Santa Claus, symbol of consumerism

Although in many regions we have local Christmas characters, such as the Three Wise Men, Befana or, in ancient times, Saturn himself, Santa Claus is the only one with international reach. Santa Claus is often confused or even considered the same as Father Christmas or St. Nicholas, but they have differences, although they may have a common origin.

All are considered to be based on the figure of St. Nicholas of Bari, bishop during the 4th century AD of the city of Mira in Lycia, present-day Turkey. However, Santa Claus differs from most Christmas characters:

• He lacks the religious associations like characters such as St. Lucy, St. Nicholas, Christkindlein and the Magi.
• He lacks unbridled rebelliousness like Saturn or Knecht Ruprecht.
• He lacks the punitive nature of Sinterklaas with his companion Zwarte Piet, Ruprecht, Pelze-Nicol and St. Nicholas.
• Despite its mythical nature, with its numerous appearances in street corners, stores and homes, it remains more tangible than its predecessors and equivalents. Moreover, unlike the Easter Bunny, he has a name, a known home and family, friends, great age, unlimited generosity and gender.
• He brings numerous gifts of value, not simply fruits, nuts and homemade toys of the European Christmas characters. This change happened in 1850. The shift from homemade to factory-manufactured gifts began in 1880.

Santa Claus was influenced by Clement Moore's A Visit From St. Nicholas and Thomas Nast's portraits. The latter introduced the idea of the flying sleigh pulled by eight reindeer and shed their European helpers. Moore's poem introduced the names of the reindeer: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen, distributed in two rows, each of one sex. Rudolph was not incorporated in 1939, by Robert L. May and published by Montgomery Ward Stores. Nast's drawings were based on Moore's poem, but resulted in the first consensus on his image. It also eliminated religious symbolism, such as the miter, crozier or bishop's robes.

His image has been reinforced by abundant advertisements, being famous the Coca Cola ads, who used him since 1930. Stories also reinforced his generosity by pitting him against characters symbolizing opposite traits. Moreover, his generosity only distinguishes children from adults. It does not discriminate against social classes, races or nationalities.

We all know his life and work. He lives at the North Pole with his wife and elves, who make toys that he delivers all over the world with his reindeer sled. He visits every home, lands on the rooftops and enters through the chimney, leaving candy in the socks on the mantel and character gifts under the tree. There he eats the cookies and milk left for him and returns home, where he supervises the children's behavior, reads their letters and prepares his next journey.

Symbol of consumerism and comparison with Jesus Christ

Both perform miracles (traveling around the world in one night with a bottomless sack of toys; miracle of the loaves and fishes), have followers (elves; apostles), animals (reindeer; manger animals), require messages (letters; prayers). World travels can be equated to those of Jesus in the Bible and Christmas carols to religious hymns. Both came to our world to deliver their gifts and return to their kingdom. Santa Claus is also immortal, knows the behavior of children and holds them accountable. His belief constitutes a faith, as if having "Santa" in his name did not constitute a religious element. Likewise, he is also a wise and elderly character who lives at the North Pole, a place of white purity similar to heaven.

But, on the other hand, he is also the opposite of Jesus. He is old and corpulent, with luxurious clothes and occasionally smokes a pipe. He is married, more cheerful and lives in a cozy house on the pole, rather than in a desert land. Finally, while Jesus delivers health and necessities, Santa delivers luxuries and toys. Thus, Santa Claus can be considered a god of consumption.

The idea of Santa Claus is to ask for gifts that we deserve, diminishing the request when we are not worthy. However, while the concepts of generosity and love are preached, greed and self-interest are also favored. Continuing the comparison with Jesus, a notable difference is the treatment of merchants. Showing Jesus advertising Christmas products would be considered sacrilegious, but having Santa Claus present in department stores and advertising is common, even if it detracts from his message. After all, he is not a religious character. However, his appearance in advertising sanctifies the product. For this reason, the stores would be his temples.

The consequences of all this is that we learn to expect a gift when we are good. When we grow up, we reward ourselves when we think we do well. This feeds the philosophy that we get what we deserve. This philosophy is equivalent to the belief that the poor don't deserve the money of the rich and the Protestant work ethic, where hard work is tied to material success.

Santa Claus consumerism needs no preachers. In Japan, where the percentage of Christians is minimal, Santa Claus arrived with American soldiers after World War II. There Santa Claus also gives gifts to animals and aliens. In the rest of the world, the American media performs the same function of preachers, spreading their doctrine.

God or symbol?

Santa Claus is associated with consumerism and materialism. There is no doubt about it. But is he a god? In the cognitive science of religion, a god must meet five premises:

• Counterintuitive
• Intentional agent
• Possesses strategic information
• Able to act in our world in detectable ways
• Able to motivate behaviors that reinforce belief.

Santa Claus flies, knows if you are good or bad, leaves presents, and reinforces the belief when children leave him milk and cookies. Although he is a good candidate, the variety in his representations prevents him from meeting all the criteria. The counterintuitive elements are not always inherent to the character, but to some magical tool or helper. That is, an ordinary human with his resources could theoretically do his job. His strategic knowledge is limited if he does not go beyond morality or if he is asleep or awake. The ability to act in our world is also severely limited, as it is restricted to an annual day. Finally, although cards, socks, milk and cookies reinforce the belief, duration again plays against it. Moreover, how many children actually modify their behavior in the expectation of gifts, especially when the gifts arrive anyway? It doesn't help that good behavior is often taken into account when the holiday is near.

Sources

• Belk, R. W. (1987). A child's Christmas in America: Santa Claus as deity, consumption as religion. Journal of American culture, 10(1), 87-100.
• Barrett, J. L. (2008). Why Santa Claus is not a god. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 8(1), 149-161.