Sleigh-ing a myth: Should Santa come to town?

Santa Claus, gift-deliverer extraordinaire, goes by many names in many different countries. According to The Mercury News, he is called Noel Baba in Turkey, Père Noël in France, Mikulás in Hungary and Hoteiosho in Japan (this version has eyes in the back of his head). And let us not forget Krampus, whom the Smithsonian Magazine describes as being an evil demon Santa of sorts who eats naughty children during Christmas time.

In 2020, the New Scientist reported that upwards of 80% of the United States’ 5-year-olds believed in this jolly old man, who is admittedly the cause of much joy and happiness all over the world. Unlike the people who celebrate him, however, Santa Claus does not have grounding in reality. That is, he does not exist in the way that many children believe him to.

When I was a child, Santa Claus presented a slightly humorous conundrum during the holidays.

I’m not sure at what point I discovered the reality of the myth of Santa Claus, but I am sure that both my parents didn’t encourage me to believe in this magical rendition of a historical figure. They explained that, once upon a time, there was a man named St. Nicholas (whom we now celebrate as Santa Claus), a Christ-follower who provided for the unfortunate. His story grew into the legend that pervades a holiday we typically attribute to birth of our savior, Jesus Christ.

Knowing that my playmates did believe in Mr. Claus, I was instructed to not reveal to them my knowledge of the truth. This often called for some quite outstanding evasive conversational maneuvers on the part of my 5-year-old self, and it informed the way that I viewed the practice of telling children that Santa Claus was real. The truth — and subsequent disappointment — was inevitable. So what does this myth actually do?

Myth is a powerful thing, and any good myth should serve to heighten and elevate the truth. C. S. Lewis (when commenting on J. R. R. Tolkien’s works) wrote, “By putting bread, gold, horse, apple or the very toads into a myth, we do not retreat from reality: We rediscover it. As long as the story lingers in our mind, the real things are more themselves.”

Santa Claus is most certainly a myth, but his (historical) origins are reality. However, some children take this myth for the only thing of substance and fail to see (or aren’t taught) the underlying truth. They celebrate a tradition of falsehood, one that is not paired with reality.

Now, does this completely devalue the joy from all the smiles, giggles, warmed hearts, sweet memories and meaningful tradition gained from celebrating the myth of Santa Claus?

No. The symbolism and mystery inherent in this myth are aspects of good stories.

However, I would argue that when we fail to use myth as a way to provide an alternate perspective on reality (e.g., when we as children pretended that there were fairies in the flowers or that we were on quests in deep, dark woods) and we choose to rip myth from the context of truth and supplant it with a new reality, we have wandered too far from and tainted the truth. We now celebrate a lie.

Before my sisters had reached their teens, my father, winking, told us all we might expect a letter from “Saint Nick” on Christmas morning. Giggling and fully aware of how this would come about, we left milk and cookies in the living room and happily slept through a cold winter’s night.

In this way, my father allowed us to engage with myth in a meaningful manner that did not violate our consciences and remained mindful of the truth. This is the beauty of myth; it combines truth and the fantastical in such a way that we become more aware of the true nature of our circumstances and blessings.

Glen is an opinion writer for the Liberty Champion