We kick off the Christmas season and celebrate the Feast of St. Nicholas (Dec. 6th) with a look at the history of Santa Claus, from his origins as a Late Antique bishop to the creation of Rudolph in the 20th century.
Podcaster: Nathan
Further Reading
Stephen Nissenbaum, The Battle for Christmas. Vintage, 1997. Gerry Bowler, Santa Claus: A Biography. McClelland & Stewart, 2005. Adam C. English, The Saint Who Would Be Santa Claus: The True LIfe and Trials of Nicholas of Myra. Baylor University Press, 2012. Bruce Forbes, Christmas: A Candid History. University of California Press: 2007. Ildar Garipzanov, "The Cult of St. Nicholas in the Early Christian North," Scandinavian Journal of History 35, no. 3 (2010): 229-246 Author and humorist David Sedaris' essay on the phenomenon of Zwarte Piet, "Six to Eight Black Men." Music by Kevin MacLeod (www.incompetech.com)
Cindy
12/9/2013 08:39:18 am
A footnote: I don't think Martinstag is really thought to be the beginning of Christmas season in Mainz, at least not anymore. Christmas season starts with Advent. Admittedly one does eat goose on Martinstag.
Nathan
12/9/2013 09:20:22 am
Thanks for the comment, Cindy! I did know about Karneval and Martinstag from a friend who lives in Mainz! However, I based that bit on one of the sources I was using for research that suggested certain aspects of the medieval Christmas "season" began in parts of medieval Germany w/ the Feast of St. Martin, though even in the Middle Ages, they would have recognized Adventszeit and the four weeks before Christmas as a different time, at least liturgically. Perhaps the book I was using didn't fully understand the difference between Karneval and Adventszeit (I distinctly remember looking for a footnote for this information and not finding one...this is, again, why I went on that esoteric footnote rant!). Thanks for calling me on it, though! 12/4/2020 09:41:18 am
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