BestieThe holiday season has come and gone. It brings joy and happiness to millions of people around the world. Miracles happen and dreams are made all in the name of Father Christmas. Unfortunately, the name that has symbolized the holiday season since the beginning of time may be on its last leg.
We are in an era where society is constantly challenging the norms. Take gender fluidity, for example. Society has now accepted that a person does not have to settle for one gender identity at a time.
There are a lot of people who feel the name Father Christmas does not fall into that category of acceptance. People feel that the name should be changed to Person Christmas. But there are also people who feel that if they rename it, it will be a threat to their way of life.
You’re probably wondering how a simple name change can affect someone’s life. In order to understand that, you need to know the origin behind Father Christmas. Father Christmas is another name for Saint Nicholas, which is known as Santa Claus for younger children.
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What you may not know is that Father Christmas is a completely different person. The term Santa Claus originated from the Dutch settlers. They would tell stories of SinterKlass, which is the Dutch name for St. Nicholas. He would give toys to little boys and girls.
https://beanstalk-production-f.squarecdn.comSt. Nicholas dates back to the 3rd century AD. He was a Bishop of Myra, which is in Turkey. He would go out of his way to travel in his red bishop’s robe and give gifts to the poor.
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Unfortunately, the media has taken this context and created Santa Claus. They view him as a chubby old man who dresses in his red outfit and delivers presents to kids all over the world. So if you decide to change the name Father Christmas, you are trying to take a true story and changing it because of the media.
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If Santa Claus was developed from its own separate story, there could be reason for the change. But because the name is based off a true story, people do not agree that it should be changed. If you change the name, what else would you have to change? The story would no longer make sense, because the origin of Father Christmas, Santa Claus and Saint Nicholas, would be lost.
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Also, if you change the name, what else would need to be changed? This could be a marketing nightmare. The beard would need to be changed, which could pose a problem for shopping malls that bring in Santa Claus every year. Another aspect to think about is the children. For centuries kids have been brought up on Santa Claus. How are parents and shopping malls supposed to disguise this iconic figure without a beard? The beard is what hides the face!
art_of_sun/Another issue that will surface is what do we call snowmen? Snow-women? Or do we call them snow-people? What about the Rudolph song, what do we do about the lyrics “and if you ever saw him.” Do we put “and if you ever saw him/her?” Or will it say “and if you ever saw them?”
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The bottom line here is that societal norms are constantly going to be challenged no matter the history behind them. This topic has taken to social media and people believe that the term Santa Claus is already genderfluid. But if you change the name Father Christmas, you will have to change Santa Claus. Another option could be to create a new figure for Christmas instead of removing one.
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