These are a series of quotes from a variety of people concerning Santa Claus. I thought they were amusing:
I never believed in Santa Claus because I knew no white dude would come into my neighborhood after dark. Dick Gregory
For a time, I believed not in God nor Santa Claus, but in mermaids. They seemed as logical and possible to me as the brittle twig of a seahorse in the zoo aquarium or the skates lugged up on the lines of cursing Sunday fishermen – skates the shape of old pillowslips with the full, coy lips of women.
Sylvia Plath
For me growing up, Christmas time was always the most fantastic, exciting time of year, and you’d stay up until three in the morning. You’d hear the parents wrapping in the other room but you knew that also, maybe, they were in collusion with Santa Claus.
Chris Pine
What is the real purpose behind the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus? They seem like greater steps toward faith and imagination, each with a payoff. Like cognitive training exercises.
Chuck Palahniuk
I was probably nine or ten the first time I heard there was no Santa Claus.
Joe Nichols
We have domesticated God’s transcendence. We often learn about God at about the same time as we are learning about Santa Claus; but our ideas about Santa Claus change, mature and become more nuanced, whereas our ideas of God can remain at a rather infantile level.
Karen Armstrong
I believed in Santa Claus until I was 12!
Danielle de Niese
Everyone thinks of God as a man – you can’t help it – Santa Claus was a man, therefore God has to be a man. Patti Smith
Our family was too strange and weird for even Santa Claus to come visit… Santa, who was jolly – but, let’s face it, he was also very judgmental.
Julia Sweeney
I’m concerned about my daughter because she will not believe in Santa Claus. No matter what I say to her, she just doesn’t buy it, and she’s 2. I refuse to give it up. I say, ‘There is a Santa Claus,’ and she says, ‘Okay, Mommy. In pretend world, right?’ She really doesn’t believe. Salma Hayek
Santa Claus has the right idea – visit people only once a year.
Victor Borge
The idea of God as a fatherly figure who looks down on us and worries about how we’re doing or takes sides when we have fights – it’s more irritating than Santa Claus. The world and the universe are far more wonderful if there’s not a puppet master.
Dave Matthews
A nice tree with a gnarled spirit!
Another nice tree to worship.
Doesn’t look like a shaman to me – high on some hallucinatory drug!
The Real Meaning of Christmas
The real meaning of Christmas is locked away in pagan mythology. Most religions that usurp other religions take over the ceremonies of previous religions and modify and adopt them. Christianity did this with both Christmas and Easter.
What we now have as a Christmas celebration – the birth of Jesus with all the nativity scenes – is actually a celebration of the winter solstice.
The winter solstice was celebrated by ancient tribes all over the world. It is, in the northern hemisphere, the shortest day of the year. The days are drawing out, though, because of the way the earth cools, the coldest winter months are still all ahead. This celebration was accompanied by ritual and feasting.
We see a number of the Nordic traditions surviving.
The Christmas tree is a throw-back to the animism of old where spirits were thought to inhabit trees, streams, rivers and rocks. Tree worship was a world-wide religion; we still touch wood for luck. In Scandinavia it was prevalent in the shamanistic tradition.
Santa Claus is another throwback to Scandinavian lore. The shaman used magic potions of hallucinogenic mushrooms to fly through the sky on a sled with his reindeer to converse with the gods. The mushrooms were Amanita muscaria, the fly agaric, and had bright red caps flecked with white. Nowadays Santa Claus (Father Christmas) decked in his bright red and white costume flies through the sky magically to bring gifts to people. These used to be the gifts of insight and wisdom. Now they are usually plastic goods of dubious durability.
So mixed up with our story of Jesus we have tree worship and hallucinatory acid trips.
It’s a heady mix for a small kid to take in!
A nice tree with a gnarled spirit!
Another nice tree to worship.
Doesn’t look like a shaman to me – high on some hallucinatory drug!
The Real Meaning of Christmas
The real meaning of Christmas is locked away in pagan mythology. Most religions that usurp other religions take over the ceremonies of previous religions and modify and adopt them. Christianity did this with both Christmas and Easter.
What we now have as a Christmas celebration – the birth of Jesus with all the nativity scenes – is actually a celebration of the winter solstice.
The winter solstice was celebrated by ancient tribes all over the world. It is, in the northern hemisphere, the shortest day of the year. The days are drawing out, though, because of the way the earth cools, the coldest winter months are still all ahead. This celebration was accompanied by ritual and feasting.
We see a number of the Nordic traditions surviving.
The Christmas tree is a throw-back to the animism of old where spirits were thought to inhabit trees, streams, rivers and rocks. Tree worship was a world-wide religion; we still touch wood for luck. In Scandinavia it was prevalent in the shamanistic tradition.
Santa Claus is another throwback to Scandinavian lore. The shaman used magic potions of hallucinogenic mushrooms to fly through the sky on a sled with his reindeer to converse with the gods. The mushrooms were Amanita muscaria, the fly agaric, and had bright red caps flecked with white. Nowadays Santa Claus (Father Christmas) decked in his bright red and white costume flies through the sky magically to bring gifts to people. These used to be the gifts of insight and wisdom. Now they are usually plastic goods of dubious durability.
So mixed up with our story of Jesus we have tree worship and hallucinatory acid trips.
It’s a heady mix for a small kid to take in!
