There’s room for Santa in scientist’s heart
I’ve always been intrigued with the origins of the legend of Santa Claus. How did this story get associated with Christmas, and why is the tale so full of magical phenomena?
Of course, as a child, I believed in Santa with my whole heart. After all, my parents told me it was true, and the evidence appeared on Christmas morning, so how could I doubt it?
I can’t remember exactly when I stopped believing that Santa was real. Like most children, I slowly became more aware of the world around me, and I also heard rumors from older kids that Santa wasn’t real. I then asked my ultimate news source at the time (my parents), “Is it true?”
I’m sure my parents must have felt conflicted at first to tell the truth. Children delight in the belief that magic is real, but still my parents elected to come clean. They told me it was a fantasy, and then explained why the tale is told to children. This really helped me understand, because at the time I remember feeling totally duped.
Still, that didn’t explain where Santa came from, flying reindeer and all. Somehow, the roots of the story escaped me until I took a trip to the Netherlands as an adult. There, I found that they celebrated the coming of St. Nicholas on Dec. 5. Why this day and not the 25th?
After asking my Dutch friends (this was before you could look up answers on the internet), I found out that St. Nick also was called Sinterklaas, and came by boat, not sleigh, with small helpers called Piet (not elves) who helped distribute the gifts by going down chimneys. The correspondence was too great to ignore, and clearly this must be the origin of the tale.
Being a scientist, I did more research, which led back to the 4th century, when bishop Nicholas of Myra (then located in the south of Turkey) was known for his kindness and generosity. He died on Dec. 5 and so was remembered on that day by the giving of gifts.
All of this started to make sense. The idea of gifts and generosity coincided with the traditions of Christmas, and the close proximity of the dates made it easy to see how the two events became associated.
The embellishments of the present-day Santa Claus are often traced back to the 1823 poem “A Visit From Saint Nicholas,” which in modern times is known as “The Night Before Christmas,” which speaks of tiny reindeer and so on.
Though there is some debate about the authorship of that poem, it is likely that the author knew of some parts of the Sinterklaas story, and made up new details to fill in the gaps (again, long before the internet was born).
The image of present-day Santa can be traced to the imagination of Thomas Nast’s drawings in the 1860s and the Coca-Cola ads of the 1930s. Today, in the age of global communications, the images of Santa are the same worldwide, even in countries where Christians are only a tiny fraction of the population. Even with religious differences, the world can agree on the fable of Santa.
This brings me to the point of this column. Another thing that the world can agree on, which isn’t fantasy, is science. Even in this age of “fake news,” there are certain facts that can be put to the test by anyone with the appropriate equipment. Just look through a telescope and see what you can see, or read about what has been discovered by others.
Clearly, I don’t want to do away with Santa. I love the big guy. But let’s keep science real, too.