Santa Claus vs. Father Christmas

[Stony]

No, I'm right, this doesn't belong on the Rumbles board... I think...

Last night while chatting to our esteemed moderator, I asked Brian if his parents ever did anything when he was little to foster the notion that Father Christmas had visited during Christmas Eve. It was a slip of the fingers, I could just have easily have typed Santa Claus.
Brian said no. He went on to say that they did for "Santa Claus" and then went on a rant about how Father Christmas sounded like a "fiffy boy" and would have gotten up for money...
Sometimes these New Yorkers scare me.

Now, I know that on a board like this most of you will already be biased towards Santa because, well, it's what you grew up with. Me too! But I was also exposed to the term Father Christmas coming from a former British colony

But the more I thought about... the more I decided that I actually prefer the term Father Christmas! It just sounds... almost mythological... like Old Man Winter, Father Time, etc. He sounds like he has both Time and Tradition behind him and won't be easily erased from people's consciousness.

Santa Claus, on the other hand, don't get me wrong... I have affection attached to the name but... He just sounds like a breed of domestic feline you would find down Mexico way...

So which do you prefer? Santa Claus? Father Christmas? Other?















*awaits the inevitable StoneGold image of Bea Arthur dressed in christmas fare*

[Royal]

Santa by armbar.

[Donald M.]

I've always liked Kris Kringle.

[Jeff Brady]

Stony my friend! How are you?

To answer your question...I'd never heard the name "Father Christmas" until my late teens/early twenties. It had always been Santa Claus, Kris Kringle, or St. Nick.

I've always liked the sound of Kris Kringle, but never said it much.

[Chris Nowlin]

Santa Claus is more familiar.

But I like the sound of Father Christmas a lot!

I'm with you if you need an army!

[StoneGold]

Dude, give me some credit, when was the last time I used a picture of Bea?


Now if anything signifies Christmas, it's Harrison Ford trying to get people to play Sega Master System with him.

http://www.brandonbird.com/ford_red.jpg

[Cam63]

Heh !
-----

[Mike Smash!]

So what exactly is Santa's real name supposed to be, anyways?

Saint Nicholas?
Kris Kringle?
Santa Claus?
Keyser Soze?

[Cam63]

Gerald. His name is Gerald.

[king mob]

Santa is just a bit too Disney, (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6189521.stm)i prefer Father Christmas.

[sherlockbones]

it is called "christkind" (christ child) who brings the gifts in germany and i think it makes more sense than celebrating some cokecola/disney invention. the birth of this child is celebrated at this date after all

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christkind

[Agent Helix]

For the last time, the Coca Cola inventing Santa Claus thing is a complete myth.

[sherlockbones]

For the last time, the Coca Cola inventing Santa Claus thing is a complete myth.

i know that it derivates from st. nikolaus. the 6th of december is a very important day for kids here.
the point is that the companies occupied the term and heavily influenced the image that is common know. i don´t like it, but i don´t celebrate x-mas anyway so it is consumption criticism from my pov. now criticizing x-mas in general is a completly different topic

oh that is interesting:
Jacob Grimm asserts that "Ho ho ho" was the hunting cry of Odin during The Furious Host. Odin being attributal to Santa Claus.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_claus

[Agent Helix]

The modern visual conception of Santa Claus existed before Coca-Cola. They didn't influence his image.

[sherlockbones]

i disagree
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haddon_Sundblom

[Agent Helix]

Did you just ignore the part where it calls Coca-Cola's creation an URBAN LEGEND?

I mean, sure, you can disagree all you want, but the actual facts don't agree with you.

[sherlockbones]

no need to shout. did you ignore this passage?
"Sundblom's Claus firmly established the larger-than-life, grandfatherly Claus as a key figure in Christmas imagery."

The modern visual conception of Santa Claus existed before Coca-Cola. They didn't influence his image.

as i said earlier i don´t disagree with the invention being a myth. but cc forged the modern image

[Agent Helix]

Sigh. That doesn't mean that he created it. Never mind, this is phenomenally idiotic.

In a fight between Father Christmas and Santa, FC takes it, because I'm pretty sure he consorts with demons and ghouls.

[sherlockbones]

you know there is something called reinventing. that is what cc did. so my first claim about they inventing "this" santa is not completely baseless. but since you wanna play mister-know-it-all-better, i am out of this conversation. no need to be "phenomenally idiotic", but i wonder what is so idiotic discussing progression of cultural imagery

[Slam_Bradley]

For the last time, the Coca Cola inventing Santa Claus thing is a complete myth.

But its soooo hard to be smugly superior if you look at the facts.

[Rob on the Job]

Father Christmas was swept up in the great Catholic Church priest sex scandal of 2004.

[Nick Soapdish]

Father Christmas was swept up in the great Catholic Church priest sex scandal of 2004.

I heard he was just re-assigned.

[howyadoin]

"Fiffy"?

Huh?

[BoosterBronze]

Correct me if I'm wrong... but "Santa Claus" is an Americanization of Dutch (?) Sinter Clause (or something) which is Dutch for "St. Nicholas."

Personally I prefer St. Nick (and I play Santa professionally, so I my opinon carries more wieght than yours :-P

[Bouncing Boy]

Correct me if I'm wrong... but "Santa Claus" is an Americanization of Dutch (?) Sinter Clause (or something) which is Dutch for "St. Nicholas."

Personally I prefer St. Nick (and I play Santa professionally, so I my opinon carries more wieght than yours :-P

Yeah that's correct about the Dutch origins. The spelling, according to Wiki, is Sinterklaas

[Charles RB]

Father Christmas, just to make it easier to remember which holiday he represents.

[howyadoin]

Father Christmas, just to make it easier to remember which holiday he represents.Yeah, I keep thinking Santa Claus is part of Martin Luther King Day.

[Dreadstar]

Yeah, I keep thinking Santa Claus is part of Martin Luther King Day.

Those two lines are digest.

[Cam63]

Coca Cola certainly didn't invent Santa Claus, but the artist/s they hired for the pre WW2 ads designed what is still the current image of the big fella.

http://instapunk.com/images/coke-santa360.jpg