How Long Does the Santa Claus Live?

Santa Claus or Joulupukki as I know him in my own Finnish language has been a continuing presence in my life since my birth during the 1950s in Lapland, Finland. I am a Christmas child myself who was born in a city that resides both the Santa Claus’ Main Post Office at Napapiiri at the Arctic Circle and the long tradition of tourist industry around Santa/Julupukki, including the official University courses in Elf Profession. Just check here to believe it. I am not telling you fibs.

Once in a while, or quite often actually, researchers do tell you that Santa is a lie, check in here and if you still have doubts here it is in Finnish. Every now and then we are also reminded that adults think too much. I mean in no respect to demean the two articles presented here but I am convinced that whatever we believe does construct our reality, including the metaphysical reality of Santa. Check my previous 2010 posting here about what is the history of the Santa tradition I believe in.

This year, like every year, it has come to pass that people are considering Santa and their Christmas traditions, including its political correctness and the commercialisation surrounding the modern practice of giving enormous amounts of presents to everyone. It boosts the economy, say the economists and many, if not all the shops rely on their Christmas sales to cover much of their yearly expenses. This makes it understandable that we keep on staring the Christmas markets earlier and earlier in the year. And who wouldn’t like to boost the economy? Or maybe not.

I live in Australia and find that the Christmas for me starts with the decorations at the shopping center, because otherwise, it is summer. The season comes as a great contradiction to my birth home of Rovaniemi, where the winter snow falls plentiful and it is freezing cold. In Australia, in the heat and the sun, it is quite hard for me to think about Christmas in the way I used to as a child. Now my traditions much come from having fun with the grandchildren and imagining with them how Santa would ride the skis from Lapland to deliver the presents Downunder.

My grandchildren know very well, where the line of the fairy-tale and the reality lies. They think that it is ‘cool’ that they, for example, know exactly where the North Pole is: that it is at Rovaniemi, Finland. And why do they know is because they have been there themselves. My six-year old granddaughter insists on this. “Mummu, I have actually been there twice.” There is no buts about it. She does not think about it philosophically, or in any metaphorical way. For her North Pole is where the Santa lives and because she knows the Santa, Rovaniemi for her is the North Pole. It is possible for children to think about Santa philosophically as well. At the age of five, my elder son asked me how long I thought Santa would live and when I answered: “As long as you believe in him”, he immediately said: “Oh, just like God!” That was also clear at one go and the end of the discussion.

Oh no, my granddaughter thinks about it all as a great potential for performance. She needs the right costume, and the right music and the right atmosphere and we are on. This will be the best Christmas ever performed. I bet it will include the music from the movie Trolls as for her it is the best dancing soundtrack possible to imagine.

The other way, I get my Christmas spirit rising is through technology and internet. I plan on talking to my family situated around the world, especially the other granddaughter in London. We are planning on maybe decorating our Christmas trees together, at the same time, through connecting on Skype. At least we will build Lego Christmas decorations together in our weekly get-togethers. We will show and tell about all the little decorations I have collected and placed in our tree. They come with different memories of my family for generations. Before this tree decorating used to be on the 13^th of December, because the Saint Lucia’s Day was my mother’s day. The family tradition carried to us from Sweden through the WWII when my mother was a refugee as a child there. We remember, I can tell it all to my grandchildren in my mother tongue, in Finnish.

This year, though, like last year, my grandchildren are in a hurry, and so am I. So, we might decorate the tree during the first week of December, already. The artificial trees that last and last make this longer season possible. The positive part is that we can even choose the colour of the tree as we fancy. This year it will be black. And from there on, sitting quietly, watching the lights on that tree reminds me of the Christmases past, present and the future. Baking cookies and the Karelian Pies with kids makes my Christmas real.

Our Christmas or Yule/Joulu traditions as I say it in Finnish might change and adjust into new technology, new environments and blend with new traditions. Still, for us the message of Santa remains the same: compassion, kindness, light, fun and caring. To me, it is no lie, it is a reality worth sharing with my family and friends and passing on to children and grandchildren.

If the spirit of Santa grows into a figure of a jolly old man or a strong grandma like woman, it might not be so bad to imagine that it is the spirit of the ages, all the good parts from Odin to St Nicolaus and many other unimaginable realities blended together into a consideration of others and their plight. It is not always about us. Mostly it is about the truth. So, how long does the Santa live? I still say that wherever or whenever you are, it depends on your own capability to imagine.

Contemplating Santa Claus and the World Christmas Traditions

”Joulupukki, joulupukki,
valkoparta, vanha ukki.
Eikös taakka paina selkää,
käyppä tänne, emme pelkää.
Oothan meille vanha tuttu,
puuhkalakki, karvanuttu.
Tääl on myöskin kiltit lapset
kirkassilmät, silkohapset."





Finnish people are very fond of Santa, ‘Joulupukki’(yo-lu-puk-ki) as we call him. Every year I am asked why I still believe in Santa and what does Christmas mean to me. Most years I end up giving a talk or being interviewed about the Finnish Christmas traditions. Every year I do a little research to the subject of Santa from the metaphysical or perennial wisdom point of view.

I have a special connection with Christmas as I was born just on the verge of the Christmas Eve, which is the foremost celebration day in the Scandinavian Christmas tradition. My grandfather was born just a day before me and a very close friend who then lived right next door right on the Christmas Eve. I always connected the birthday cake as a part of the Christmas tradition. It only occurred to me to ask my mother about in when I turned 40. She assured me that the cake was for me and not for Jesus as I had suspected. I should have known that as our Christmas always started on my birthday with the tree decorating.

Being born right at the Arctic Circle, in the city where much of the the winter tourism is reliant on the experience of Santa Claus and the image we have on the old elfin traditions and where my father was very involved in the development of the representation of the Arctic Circle Cabin (Napapiirinmaja), it is not a wonder why I feel so strongly about Santa and his presented reflection in the world.







The Christmas celebration is a serious business in Lapland. Next year the Rovaniemi University of Applied Sciences will offer a year long course on Christmas Elf profession. The Ear Fell Mountain as a preferred place of home for Joulupukki was already established during the 1920’s through the children’s radio program Uncle Markus, where he declared this location ideal for Santa’s secret abode. From there he could hear if the children would be naughty or nice.





In 1950 the first Arctic Circle Cabin (or Roosevelt’s Cabin) was built in honour of Eleanor Roosevelt’s visit to Rovaniemi and then on served to encourage tourism to Lapland where the war had destroyed everything. I once (1986) organised a Barbie Doll Exhibition at Napapiirinmaja and one year (1994) I was even employed as the Mother Santa up at the Ear Fell Mountain where the eco-tourism brings people to experience an alternative Christmas. I can still smell the smoke on my coat from the hearth and the coffee we served to the appreciative tourists on the -40°C freezing cold mountain.

My metaphysical thought process on the spirit of ‘Yule’ (Joulu in Finnish) or Joulupukki (Santa) started quite early in my life. One boost was a discussion I had with my then 5-yearold son in the early 1980’s. He asked me how long I thought that Santa would live. Since I was on a philosophical mode I answered that as long as he thought to believe in him. His response was: “Ah, that’s just like God!” No more discussions needed on that subject, I thought.




During the 1990’s, I once picked up a book called God. What the Critics Say? One of the quotations that pricked my mindscape is from a writer, P.J. O’Rouke and it states:
“GOD is an elderly or, at any rate, middle-aged male, a stern fellow, patriarchal rather than paternal and great believer in rules and regulations. He holds men strictly accountable for their actions. He has little apparent concern for material well-being of the disadvantaged. He is politically connected, socially powerful and holds the mortgage on literally everything in the world. God is difficult. God is unsentimental. It is very hard to get into God’s country club.

SANTA CLAUS is another matter. He is cute. He’s non-threatening. He’s always cheerful. And he loves animals. He may know who’s been naughty and who’s been nice but he never does anything about it. He gives everyone everything they want without thought of a pro quo. He works hard for charities and he’s famously generous to the poor. Santa Claus is preferable to God in every way but one: there is no such thing as Santa Claus.” (Wroe, 1992)



Interestingly Patrick (O’Rouke) agrees with my son that God and Santa Claus can be discussed in the same context. I myself was shocked to the core the first time, after moving to Australia, I witnessed the Santa Claus singing ‘Hallelujah’ with angels on the Sydney Opera House stage. I have always felt that Joulupukki is a separate but similar spirit. Apparently O’Rouke is also suspicious and skeptical about the possibility of empathy and compassion in the human world as defined by his threatening and powerful image of God. Further on it seems that he is only acquainted with the Coca Cola image of the Santa Claus and doesn’t believe in the possibility of the real spirit underlying the concept. This is all fine but let’s just for the arguments sake discuss the Joulupukki (Santa Claus) I know.

Let’s start with the Finnish and the Scandinavian Joulupukki or Jultomte (in Swedish). The Scandinavian folklore blends into the traditions of ‘Yule Buck’ (Joulupukki), the threatening figure of the Norse god Thor riding the sky in a chariot of two goats demanding cooked goat flesh as gifts from people and the God Odin (the father of all gods) in his long blue-hooded cloak riding the skies on his eight legged horse bearing gifts to the needy.




In Finland ‘Joulupukki’ retained his name while in Sweden he changed to ‘Jultomte’ (Yule Elf) or in Norway to ‘Julenisse’ again blending with the old elemental elfin folklore traditions. In the Finnish tradition sometimes he would be dressed in goat skins as Nuutipukki with horns to frighten people, judge the behavior of the children, sometimes giving them sticks instead of gifts. In December there would be big festivals to ward off him. Nuutipukki who carries on the tradition of killing the goat on the last day of Christmas, is still well blended to the Joulupukki imagery in Finland. In Sweden it is now mostly represented by popular ‘julbock’-decorations made of straw.

The fact that Santa actually visits the homes of the Scandinavian people during the Christmas Eve gives a possibility for everyone to observe his (and possibly his wife’s and elves’) appearance personally and from that evidence state that there are great varieties presented in that field, from the old fur coat tradition to the newest freshly designed and commercial Santa outfits. Even the odd Father Frost representing the Russian tradition might be observed. But whatever the appearance the personal experience of receiving gifts from Santa overrides the possible threat of the unknown.

One reason for the diminishing status of the old Scandinavian pagan traditions came from the long reigning Lutheran Church in Scandinavia, where Martin Luther at the same time as rejecting the Catholic imagery of St Nicolas wanted to strengthen the role of Jesus as a centre of the celebration and as a gift bearer. The tradition tells a tale (not true, but efficient) that Luther was especially fond of the tree as a centre piece. He brought one home and decorated it with candles to represent the stars on the sky.

Clara M Codd wrote in her book The Way of the Disciple:
“Once define an ideal in words and it loses its reality; once figure a metaphysical idea, and you materialize its spirit.” (Codd, 2000)

The development of the imagery of spirit of Santa Claus took a life of its own and slowly changed to what we know now. We can look at that reality from what I know of Santa Claus, Joulupukki, Nuutipukki, Jultomte, Julenisse, St Nicholas, Knecht Ruprecht and others.







While taking into consideration the Christian imagery of St Nicolas, the picture of the Santa we know now in the world is mostly flavored by two popular artists, namely Thomas Nast and Haddon Sundblom, the first a creator of jolly Christmas cards in 1880’s and the second the creator of the red-cloaked Coca Cola Santa of the 1930’s.

In Scandinavia Jenny Nyström was the one single artist who blended the old Scandinavian elfin folklore and the Norse Edda tradition into the popular leading character of the Jultomte during the 1940’s. The modern design of the Arctic Circle’s Joulupukki’s outfits also bears resemblance to the Russian Father Frost’s attire.



The Santa we know has borrowed qualities from everyone of his inspirational ancestors and modelled them to suit his modern day image in whichever country he is residing. It seems though that influential global images are working on the Santa very strongly.
But it is still possible to detect the trends:

• Compassion and gifts come from Odin, St Nicolas and Christ
• The eight reindeer resemble the Odin’s eight legged horse
• The sleigh comes from the Thor’s Chariot
• Riding the skies also comes from the Norse myths, both Odin and Thor (sky gods)
• The intricate attire is from the Odin’s cloak just changed colour
• The elfin tradition carries on from the elementals that build the atoms from the protons and neutrons to create matter and can thus create any gifts, a kind of elemental nano-technology
• The fear the Santa carries on from our respect to the higher spirits or gods that were felt being volatile and from the Yule Buck as a goat pagan tradition
• The Christmas tree is the symbol of fertility
• The red colour of the Santa’s cloak is the colour of fertility
• Excessive eating comes from the great variety of fertility traditions

I cannot really agree that an idea we as humans have spent ions in shaping into an agreeable image for our use, an idea that compasses compassion, charitability, goodwill, generosity, laughter and love towards those who are underprivileged, especially children is nothing. It certainly is something to believe in and develop further. It should be seen as work in progress rather than a non-possibility. Just because it also encompasses our modern day materialistic ideals in the need to actually physically buy gifts, create beautiful luscious and otherwise perhaps useless decorations and live in excess for a while, doesn’t mean that it should be dismissed without deep contemplation.

The conclusion to this comes again in the words of Clara Codd:
“Thus the mind is the creator of thought-forms, symbols. A true symbol – as the Greek derivation of the word suggests – is a pointer, a signboard, indicating where, if we have the intuition to follow, we may discern something of that Reality which the symbol depicts.” (Ibid)

Let’s commemorate the old and create something new in our own Christmas this year. Let the spirit of ‘Yule’ connect us to one another and the world we live in once more.



References:
CODD, C. M. 2000. The Way of the Disciple, The Theosophical Publishing House.
WROE, M. (ed.) 1992. God. What the Critics Say?: Hodder & Stoughton Religious.
http://www.hs.fi/kotimaa/artikkeli/Rovaniemellä+voi+opiskella+tontuksi/1135231558458 accessed 13/11/2010

Also some other worthy sites:

http://www.examiner.com/international-travel-in-orlando/christmas-traditions-europe-odin-and-the-celebration-of-yule?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4cfa123dcc18a7ec%2C0

http://www.tunturisusi.com/joulu/kuvittajat.htm

http://www.santatelevision.com/

http://www.santaclauslive.com/

The Santa Pictures in this blog are from:
1. Arctic Circle, Santapark, Finland
2-5. Different types of Santas visiting my home over the years
6. Nuutipukki from Satakunnan museo, Finland
7. Swedish Julbock
8. St Nicolaus
9. Father Frost, Moscow
10. Nast Santa
11. Coca Cola Santa
12. Nyström's Jultomte
13. Santa from Ylläs, Finland

On the importance of transferring cultural ethnicity to the next generation

Comments on ‘Finnishness’ as a cultural identity in transformation in multicultural society such as Australia

As a discussion on how we can best transfer our culture to our grandchildren in multicultural Australia (see my June blog posting on volunteering as grand parenting), I received a book from Finland. It is written by Laura Kolbe, a professor of European history at the University of Helsinki. The book is called IHANUUKSIEN IHMEMAA [roughly translated: The wondrous wonderland]. The book discusses the concept of the modern Finnishness in the global context by seeking insights through contemplating on the history of the construction of ‘Finnishness’ during the last two centuries. It is a good and easy read, well recommended for those who want to gain more understanding of the issues concerning transferring ethnicity and culture. It is a very personal contemplation on culture in relation to the author’s experiences as a much sought authority on Finland and Finnishness. As I am someone who has identified my ethnicity as Finnish in the Australian context, reading the book raised several interesting issues on how and what it is that is important to consider as transferable to the next generation.

To me one of the highlights of the book was the author’s discussion on culture as being “that what is left when everything else is taken away (Kolbe, 2010, my translation).” According to Laura Kolbe, a person who is ’cultured’ is someone who”knows his/her own culture, is interested in learning more and knows the proper etiquette. When necessary a cultured person also acts as a re-creator of traditions (Ibid, my translation).” In the context of the multicultural Australia, I would then ask what one would best choose as representing one’s ethnic culture to be transferrable to the next generation.

Another interesting issue Kolbe raises concerns branding of a country. How would one identify a country’s brand? How would a country sell itself in a global market? Laura Kolbe belongs to the Committee of Finland Brand development [Suomen brändivaltuuskunta], set to work by 2008 Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb. As members the Committee has a number of Finnish intellectuals and the deep discussion has been aided by Simon Anholt, who is considered a world’s leading political advisor on the Country branding concept(Ängeslevä, 2010). They have considered what would make a leading country in the world imagery. Their report is expected at the end of this year. As a Finn in multicultural Australia, holding a double citizenship, I see different motives in transferring one’s ethnicity to the next generation as part of creating culture of family life in Australia and finding a representing image of one’s ethnic country to ‘sell’ in a global context.

If I were to ‘sell’ Finland as a brand in Australia, I would probably agree with the panel of the 2009 Finnish TV series ‘Suomi myytävänä’ [Finland for sale] that the winners would be Kalevala, sauna and Joulupukki [Santa Claus]. Promoting them as uniquely Finnish would be something which defines my ethnic brand from others. This does not mean in any way that they would have been originally Finnish. Finnishness as Kolbe concludes is a ‘liberal-educated’ construction anyway. Their unique Finnish expression would be the selling point. I have sang Kalevala lyrics and Kanteletar inspired folk songs enough in the Folklore tent at the Woodford Folk Festival in Queensland and at the Canberra National Folk Festival to know that it is this unique way of singing that people stop to listen. It might be a re-creation but it sells the brand. Sauna might be historically only a survivor of the old Roman and European tradition in the Finnish environment (Korhonen, 1993), but it is a living tradition supported by etiquette and modern custom. I do not know a Finn in Australia, who would not have access to a sauna either at home or some other way. And the secular, but not utterly consumerism absorbed ‘Joulupukki’ [Santa] as a Finnish brand is very near to my heart as a person born in the Finnish Lapland.

On the other hand what I choose to work on transferring to my grandchildren as traits of uniquely Finnish ethnicity in multicultural Australia is defined by my personal experience as a Finn in the global context. This kind of experience I also try to share with for example my daughter’s and son’s in-laws as part of our mutual culture exchange. The general goal is to re-create our family culture to fit our life in Australia as an ethnic Finnish person and as an Australian. The most important aim is to celebrate the many shades of our heritage as natural parts of our everyday living experience. The winners there, as I see them, are:
• the Finnish language as an important communication tool,
• the sense of Swedish language as part of my bilingual Finnish experience
• the importance of ‘Suomi-koulu’ [the Finnish School] as a builder of one’s identity in multicultural society,
• the general experience of ethnicity as an accepted part of everyday life,
• traditional Finnish foods as part of general food culture,
• celebrating Christmas Eve and a real Joulupukki’s visit as the main event in the Christmas tradition
• Sauna as an experience
• Finnish music experience
• A double citizenship which assures access to Finland and Europe as a travel and work experience destinations

What I want to transfer to the next generation is the experience of openness, the sense of freedom as a global citizen. Personally most important to me as part of my Finnishness in multicultural Australia is my membership in the Ethnic Communities Council of Queensland (ECCQ) and in the QLD Health Multicultural Advisory Group, the sharing of my ethnicity with other people and my efforts in making sure that all those who define their ethnicity first as other than Australian are included as natural part of the Australian experience. In my work as a community development enthusiast I want to ensure that the Community Care Organisation I work for provides a platform and an equal opportunity for community participation for every member of the community.

In his book Finland, Cultural Lone Wolf, Richard D. Lewis descries culture as “the collective programming of the mind (Lewis, 2005).” He talks about the multicultural experience as a conscious effort of ‘broadening our horizons’. It includes taking in the other’s views, making them part of our own experience. According to him a multicultural person “seeks to strive towards “totality of experience”.” For a Finn, a sense of separateness is a cultural collective experience. Discussions on cultural relativism in arts and literature were an important part of the historical process of finding political independence for Finland as a nation (Ibid & Kolbe, 2010). Still, as I recently learned at a conference (see my previous posting on high ideals and community building basics), the sense of separateness is an illusion. “All is connected. It is a scientific fact”, said Dr P Krishna, an Indian Professor of Physics, in a recent talk.

I see it as an asset that in a multicultural society like Australia, we are able to ‘broaden our horizons’ by including great variety of cultural experiences in our daily life. It will hopefully give our grandchildren a more secure foundation to build their own identity.

Some of the things I have already done to ensure transferring and sharing this unique cultural heritage of Finnishness in the Australian context has been:

The familiarity of the landscape
I have consciously chosen to build a house (a Queenslander) next to a just completed lake.







Christmas

I have shared my Christmas traditions with my daughter’s in-laws









Sauna

I have moved some gnomes from Finland to my sauna and my granddaughter had her first sauna experience at the age of two months with me and her mother.






Pulla

I have introduced my English daughter-in-law to baking ‘pulla &korvapuusti’ [Scandinavian sweetbread] in London on my recent visit there.





The Finnish social contacts

My granddaughter has been introduced to the Finnish community in Brisbane during 2010 European Summer solstice picnic [Juhannus-piknikki]




As a hint of where to start with the small children also read
Tatun ja Patun Suomi [This is Finland] (Havukainen and Toivonen, 2007)

I look forward to sharing and discovering many more cultural exchange moments with my family, friends and the environment




References:

HAVUKAINEN, A. & TOIVONEN, S. 2007. Tatun ja Patun Suomi (This is Finland), Keuruu, Otava.
KOLBE, L. 2010. IHANUUKSIEN IHMEMAA Suomalaisen itseymmärryksen jäljillä, Helsinki, Kirjapaja.
KORHONEN, T. (ed.) 1993. Mitä on suomalaisuus, Helsinki: Suomen Antropologinen Seura.
LEWIS, R. D. 2005. Finland, Cultural Lone Wolf, London, Intercultural Press, A Nicholas Brealey Publishing Company.
ÄNGESLEVÄ, P. 2010. Mies Suomi-brändin takana. Suomen Kuvalehti,23/07