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by galgalesh
1654 days ago
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As someone from the Flemish (dutch-speaking) part of Belgium, I can honestly say that is a very US-centric view you have. In the Netherlands, the custom of "Sinterklaas", which was brought to the US and became Santa Klaus, predates Christianity coming to the Netherlands and Saint Nicholas was indeed created in order to be able to continue this "heathen" feast. It's origins are in the Celtic/Germanic midwinter fest of "Yule". During this fest, the god Wodan, rode on a horse, carried a staff, brought gifts to nice children and had devilish helpers who kidnapped the naughty children. This tradition is still strong in northern Europe, which was much less influenced by Christianity. Santa Klaus lore still has a lot of hints to the pagan origins. For example, the reindeer which pull Santa’s sleigh are called Donner and Blitzen-‘thunder and lightning’ from the Old Dutch ‘Dunder and Blixem’. (Wodan is the Germanic/celtic version of Odin.) |
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As Christianity spread, holidays and traditions from many parts of the world were subsumed by it. The history of the Church showed that it’s easier to change people’s religious beliefs than some of their cultural traditions. If theologically insignificant elements of a pre-existing pagan tradition got rolled into a Christian holiday that doesn’t mean the holiday is “actually pagan” or observers are giving some deference to a pagan god.
That may not have been your message, but I wanted to point it out because I hear that very often by those who apparently have some axe to grind with the Church and come off as if the history of some Christian holidays is a big secret they uncovered.