Holograms

If your vision of Santa Claus is something other than a, tall, slender, Turkish-Greek bishop with with an austere liturgical headdress, you can thank a 19th century seminary professor who wrote a poem for his children called, “Twas the NIght before Christmas”. In 1862, cartoonist Thomas Nast took inspiration from the poem and illustrated and brought to life something akin to the Santa we know today as the influential magazine Harper’s Weekly published 33 of his Santa Claus drawings.  The Coca-Cola company expanded on Nast’s vision in the 1920s by giving him an even more jolly demeanor and cementing our mental images.  Santa Claus has had a good run these last 150 or so years, but we need to acknowledge that he is a uniquely American creation, and not all nations appreciate him as we do.

In the era of the communist regime in Eastern Europe, numerous substitute products were introduced to compete with well-known American brands. For example, Coca-Cola was not welcomed under communism, but people wanted their cola, so the government set about to create regional stand-ins. In then Czechoslovakia, a cola product was formulated and introduced called “Kofola”. Kofola defies description in a similar way to Dr. Pepper. It might be described as herbal cola and most do not enjoy their first experience with the drink. However. If you give Kofola a few tries, it gradually grows on you and you’ll be able to enjoy your cola drinks for half the price and twice the size of Coca-Cola products when eating out. 

It could be argued that “Děda Mraz(Grandfather Frost)” is the eastern equivalent of Santa Claus. He wears a long red and white cloak, keeps pet reindeer, brings gifts for good little children, and he is not only magical, but a wizard! He hails from Russia and during the Soviet era they attempted to supplant all other religious figures with this more secular one. Several of the former Soviet states, particularly the Muslim majority ones, have now outlawed Grandfather Frost in return. While Grandfather Frost looks a lot like Santa Claus, in this case, it may be Santa Claus who looks like him! You see, while Santa Claus finds his origins in the early 1800’s, a spinoff of the 4th century bishop, Grandfather Frost reputedly predates Christianity and is the offspring of pagan earth gods. In some Slavic traditions, he’s actually a demon. Děda Mraz has a few more rough edges than Santa. In his own mythology he is known to kidnap children and hold them for ransom, in addition to orphaning other children by killing their parents. He’s also been known to get up to mischief by freezing all your garden plants. He’s an acquired taste to be sure.

So what might Coca-Cola, Kofola, Santa Claus, and Grandfather Frost share in common you ask? I’m intrigued at the evolution of story and substance; how narratives gradually emerge through significant events or influences. It’s hard for me to imagine a world without all of the powerful nostalgia and tradition that Christmas has come to mean. Yet, to transplant myself just a few hundred years past I wonder if I would find these familiar things at all or if I would grieve their absence? Those things to which I cast my anchor of feeling secure and contented in this life are so often just holograms or substitutes for real things. In the final analysis, I have a strong hunch we’ll find that so many things we considered real were but distractions from those actual realities we presently consider intangible. We ought to be careful of the stories we weave for ourselves. While beautiful and intriguing in their own way, they are, after all, shadows. May we lay hold of the stories that matter, the ones of eternal import. I’m not sure that Santa and the elves on shelves are profane or inherently wicked in any meaningful way, other than I know the story they tell is the imitation one. I know that while the shopping and gifting and greenery and ornaments are the things that fill my advent season, they are the dross. I would that my heart be lifted high above these things by the babe in the manger, the snake crusher, the suffering servant, and the king. May my heart be tuned to these stories that will hold my anchor forever.