As it gets closer to the time when we prepare to celebrate Christmas & the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, it might be inteesting to note that the tradition of "Santa Claus" comes from a much darker & pagan past.We are actually witnessing the last remnant of the oldest sacred figure that exists,for Santa's past is filled with ancient mysteries.In the Midddle-Ages, he was the "Wild Man", a man-beast who jousted with the Knights in Merry Olde England. In Germanic streets, he chased & frightened children & adults alike at the Carnival.In the sixth century, he was a "beast-god" so powerful that the pope, Gregory the Great, had him declared the ultimate evil,as a cloven-hoofed, goatish figure that still persists even today.For a millennia before that, he was worshipped as a god whose annual death was necessary for the Earth itself to continue with life.
In the 19 century , gift-givers in America,Britian,and Germany appeared at end-of-the-year ceremonies, but they didn't travel alone.They were acompanied by an entourage, no matter what country they were in.Santa's companions were Bessy, a man dressed as a woman,ans assorted merrymakers dressed in goat & bear skins, and wearing goat or bear masks.The other characters varied, but usually included a comic doctor, and an archer.Of course,America's Christmas man wasn't called Santa. He got that name in the mid-1800's. First he was Pelznichol (Nicolas in furs)in Nova Scotia he was Janney.In Trinidad he was Papa Bois, and in Great Britan he was Yule, until Ben Johnson christened him Father Christmas in 1616.. His names have been as varied as the communities he both terrorized & blessed! The Wild man & his crew went door-to-door demanding entry.After they were welcomed in the door, they put on a raunchy play with the leader ( who was always dressed in goat skins, or as a goat) argued with a woman figure,or another character.He was killed, the woman lamented,and the doctor somehow comically revived him.Sometimes he spontainously revived himself declaring he wasn't dead at all!Before they left, the troup demanded gifts. This strange Invasion didn't only take place at Yuletide,in Germany it was Carnival that the Wild Man took to the streets. Those who study the mumming rituals have sorted them into three main types:The wooing ceremony,the sword-play,or the St.George Play. All had the same"-death and resurection theme."But in every play it was the death & resurection of the Wild man that was required for life to continue. Sometimes he tore up trees, which later were symbolized by the May Pole, or the Yule Log.Because he was the god of thunder and lightning, the villages fired guns & beat drums to announce his coming. This all stemmed from the basic fertility rites from the middle ages in which the towns, young unmarried men went to the woods to "awaken" the Wild Man & drive him from his cave. The youngest & strongest men were dressed in skins as the Wild man, and he would be captured & chained to be brought back to the village. In his symbol as the fertility god, he would then be brought to the village square to mate with the village wench, thus another year of life.Then he would be "killed" by the archer. An untouched version of this ritual was discovered in the Balkans by R.M.Dawkins in 1906.After recieving gifts, the paraders would drag a plough through the village. for more informtion read: Last of The Wild Men, by Phyllis Siefker
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Summer is here |
so obviously I don't receive a gift from Santa 
But we can be santa claus to everyone - to the poor, lonely etc. - i think it's the Santa spirit in us that is important and not the so-called pagan origins. 
