Eh?

Post #132,762 by pwhysall 12/30/03 10:09:47 AM Reply	Eh? Santa, as presented nowadays, is a creation of the Coca-Cola Company, circa 1900. Father Christmas/Saint Nicholas is a much darker character than the fizzy pop vendor would have you believe. I notice the Americanised version of Santa neatly omits the idea of Black Peter going round and putting the naughty children into a bag and beating said bag with a stick. The spirit of Christmas has got eff-all to do with presents and lots to do with (a) celebrating the birth of Owr Lawd Jayzus Christ (for the god-botherers) or (b) having a large pissup in the middle of winter (for the tree-worshippers). Unsurprisingly, the corporates of this world have adapted Christmas into the mould that makes us spend the most money; viz. GIVE (BUY) LOTS OF PRESENTS OR YOU'RE A BAAAAAD PERSON. Funny, that. Peter [link\|http://www.debian.org\|Shill For Hire] [link\|http://www.kuro5hin.org\|There is no K5 Cabal] [link\|http://guildenstern.dyndns.org\|Blog]
Post #132,764 by drewk 12/30/03 10:14:32 AM Reply	Ignerent colonial question Does anyone else actually call him "Bad Peter", or is that your own personal vision? === Implicitly condoning stupidity since 2001.
Post #132,765 by pwhysall 12/30/03 10:16:21 AM Reply	Is your google broke or something? :p [link\|http://www.castlearcana.com/christmas/day19.html\|http://www.castlearc...istmas/day19.html] The bag/stick part is part of German folklore from the Cologne region. Peter [link\|http://www.debian.org\|Shill For Hire] [link\|http://www.kuro5hin.org\|There is no K5 Cabal] [link\|http://guildenstern.dyndns.org\|Blog]
Post #132,768 by drewk 12/30/03 10:42:25 AM Reply	YAMG Please don't make me 'splain to you what that means. === Implicitly condoning stupidity since 2001.
Post #132,780 by FuManChu 12/30/03 12:31:07 PM Reply	But of course there was a real St. Nick. Bishop of Myra, died 346.
Post #132,791 by scoenye 12/30/03 1:41:17 PM Reply	Two different characters over here Parts of Belgium, that is. St. Nicholas happens on december 6th and generally involves toys for the kids. He's the one that runs around with the black guys with bags, although the "put the naughty ones in the bag and beat 'em" part has barely survived the commercialization. Some parents still mention it, but you won't see/hear it on the street. The strongest you'll encounter is that some bags contain lumps of coal for the naughty ones instead of toys. Santa is strictly known as "Father XMas". He generally does not come with any helpers and there is no link back to a historical person. To complicate things further, we also have pockets where St. Martinus is celebrated. His role is similar to St. Nicholas and the name day falls on Nov. 11. Commercialization has largely missed this one, but the brouhaha surrounding St. Nicholas has been pushed so far ahead of Dec. 6th that it is being wiped out.

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