Everyone knows that Santa Claus gives gifts to good children and coal to bad ones. However, according to tradition, Saint Nicholas - the prototype of the famous Santa Claus - was accompanied by his faithful companion and at the same time the antipode - a horned monster named Krampus. It was he who was responsible for punishing disobedient children. Krampus is an integral New Year's character in the Alpine regions. People in the costumes of this terrible monster can be found on the streets during the Christmas festivities. Beware! He has a whip and is going to use it!
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1. How is this orc-like night creature in general connected with Christmas?
2. As you know, if children behave well, Santa Claus (or Santa Claus - who knows how) will bring them gifts for the New Year.
3. With Krampus, the idea is the same, only he does not bring gifts. He is not interested in good children at all. He likes those who behave badly, because it is them that he can whip with his whip in the New Year.
4. Today, if children misbehave, it usually means that they will not receive any gifts.
5. For some, this punishment is enough. However, some cultures have had their own characters to intimidate naughty children. One of them was Krampus - the thunderstorm of all naughty children.
6. Remember the movie "The Grinch Stole Christmas?"
7. Well, Krampus is somewhat similar to him. Only with a much nastier character.
8. Throw in the horns, some of the goblins and orcs from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and you have the real Krampus.
9. Krampus is not just a fiction, it is, rather, a means of intimidating naughty children, which has been used in different cultures for a long time.
10. In Europe, it began to gain popularity, appearing in remote, isolated alpine regions a little over a hundred years ago.
11. This was in part due to the popularity of the Christmas cards that depicted him in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The image of Krampus has changed little in recent years, one might even say that he has become scarier.
12. So where did the Krampus legend come from? The very name of this monster comes from the old Germanic word "krumpen".
13. It means "claw." Krampus is the incubus that accompanied Saint Nicholas. Only he does not give gifts to good children - he punishes the bad ones.
14. Traditionally, an incubus is a demon that visits sleeping. He lays down on them (the word "incubus" comes from the Latin word "incubo" - "to lie down on top").
15. Krampus, however, is not some rapist. His goal is to punish children who have behaved badly this year.
16. On postcards of the early twentieth century, Krampus is depicted with a whip.
17. It is with this whip that he "measures out" his Christmas punishment.
18. Particularly in Austria, Krampus Night is still not forgotten. He is remembered on December 6 on the day of St. Nicholas.
19. Young people (and today girls) dress up as Krampus and walk the streets of cities. Their goal is to scare children. And it looks like not only children.
20. Needless to say, this is Europe, XXI century. The Krampus tradition, once part of the culture, has now become an excellent excuse for those who like to indulge in all sorts of street frenzy. Let's just say it's an excuse for young people who want to be a little bad.
21. Due to the isolation of the Alpine regions, many regional varieties of Krampus have emerged. In Bavaria, he is "Wild Mann", somewhere else - "Knecht Rupert". But the tradition of punishment walks side by side with him.
22. However, in Hungary his image softened a little. There he is considered a harbinger of trouble, but not a demon. In addition, the Hungarian Krampus is wearing a black suit. The modern image of the suave (but, nevertheless, stupid) devil comes from there. The Hungarian Krampus often carries Virgaki with it - several rods tied together that children can receive if they behave badly. Of course, they also receive gifts anyway.
23. The largest celebration in honor of Krampus takes place in the town of Schladming in Austria. There are about a thousand Krampus going there. They carry with them sticks and burning whips with which they can punish bad children. Often, the Krampuses also target young girls. Especially cute.
24. Not surprisingly, girls prefer to stay at home that night (after all, the German way of using the whip is famous all over the world).
27. The Krampus Festival is gaining popularity in other parts of the world.
28. Nowadays there are fewer and fewer Christian traditions, and people sometimes switch to pagan ones.
29. And the gloomy, almost "gothic" beauty of this image only adds to its popularity, because today demons and other evil spirits are very popular.
Santa Claus is a character who migrated from fairy tales to reality. Children and adolescents believe in him, adults resort to his help. The existence of the hero is explained by the unusual events that take place during the New Year holidays. A gray-bearded old man in a traditional red suit takes care of children and prepares gifts throughout the year. The surprises placed under the tree on New Year's Eve are expected by kids no less than birthday presents. A relationship with a fictional character is built on belief in him and in a miracle.
History of appearance
It's hard to believe that Santa Claus is a real person. He lived in ancient times, and his homeland was not called Lapland, but the Lycian Worlds. These are lands located on the territory of present-day Turkey. References to the character date back to 253 AD. The citizen's name is Saint Nicholas. He worked in the rank of bishop, was known as a respectable person and was respected for his faith. With his savings, Saint Nicholas shared with those in need and helped them as much as he could. Sailors, merchants and bakers considered him a patron, and children did not look for a soul in a good hero.
According to the tradition established in the 10th century, December 6 was the day of the distribution of gifts at the Cologne Cathedral. The custom was quickly adopted in other cities, linking it with the famous St. Nicholas. In Russia, the hero is called.
In the 19th century, the American Clement Moore wrote a poem called "The Night Before Christmas, or the Visit of St. Nicholas." She talked about grandfather going home to give gifts to children who had behaved well all year. The character's name - Santa Claus - was associated with a generous donor.
By 1840, virtually everyone in the New World had an idea of who Santa Claus was. In 1863, the artist Thomas Nast used the image of an old man in political cartoons. Subsequently, he described the life of a wizard in illustrations. Since then, it is believed that Santa Claus lives at the North Pole, and his residence accommodates many elves who help make gifts for children.
According to legend, Santa has a house where he lives and works. Here he makes notes in the book of actions of children from all over the world, assessing who was obedient and who was mischievous. It is curious that the hero was originally depicted in the form of an elf, but over time, the appearance has become more human and similar to that which can be seen in modern depictions of the character.
Biography
Throughout the year, Santa prepares for the main holiday in order to pamper children with long-awaited gifts. On the eve of the holiday, he sits in a sleigh pulled by reindeer and flies across the sky to different countries, delivering presents. Grandpa goes down the chimney to each house, leaves surprises under the tree and feasts on cookies. After completing the work, he goes home and again gives the task to the elves collecting gifts for the kids.
Santa is dressed in red pants and a jacket with a belt, he has a neat cap on his head, and high boots on his feet. In some of the pictures, you can see that the grandfather is not averse to indulging in a smoking pipe. The old man's environment is peculiar, but the history of his life remains mysterious.
Unlike, who has a granddaughter, Santa Claus is lonely. Although some suggest that Mrs. Klaus has a right to exist. The old man takes care of himself on his own and has a weakness for milk and cookies, which are usually left for him under the tree. Among his friends are elves and deer, creatures with whom Santa can easily find a common language.
The magic sleigh moves forest deer through the air: Dasher - Swift, Dancer - Dancer, Prenser - Racehorse, Vixen - Frisky, Comet - Comet, Cupid - Cupid, Donder - Thunder, Blitzen - Lightning and Rudolph. The last horse joined the herd by accident, overtaking the deer during a blizzard. It is distinguished by a bright red glowing nose.
If we talk about the person who served as the prototype for Santa Claus, then his biography has more confirmation and known details. Nicholas was born in Asia Minor 255-257. AD in Patara. The boy's parents died, leaving their property to the heir. He lived with his uncle, a priest, and helped those in need. There is a known case related to the family of a poor man whose daughters could not marry for lack of a dowry. The girls were going to be sold into slavery.
The night before the first deal, the eldest daughter hung up the stockings to dry after washing, and in the morning she found gold in them. Nicholas helped the girls find happiness. He came to the rescue in secret. After a while he was elected bishop. The hero's life was an example of faith, generosity and warmth. After the death of Nicholas, the tradition of giving gifts and leaving surprises in New Year's stockings continued.
Quotes and Facts
In different countries, Santa Claus is presented in different images, and in different languages of the world his name sounds different. In Russia and Belarus it is Santa Claus, in Austria - Sylvester, in Greece - Saint Basil, in Germany - Weinachtsman, in Colombia - Pope Pascual, in France - Père Noel. Holland is the country where Santa's name is Sinterklaas. In each state, the wizard hides gifts in his own way. In Sweden, children find them by the stove, in Germany - on the windowsill, in Mexico - in boots, and in Spain - on the balcony. In one corner of the world, Santa Claus is a pagan god, in another - a wizard, and in a third - a forest dweller.
In Europe, it is generally accepted that the over-aged favorite of children lives in Lapland. Many families come to the residence of Santa Claus to stay on the eve of the New Year. In America, my grandfather has residences in Torrington, Connecticut and Wilmington, New York.
Americans have made Santa Claus the idol of millions. Thanks to the famous advertising campaign of the Coca-Cola brand, the image of a brisk grandfather was entrenched in the minds of children and adults. Unsurprisingly, US cartoon characters unmistakably articulate the nuances of Santa's biography.
“Don't you know the true meaning of Christmas? It's Santa's birthday! " - is talking .
In the cartoon "Santa's Secret Service", the position of the main magician is passed down from generation to generation, and the main character states with dignity:
“Many years ago my father told me that being Santa is the best profession in the world. He was right: I love my job! "
The kind image of a plump old man bringing gifts is cultivated in America and other countries, allowing children to believe in magic and fairy tales. Every New Year's film broadcast during the holidays contains philosophical quotes on this score.
Screen adaptations
Billy Bob Thornton in the movie Bad Santa Santa has become the hero of numerous cartoon projects and films. In comedies, parents of large families, notorious bandits, heroes who do not believe in the power of Christmas, and those who lack love and warmth during the cold winter holidays appear in the image of a New Year's wizard.
Cinematographers present Santa Claus as an ordinary family man in the 1994 film Santa Claus, introduce the audience to the character forced to play the role of a good wizard in the 2003 film Bad Santa, and invite the audience to find out what a grandfather's family might look like. The film “Fred Klaus. Santa's Brother "2007 release. Thanks to the imagination of the directors, the hero of traditional legends appears in a modern guise and remains a favorite of the audience, regardless of the plot of the tape.
The mere mention of a cheerful man in a red cap immediately gives rise to memories of a happy childhood, of the expectation of a holiday, gifts under the Christmas tree and various kinds of delicacies. The prototype of Santa and Santa Claus was Saint Nicholas, who did not live at the North Pole. The image of the New Year's grandfather was formed for almost 1700 years, and in some countries they wanted to ban him altogether. In our review, there are very interesting facts about the main New Year's grandfather.
1. Saint Nicholas is not from the North Pole at all
Saint Nicholas was a Greek bishop who lived in the third - fourth centuries in a warm country - Greece. Anthropologists reconstructed his face from a surviving skull and found that St. Nick's nose was broken. This may have led to the fact that images of St. Nicholas with a large potato nose are often found.
2. Santa is a miracle worker
Every year, many Christians celebrate St. Nicholas Day on December 6, the day of Nicholas' death. Miracles often happen on this day.
3. Nicholas was originally known for bringing gifts
Saint Nicholas was known for bringing magic gifts and also became the patron saint of children. According to one of the most famous stories, Nikolai saw three young sisters who were prostituted in order to survive. He secretly brought three bags of gold to their father (who was heavily indebted) to secure their wedding dowry.
4. Saint Nicholas is a righteous man
This story was often told during the Middle Ages, but it is practically unknown today. Nikolai once came to an inn, where the owner had recently killed three boys, chopped their bodies to pieces and stuffed barrels with meat to salt them. Nikolai brought the boys back to life.
5. How Saint Nicholas disappeared from Christmas celebrations
When the Protestant Reformation swept through most of central and northern Europe, the popularity of the saints declined sharply. Thus, the symbol of the one who brings the gifts disappeared. Soon, the "baby Jesus" began to play this role in many families and countries.
6. The custom of giving gifts was moved to another day
When the people began to believe not in St. Nicholas, but in the baby Jesus, the day of congratulations and gifts was postponed from December 6 to December 25.
7. Santa's ability to fly and eight deer
The Scandinavian god Odin probably influenced the development of the story of Santa Claus. One flew on the eight-legged horse Sleipnir (it is believed that this is how the myth of Santa's eight deer originated).
8. The origin of the red Santa costume
One of the main theories about why Santa Claus wears a red suit is that it was due to the religious position of Nicholas (Nicholas wore the red cape of the Archbishop).
9. The Dutch have kept faith in Santa
While Saint Nicholas was abandoned in most European countries in favor of the baby Jesus, the Netherlands retained the traditional belief in its own version of the gift-giver: Sinterklaas. Dutch settlers later brought this tradition to the United States.
10. Christmas or a binge
After the founding of the United States, most families in this country did not like or even celebrate Christmas. The explanation is simple - basically the States were founded by English settlers, and in England and the colonies it was customary to celebrate the holiday with a lot of alcohol. Therefore, the guests were often drunk and rowdy.
11. St. Nicholas was painted almost as often as the mother of Jesus
Of all the religious saints, St. Nicholas (or Santa Claus) has been depicted by artists more than any other than the Virgin Mary.
The image of Santa Claus, which is familiar to everyone today, was first drawn by a cartoonist. Thomas Nast, a political cartoonist in the late 1800s, portrayed Kris Kringle in a red coat with white fur and rather plump.
13. Legendary Coca-Cola ad
One of the most famous facts about Santa Claus is that thanks to the Coca-Cola advertisement in 1931, the image of Santa was finally formed into a modern one, known to everyone today. It was 84 years ago that Coca-Cola marketers decided to turn the saint into a well-fed, good-natured grandfather, traveling in a reindeer sleigh and sneaking through chimneys into houses to bring gifts to children.
14. Countries where the fun tradition of giving gifts is unpopular
There are quite a few countries where Santa Claus is disliked, preferring to him their characters who bring gifts. For example, in the Netherlands, Sinterklaas brings gifts during December, while in southern Germany and northern Austria Krampus often visits Christmas markets.
It turns out that the images of Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden were formed in the USSR only in the 1930s. The image of Frost has existed since ancient Slavic times, but only in the 19th century in Russia this image was tied to the original "Christmas grandfather" who gives gifts to children. After the revolution, Santa Claus was banned, like Christmas, and again Santa Claus "returned" to the USSR in 1936.
Before the New Year comes, it's time to find out everything.
Image copyright Getty Image caption Christmas mail counts hundreds of millions of items
If Santa Claus really existed, how could he deliver hundreds of millions of cards and gifts for Christmas and New Year to their destination?
The task seems almost insurmountable, because in one night Santa has to travel hundreds of millions of addresses around the world, where children and adults are eagerly awaiting him. How can science come to his aid? Black holes? Quantum mechanics? Supersonic aircraft? Is it possible at all to cope with this task in one day?
In theory, this is possible, but for this Santa will have to think creatively and act decisively.
First, there are actually not as many addressees as it might seem at first glance. There are 2.2 billion children living in the world, according to UNCEF. But here it is worth remembering that Santa only brings gifts to those children who have behaved well during the year. Therefore, this number must be halved at once - and this is according to the most optimistic estimates!
Secondly, many children live under one roof. If we assume that on average there are two and a half children per family (and that all children living in the same family behave the same - good or bad), then Santa will have to visit only 440 million addresses.
In addition, elementary physics comes to his aid. Roger Highfield, author of Physics and Christmas, calculated that if Santa set out on his journey towards the rotation of the Earth, he would easily double his journey, adding another day to his allotted time.
However, even then it will not be easy for him to cope with such a large-scale task.
Is it real? Here are five possible solutions.
New Year and the speed of light
Image copyright BBC World Service Image caption Even a team of nine reindeer won't help Santa reach the speed of lightAccording to Highfield, a former editor of New Scientist magazine, Santa will have to move at a speed close to the speed of light in order to deliver all the gifts.
At a speed of 300 thousand km per second, it can circumnavigate our planet seven times in one second.
One can only guess, however, what will happen to him during acceleration and deceleration, and also whether he will burn out together with his sleigh and deer when braking in dense layers of the atmosphere.
On the other hand, elves can help him
Image copyright BBC World Service Image caption American mail delivers 40% of all mail in the worldThe US Postal Service claims to handle 40% of the world's mail and deliver about 158 billion letters and parcels annually - that's about 434 million items per day.
This is already quite close to the 440 million addresses mentioned above. The American Post, which employs more than 600 thousand people and which is equipped with a huge fleet of vehicles, is able to cope with such a task.
Although elves can help Santa with sorting mail and other organizational chores, only Santa Claus himself will have to deliver gifts to children.
Oddly enough, modern physics still does not exclude such a possibility.
Punctures of space and time
Image copyright BBC World Service Image caption Punctures of space and time will allow Santa to instantly move around the planetWe are talking about punctures in the fabric of space and time, which are constantly mentioned by science fiction writers. Imagine that your house is on one side of a piece of paper, and your friend's house is on the other side, with some physical distance between them.
If you fold that piece of paper in half and line up the two dots, and then poke a hole through them with a pencil, Santa will save a lot of time moving through those punctures.
The theory of relativity also comes to the rescue
Image copyright BBC World Service Image caption Einstein's general theory of relativity can help understand how Santa manages to transcend space and timeLarry Silverberg, professor of aerodynamics at the University of North Carolina in the United States, believes that Santa Claus can manipulate space and time.
He claims that Santa can create a special field in which space, time and light are perceived in a completely different way than in the surrounding normal world.
“Within this field, time flows as quickly as it pleases. Santa may have months to deliver all this mail, but when viewed from outside, it takes seconds,” the professor explains.
... or maybe it's all about quantum mechanics
Image copyright BBC World Service Image caption Or maybe there are an infinite number of Santa Clauses?On the other hand, Santa can turn into a quantum and be present at the same time anywhere in the world at any time.
At least, this is the opinion of the Mexican physicist Daniel Tapia, an employee of the CERN Institute in Geneva.
"Perhaps Santa Claus can take on quantized states - in other words, there can be an infinite number of Santas on our planet at the same time."
According to this theory, every such quantized Santa Claus can give a present to every child in the world on Christmas Eve, when the children are fast asleep and cannot see him. But here the Schrödinger effect, or the observation effect, comes into play.
If the child wakes up and sees Santa Claus, the quantized state of the wizard will be disturbed, and all the infinite number of Santas will vanish into thin air.
Therefore, children, sleep soundly on Christmas night!
Andrei Shalygin: In fact, Christmas has absolutely no direct relation to Santa Claus or Santa Claus (Sant Nicholas, that is, Saint Nicholas), especially with reindeer. The fact is that the Archbishop of Myra in Lycia, Equal to the Apostles Saint Nicholas, on the eve of the Nativity of Christ, always bypassed the laity and, secretly from them, so that no one would notice, left them gifts for Nativity of Christ in secluded places.
And he was, of course, not in a fur coat with fur lining. They write in red robes of a sedate old man because earlier, before the introduction of different colors to the twentieth holidays, the festive miter was always of the same festive color - red, that is, purple, symbolizing the coming into the World of the King of People - Christ.
However, the gifts for the New Year were, of course, more important to people, and since the celebration of the New Year itself was dispersed with Christmas, and then communist propaganda tried in every possible way so that the very idea of Christmas was forgotten, then the grandfather in a fur coat living in the forest ended up more tenacious than Nikolai the Pleasant, as the people call him, who became Grandfather Frost with the pagan Berendey Snow Maiden.
It is no coincidence that Christmas is the same central holiday of the church year as Easter: these holidays symbolize the most important events for Christians - the incarnation, birth in the flesh of Jesus Christ and his death on the cross and subsequent resurrection. According to the Bible, the Divine Infant was born on the night of December 25 in a cave near Bethlehem. The Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph went to this city for a population census, announced by order of King Herod the Great of Judea, and spent the night in a cave. The Mother of God swaddled the newborn Jesus and put it in a manger (a cattle feeder), and soon the Magi came to the cave to worship Christ.
Therefore, an indispensable attribute of the holiday was and remains nativity scene- a sculptural image of the Infant Jesus in the manger, the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph in the cave (in fact, the word "nativity scene" in translation from Church Slavonic means "cave"). There may be more figures, but these three are required. In cathedrals and churches, nativity scenes are usually large: full-length painted figures, large decorations, a large number of characters. The same large nativity scenes appear on the streets of many European and American cities. But for home use, so to speak, there are small folding nativity scenes, many of which have been inherited in families for more than the first generation: they are placed on tables or on the floor near the Christmas tree just before Christmas.
Another common attribute of Christmas among Catholics is the so-called advent wreath... This is a small wreath, woven from fir branches and decorated with ribbons, balls and other tinsel, on which four thick candles are fixed. Each of them symbolizes one of the four weeks of Advent - the month of strict fasting preceding Christmas among Catholics. Such wreaths can be seen since the end of November in all Catholic churches at the altars, and the overwhelming majority of ordinary lay people gladly put them on the table in their home - at least on Christmas Eve, that is, on the evening before Christmas. Once upon a time, candles were lit sequentially, one every Sunday, but today, as a rule, they light up at the same time - it’s more beautiful.
Mandatory for Catholics (and not only: similar services are also held by Protestants and other offshoots of Christianity living according to the Gregorian calendar) was and remains a visit to the Christmas Mass. On the night of December 25, there are three of them: Mass at night (Ad Missam in nocte), Mass at dawn (Ad Missam in aurora) and Mass during the day (Ad Missam in die). Each service has a special religious meaning, and Christmas is actually celebrated three times: during the first service - as the eternal birth of the Word from God the Father, during the second - as the birth of God the Son from the Virgin, and during the third - as the birth of God in the soul of the believer.
For Catholics, the original idea of an archbishop congratulating the flock on Christmas remained closer to the original, so Santa Claus is considered the main modern symbol of Christmas, who is usually represented as a fat, good-natured old man with glasses and a white beard, dressed in a warm red jacket, pants and a cap. However, the historical prototype of this character - Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker - did not resemble him at all.
St Nicholas
Nicholas the Wonderworker is one of the most revered saints in the Christian world. He is considered the protector of the common people, the patron saint of navigation, trade and agriculture, as well as the guardian of the poor and orphans.
According to the life, Saint Nicholas was born in the 3rd century A.D. in the Greek colony of Patara in the Roman province of Lycia (on the territory of the modern province of Antalya in Turkey). He gained fame as the archbishop of Myra in Lycia (Byzantium), thanks to his charity and protection of innocent convicts, as well as numerous deeds and miracles.
Currently, Catholics honor the memory of St. Nicholas on December 6. In the Orthodox tradition, this holiday is celebrated twice - on December 19 (December 6 according to the old style) "Nicholas winter" and on May 22 (May 6 according to the old style) "Nikola Veshniy".
The face of Archbishop Nicholas was reconstructed by a group of British anthropologists and Italian scientists from the remains that are kept in the Basilica of Saint Nicholas in Bari.
"The real Santa Claus was 170 cm tall and had sharp features, which seemed even harsher because of a broken nose. His skin was dark, close-cropped matted hair, a disheveled beard. A large, frightening-looking man," the researchers said.
According to legend, Archbishop Nicholas threw small bags of gold coins into the chimneys of the houses of poor girls who were old enough to get married, but did not have a dowry.
The tradition of giving gifts on this day dates back to the 10th century, when sweets were handed out to pupils of the parish school on December 6 at the Cologne Cathedral. Later in Germany, they began to hang shoes or socks in houses so that Saint Nicholas would put gifts there for children.
Santa Claus
Santa's reindeer
The tradition of depicting Santa on a sleigh pulled by reindeer dates back to the early 19th century. In the early illustrations, Santa was driving a small sleigh driven by a single reindeer. In 1823, the first edition of the famous poem "The Night Before Christmas" was published, in which the sleigh was already carried by eight "horned assistants".
The ninth reindeer named Rudolph, who becomes the head of the team, appeared only in 1949, when Johnny Marks wrote the song "Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer". The rest of the reindeer are called Desher ("Awesome"), Dancer ("Dancer"), Prenser ("Prancing"), Vixen ("Evil"), Comet ("Comet"), Kupid ("Cupid"), Dunder ("Blockhead" ) and Blixem ("Lightning Fast").
Veterinarian Ellis Blue-Maclendon of Texas A&M University claims the deer are females. At the same time, she refers to the fact that males have already got rid of horns by December 25, while Santa's sleigh is pulled by hoofed animals with horns. And deer specialist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Gregory Finstead is of the opinion that Santa's little helpers are castrated males who get rid of their antlers only in February-March.
Physicists from Germany have calculated the speed with which Santa Claus must move on Christmas night in order to have time to deliver all the gifts. This is approximately 28,416 kilometers per hour, which is 23 times the speed of sound. It also turned out that Santa Claus cannot drive his reindeer with the traditional "Ho, ho, ho!" at supersonic speed, the cry will never reach the ears of the animals.
Santa Claus Corporation
Experts from Wired magazine "revealed" the business plan of the multinational corporation Santa Claus for the delivery of gifts for Christmas. With the help of business consultants, delivery and tracking specialists, and Navy SEALs, a rough plan for its operation in the United States was drawn up.
According to experts, the structure of Santa Claus Inc. includes, among others, the headquarters and operations center at the North Pole, secret factories in China and Eastern Europe, Pacific delivery lines, as well as a huge network of warehouses and local distribution centers. At the same time, the most modern technologies are used - the monitoring system of the National Security Agency allows the delivery of gifts exactly at the moment when the child is sleeping, and the supercomputer gives out accurate information about good and bad children.
Spying on Santa
In recent years, North America's Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and Google have been monitoring Santa Claus's flight online.
The tradition of tracking Santa's course on Christmas Eve dates back to 1955 after a typo in an advertisement for a Colorado newspaper that replaced Santa's hotline with NORAD (then: Continental Air Defense Command - CONRAD). As the number received more and more calls, the commander on the other end of the line began to portray Santa Claus, and since 1958 this has become one of the modern holiday customs.
According to NORAD, the Christmas sleigh surveillance system works thanks to the nose of Rudolph the reindeer, which emits a special infrared signal, reminiscent of the one that occurs when rocket launches.
In recent years, you can independently track Santa's flight using Twitter microblogging or the social network Facebook, as well as on a specially created website using Google Maps and Google Earth services. The route traveled, the next point and the number of gifts already presented are marked on the map.
Anton Smertin
How Christmas is celebrated
But outside of the actual church holiday, everyone is preparing for Christmas and celebrating it to their taste and in accordance with national traditions. Most will try to decorate their doors with a Christmas wreath, reminiscent of an Advent wreath without candles: this is a sign that the house is waiting and rejoicing in Christ. Also, most of those celebrating Catholic Christmas, having gathered for a festive dinner on Christmas Eve, will certainly put an extra chair on the table, and an extra appliance on the table. On the one hand, it symbolizes the family's willingness to meet and feed anyone who looks at the light that evening; on the other hand, it is a reminder of all relatives and friends who cannot meet the festive evening at a common table; and on the third, it is a sign of memory and respect for those members of the family who are no longer alive, but who, as Catholics believe, awaits them on the other side of earthly existence.
By the way, about beliefs, more precisely, about the legacy of pagan times. Many ethnological researchers believe that it is not by chance that Catholic Christmas took root so quickly and became so widespread, first in Europe, and then in the New World. According to scholars, the custom of celebrating the birth of the Infant Jesus at the end of December, right after the night of the winter solstice, ideally coincided with the pagan traditions of meeting the turning point of winter. And therefore, in many European countries, especially in Northern and Eastern Europe, to this day there are Christmas customs with obvious pagan roots, not approved by the official church, but traditionally observed by the laity. For instance, "Christmas log": such a log is chosen in advance from the most straightforward and cleanest, on Christmas Eve it is brought into the house, a cross is carved on it, then poured with oil and honey and burned in an oven or in a fireplace.
The same legacy of pagan beliefs that have become accustomed to Christianity is the indispensable Christmas tree. The Germans were the first to put it on Christmas Day - first in large city squares, and then at home, and after them the custom migrated to other European countries, from where it spread throughout the world - along with Christianity.
Christmas table
The festive Christmas table is also varied, since traditional Christmas dishes are different in each country. For example, in Great Britain This is an oven-baked turkey in gooseberry sauce and Christmas pudding sprinkled with rum, set on fire and served as such. V America the same Christmas turkey is served on the table in cranberry sauce, and in France- in white wine sauce. But in Austria, Hungary and in many Balkan countries there is never a bird on the Christmas table: it is believed there that it is impossible to eat it that evening - happiness will fly away.
V Germany a traditional Christmas dish is pastry: gingerbread, muffins or cinnamon stars, in Italy and Spain- seafood, in Norway- fish, and in Portugal- dried salted cod, which is customary to drink with port. Indispensable common attributes of the Christmas table among Catholics and Protestants are perhaps an Advent wreath and a dish with wafers - consecrated unleavened bread, which the assembled people share with each other, wishing peace and goodness.
And of course, Christmas is an indispensable gift! Since, in the Western European tradition, it is the holiday of the birth of Jesus that is the main winter holiday, much more important than the New Year, then the main gifts are given precisely at Christmas. The tradition of Christmas gifts also goes back to the tradition of the adoration of the Magi to the newborn Infant Jesus: they brought him gold, incense and myrrh as a gift. Of course, neither myrrh nor incense is given to any of the laity today, but gold, more precisely, gold jewelry, is one of the most common gifts.
Children, of course, wait for toys and hang them in advance on the mantelpiece (who has a fireplace) or over the bed (who does not have a fireplace) red and white woolen socks. This tradition came from England: it is believed that once Santa Claus, who has a habit of peeking into fireplaces on Christmas nights to find out how children behave, accidentally dropped a few coins from his pocket, which fell into a sock that was drying by the fire. Since then, it is traditionally believed that Santa Claus puts gifts in socks, descending from the roof along the chimney.And if a gift is too large to hide in a sock, it is simply put under the Christmas tree - but by all means put some other small sock souvenir.
And, for example, in Zimbabwe every family has to prepare a colossal amount of Christmas gifts - dozens of them! And the point is not only that African families, as a rule, are very large. It's just that in this country it is customary to visit all relatives and friends on the way home from the Christmas service - and when you enter, you will certainly receive a gift. And although there is no such custom in other countries, it is considered indecent to deny someone a good deed on Christmas. And in general, the pre-Christmas month is considered the time when it is necessary to engage in philanthropy and charity - in memory of the good people who once sheltered the Holy Family.
Tatiana Rubleva
