
Wishing it was Christmas every day. According to the British Journal of Medicine, Santa is a bad example for children. DR

A popular French film is entitledLe père Noël est une ordure: Father Christmas is, well, in common parlance a “scumbag” or “rotter”. The Romanian Orthodox Church doesn’t go quite that far, but Gândul quotes the Patriarchy as saying "certain figures ought to remain of symbolic status”. In a communiqué released in the runup to Christmas, the Orthodox officials “defend Father Christmas as a religious symbol”, qualifies the Bucharest daily, but “discard the jolly fellow who has become a consumer good, personifying selfish materialism”. Further down in this message not only to the Romanian Orthodox faithful, but also to state institutions, Patriarch Daniel, the head of the local Church, insists that "the real meaning of Christmas lies in the return to Christian values”. For years now in the Czech Republic, plenty of people have been incensed to see St Nick bulking increasingly large over the Christian holiday, wholly eclipsing the traditional figure of Baby Jesus. "Little Jesus and other Czech Christmas traditions are part and parcel of our identity,” proclaims Eva Fruhwirtová, who has started an anti-Santa petition addressed to prime minister Jan Fischer.

Icon of capitalism

"He sells everything: cars, pens, rifles, oatmeal, cigarettes, tyres, soap, coffee – you name it! Father Christmas is capitalism’s world rep,” writes Jean-Jacques Delfour in an op-ed piece in Libération entitled "Why I hate Santa”. "The Christian triad composed of divine love, universal distributor (JC) and the mass of us sinners has given way to a new one: capitalism (in the divine position), worldwide promoter (SC) and the multitude of consumers. Christmas gifts are that love converted into merchandise,” gripes the philosophy professor. Another reason to loathe him: he offers adults a “vicarious infantile regression”, teaches kids that “the glut of merchandise is happiness itself” and "inculcates conformity, coldly-calculating obedience and hypocrisy”. And in a stab at a psychoanalytical take on the famous poem by Clement Moore (1820), Libération writes: "Father Christmas is a penis penetrating the house mother, whose chimney is her vagina, the fireplace her uterus, and the presents their offspring. Hence his plump ruddy body. And that explains the link to the Nativity.…"

As if being a sex fiend and an icon of ruthless capitalism were not enough as it is, Father Christmas is also a children’s health hazard. In "Santa Claus: A public health pariah” in the British Medical Journal, public health fellow Nathan Grill nails Santa Claus’s pernicious influence on kids, especially how he promotes junk food. A number of European dailies have reacted to this article. “We ought to put him on a diet,” quips Le Figaro, “give him a fair complexion instead of that hedonistic red face, and make him give up his reindeer and pass the toys out on foot so he gets a little exercise.” Father Christmas would then finally be “medically correct”. El Mundo opines more soberly: “It is true Father Christmas carries the message that obesity is directly linked to happiness and joviality.”

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A hard-living hedonist

The Daily Telegraph quotes Dr Nathan Grill again as saying “the idea of a fat Father Christmas gorging on brandy and mince pies as he drove his sleigh around the world delivering presents was not the best way to promote a healthy and safe lifestyle among the young”. Grill argues that "Father Christmas could also potentially promote drink-driving”. Not only that, he spreads disease: "If Santa sneezes or coughs around 10 times a day, all the children who sit on his lap may end up with swine flu as well as their Christmas present.” A victim of the present age, sympathises La Vanguardia, good ole Saint Nick "has hitherto been beyond reproach, but he has no future. The worst of it will be when he ends up being denounced for mistreating the reindeer.” But, at the risk of spreading sad tidings, don’t forget Santa’s actually already dead and buried. "The saint who inspired the legend of 'Santa Claus' is believed to have been buried in an abbey in Kilkenny, according to local historians,” writes the Irish Independent. “During his life, St Nicholas left anonymous gifts for the poor and his well-known generosity propelled him to sainthood shortly after his death in 346, inspiring the legend of the jolly man in the red suit.”

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