[000:00:00;00] a with lou. ah, thank i could diana o'connor canadian o t ah . with bonnie:

it's the day before christmas. a festive day. the day santa claus fetches his reindeer. this is comet, his old companion. to day santa will load toys by the thousands on to his sleigh. the words of the children's letters from around the world resonate in his ears as his sleigh takes off through the night sky, towards the many children excitedly awaiting him. santa is used to traveling the world visiting many countries where he is usually well received. but one night in december 1951 and the french city of dijon in front of santobin cathedral and effigy was burning of a mannequin representing him they were burning santa. but why soon

a photo of the scene appeared in french newspapers with the following explanation. it wasn't an attraction, but a symbolic gesture for us christians christmas must remain the anniversary of the birth of our savior. jesus christ santo was being associated with ally and portrayed as a figure in opposition to jesus christ and christianity. this is the story of a conflict that goes back millennia of it. otherwise the santa claus is famous all over the world. well that basically he's conquered the entire planet here. for example, we have a brazilian santa from 19 o 7, a classic, but he's got the hood in front. i don't know why. here's a canadian santa,

he's classic tube cookies and red. of course i'd audrey as for the african santa, i think he's great. he's made with why talks packaging made to kill flies. this one is perfect though, cuz i don't have the japanese one here, but the whole world worships santa claus. otherwise, ah, among the thousands of representations of santa claus, one stands out. the one of an early ancestor replugged ill settled. he builds a 1st ancestor of santa claus, is found in mythology a 1000 years before christ. there was a god in the scandinavian countries in the nordic country suit who was called bowden hill. and this god odin day was very peculiar. good al,

because gods are usually worship to play it. we give money to people who take care of the gods and to the priests for protection, yet we give material things to get immaterial. things sits in and this god, the 1st of his kind did the opposite of, shall he was. the one who gave he levied, so he had a thrown in heaven with 2 wolves of what is that he had to ravens are which he sent down to earth to find out whether the children were good or not. and he would reward them at the time of the winter solstice between december 17th to december, 25th, and we'll set gabe sick. and then in rome, it started in the 5th century b. c. until the 4th century. a deal there was a goddess called strain ya, a very important goddess, whose name in french means gift. and at the time of the winter, solstice, vale, she wouldn't bring gifts at the thought. it was in her name that the roman patricians that the people of the roman high society offered gifts to each other

a toilet such as sweets or gold objects that he pulled it ah, among all of santa's ancestors, there's also a particular roman god who is worshipped at the end of the year, when the sun goes down on the horizon and seems to disappear forever. i didn't d, me see the during the month of december there were very important celebrations in rome. saturnalia festivities, people gave feasts and parties in honor of the gods, saturn, the god of agriculture, levin. what he does have you, lima employee, he had collected during this period of transition. people would celebrate chaos. they would challenge the natural order of things,

a waste of in this particular mood. a king was elected the key of saturnalia. yet he litany this afternoon. the king of saturnalia is doomed to disappear, yet to be reborn the next year. but in time such pagan writes would fade away as a new god rises. the god of the christians ah, 2000 years ago in palestine, a little baby was born, whom some followers came to regard as god. and over a period of time, they agreed that it would be a good idea to celebrate his birthday. in 354, a de the roman catholic church decided to place jesus christ's birthday on december 25th. during the pagan celebration of the winter solstice, the rebirth of the undefeated son. this was a very smart move by the christians,

leading more pagan believers into their new faith. the child, in an animal stall, attended by shepherds with angels in the background and mysterious visitors from the east bringing gifts. and these 3 astonishing gifts gold, frankincense and murder are the basis of giving at christmas, ah, secret. among the many generous figures associated with santa history, one is especially central the one of saint nicholas.

ah, here we are in turkey and his home town, myra, now called them re, as you can see in the big square a statue of santo was erected in his native land. this statue connect santa claus to saint nicholas. and in this church a fresco recount the moments when nicholas his life. ringback turned in to legend. since then, bishop nicholas has become the patron saint of a great many cities. when he died, all kinds of wonderful mythology sprang up around him so that he became in time the most important saint in heaven. next to the virgin mary's, he had the power of flight. he could magically fly. he also had the power to be in several different places. at the same time. he's the patron

saint of prisoners, sailors, butcher's, children, and of the french province of la haine. it, oh, oh, fossil in france, everyone knows the legend of the 3 little children that a we could put your own or we could and keep it depending on the vision. wanted to cut him to pieces and put in the soap barrel like pigs. and after 7 years, saint nicholas came into the inn, all to butcher shop and rest, erected the 3 children. oh, in 1087, ab faced with the invasion of turkey by the saracens, italian sailors took saint nicholas his coffin to the city, bari enshrining his remains in the main church. then a french crusader brought his relics to a small town in la hen named san nico la depot. here every year on december 6th,

his followers gather and sing to commemorate his birth. ah, in addition to resurrecting the 3 boys saint nicholas his life was marked by numerous acts of generosity. he became the patron of children and a bearer of gifts. but be warned. although saint nicholas brings gifts,

he is also the one who punishes ring on the those are 4 black, grew up in a suburb of luck. some will exhibitors who are nope on that night long esau slippers in front of our bedroom door freedom at dow when in the morning we look and sometimes we'd find a little stick which meant deserved a spanking and no present day in fe. see by course our father had a large a stick, he's fine because if need be who, hey, give you have a man. we usually received a little mozambique or something like that or the must. but the gift was small, some a pretty ah labor clash, a good glitch? gen thing on soften allah. hum. it's a cook offensive martin. oh some shane and him and flooded by the idea was denied ce telephone is us yet. or by the name? i think a hi. lay the head though. feel then years a of your bring on spirit. good sigh.

ah, jamal bed goes, you did my mom to pity. i remember when i was really little god, i caught my dad in the carriage or the neighbor changing clothes, a shaw. and i thought last to him is that all about the idea? i didn't understand 6 if you stuff because the big metaphysical, properly for children to admit the few who instant nicholas fit. kiss any color. ah, we can think of saint nicholas as a kindly man, bringing goodies, but he was also very stern. and in this, he was also useful to the parents of europe because he could carry a switch ah, with which to beat children al, who did not know their catechism, that were disobedient. and sometimes in this mission, he accompanied by a rather terrifying figure,

was always black. with him to look on someone who was dressed in black, it was 32 tall. wow, he was a lumberjack doogie man. takes with him grand. i don't book with daily gotten them off. tunnel don't live long time. things well separated. your field of religion was the one of baby jesus on the eve, december, the 24th from the field of saint nicholas, who later became santa claus was on another date. made things got complicated, he ah, ah, what we have in the 1500s is an astonishing religious revolution that we call the protestant reformation. ah,

europeans were very much against christmas and the post and his i'm in general because a central to the idea posts and to submit to strip away all of the accretion which christianity got over one half 1000 years and to go back to the christianity as it was in the bible and one of the things they agree on is that the cult of saints has become dangerous. that the saints are in, in peril of replacing god as the object of one's prayers. so they abolish the cult of saints and wisdom go saint nicholas. saint nicholas disappears as a christmas gift bringer in many parts of europe. by, by saint nicholas. at least they didn't burn you, but you will be back because as the elf se hiding a st doesn't make him disappear. so at that point,

traditions that were taking place on december the 6th with pushback, or they will push back to christmas to the date when baby jesus was born in germany in particular, the figure of the baby jesus christ. kindle is the gym and say was invented in strasburg. the rules of the reform were applied, and $1570.00 a pastor spoke out against the practice of giving gifts to children on saint nicholas day. the saint nicholas market, which is held on december 6th, was renamed. the order was to call it the market of the child. jesus or crist, kendall mocked an alsatian, the figure of the baby. jesus is a wonderfully theologically correct, but it's a difficult social act to perform, to imitate the acts of saint nicholas. saint nicholas was good, but he was also frightening. and it,

nobody is going to be frightened by the baby jesus as saint nicholas can carry huge sacks or baskets of goodies, a baby can't mm. and so we see in the 15 hundred's the development a change in the shape of the christ child. and the appearance of frightening helpers, european folk lore is full of beasts that appear at christmas. and you don't know whether they're going to kill you or give you a gift. ah, just a fee. there were fairies, lots of characters. so for instance, you have before. now in italy, she was an old with a love,

a finer dead up is really gotta kill me. now that could be fina is portrayed as an old woman who's a bit of a witch. cooper. she flew in the sky on a broom ban, only had a hood on her back, containing the presence with which she filled the size that children left near their windows. it might cost of reaching or looking at. if kids weren't good, be fun and knew it to me and she would give them ashes co, janet, it kind of borne, it looked at all for it. if they were good. she would then bring licorice. union interior, which looked like a soft coal born, but was made of black sugar. yeah, the lining dog, cut bony doors, chip, the blue kettles needle. each country has its creature meant to frighten children. combos. connect open, bought a peat, gaila,

smooth c ah. the protestant reformation and its religious precepts now prevail in a large part of europe. in england, the winter figure referred to as father christmas, was even the object of a trial. for some protestants, the new doctrines were not respectful enough of the strict teachings of the bible. these puritans decided to leave europe and settle in a new land where they would be allowed to live in accordance with their faith. these pilgrims 1st set foot on the american continent in $1620.00, and started new colonies. according to their faith, christmas was not worthy of celebration and was therefore abolished. it became a regular workday. anyone celebrating christmas in the colony could be punished with

a heavy fine. any reference to the saints including saint nicholas was forbidden. busy but other migrants coming here from other countries brought with them their own religious faith and traditions. the situation in the cities at christmas and new years had become a social problem. it became dangerous to be out on the streets in boston, and philadelphia and new york gangs would take to the streets. they would bang on pots and pans and blue horns. they would jostle decent middle class folk. they would interrupt church services at a time when police forces were um, just in the beginning and, and could not deal with this. in 1800, the situation in new york city became dire. the city was flooded with new migrants

. the puritans considering them barbarians, abandoned part of the city. in manhattan barricades were erected to protect law abiding citizens from unruly gang organizations, such as the new york historical society were founded, with the goal of creating a more respectable city. since america had no shared history and no shared culture, this new historical society was looking for a common identity. and surprisingly, it's members decided to turn to saint nicholas. john penn tarred was the founder of the new york historical society. he was a member of a masonic lodge, made up by descendants of dutch families. it was pen tart who rekindled the flame of the center cloth the dutch saint nicholas. he presented him as a grumpy bishop with a whip, standing behind a high masonic symbol. santa was now

a freemason, john penn. tall tried to make santa claus, saint nicholas, the patron saint of new york. and so one thing spend, todd was trying to do was to get a tradition that wasn't english. there was another member of the new york historical society, and his name was washington irving, and he was a comical writer. he was a satirist and he found pins hard to say nicholas very, very funny. and so he wrote a spoof history of new york and in his parody history. saint nicholas santa claus keeps appearing and helping the settlers to build the houses serv appearing after the sky, smoking a pipe. washington irvings spoof history of new york was a massive best seller. it was a huge, the hugely popular book in early america. and people loved these stories and they

started telling them to their children as true. and for the 1st time, a new name appeared in a drawing. ah santa claus, a name and a story destined for a bright future. that was a 3rd member of the new york historical society called clement kaufman, who wrote a children's poem called on it. twas the night before christmas, and it was a very, very popular poem to st. grozis on a sleigh, which is drawn by reindeer. and he comes down the chimney himself and comes out into the far place with the presence and wishes everybody a merry christmas it was the night before christmas when what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a man inches sleigh and 8 tiny reindeer. as i drew in my head and was turning

around down the chimney, saint nicholas came with a bound the stump of a pipe he held tighten his teeth and the smoke. it encircled his head like a reef. he had a broad face and a little round belly that shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jetty. he was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf. ah farewell bishop saint nicholas. here comes an elf. later in the 19th century, there is a guy called i'm thomas nast, who has an illustrator, and he's the guy who really sets down the santa claus that we know in that we still see on christmas cause. and the santa claus that children imagine of they jolly fat

man with the bed and the pipe. ah ah ah, and during the american civil war in the 800 sixty's, he drew a series of patriotic drawings for a magazine that featured santa claus on the side of the union. ah. and the face she gave them was that of the kindly grandfather that had been suggested by twas the night before christmas. and whatever else santa claus wears around the world now and whatever country he's in, he will look like the face that thomas nast gave him an order aspect of santa claus . it's very much that he's

a house breaker. he's an old man who sneaks into your house and he actually breaks that family bubble to some extent. ah, it's very strange when you think about it. we tell our children that there's an old man who's broken into their bedroom and that they should be happy about. ah acoya. i mean, when christmas would come santa would always show up that only he would come in the evening around 6 o'clock after sonoran dinner. he always made a lot of noise knocking on the wall, knocking on the door. good this amy, i your god like diet sick. the said only he had a cane and he would shake like an old man. golly gather to get b as it had santa claus would ask. are there any good children here that i gave up

and we were very scared. oh that thou bod koya? hiding behind. now mother the lawyer is let me santa claus would come and sit with us and ask if chad ain't good. thank you said uh gosh, got yellow guilty. and i would answer yes, i have been good to you. i wasn't crying in the glove and the new year ah, with the industrial revolution christmas and santa claus soon became associated with a profound change in that social order. the boers was opposed to lower class values

. the communal traditions associated with christmas, like were sailing buying on people's doors, demanding alcohol wearing masks this replaced by this inward looking family, as opposed to community your table as opposed to the streets your foss site, as opposed to the whole city. this new om inward looking, i'm celebration. yes my my should you, my me said you pulled heap will, will really be intent is the distance it and the bourgeois family became a very important part of society as having grown rich at the expense of the working class. that mark was described to martha addiction for the bourgeois family. christmas became one of the great annual gathering, conjuring which people honored their own members if it showcased this social

success and boosted the children's ambitions to charlotte long. it'll help me shall provo, ah, and away is a shift from a religious celebration to a family celebration whether it was in england and france or in the us. there wasn't a family reunion at christmas before that. ah . 6 the protestants band, catholic religious songs, and replaced them with new testament psalms. so when english writer charles dickens wrote a christmas carol, he describes a society that is divided between rich greedy misers and poor but generous people. the christmas tale tells the story of how one of these misers becomes a better man. thanks to ghosts that visit him. they make him realize that charity

and generosity can save him from doom. it is a detailed, as how he was giving readings of his tale in boston harris and in london, of course of christ. and people would rush to see him in paris. people described a huge line in front of the british embassy in the middle of winter acre, but people were in t is yet in boston. a wealthy businessman called fairbanks showed up and reading after listening to the christmas story by the also himself. so he decided to offer a turkey to each of his workers for christmas and gave them the day off to celebrate christmas time when you are here. don't happen. it wasn't a holiday at the time that it says, hey daniel, how he as former english. kimberly, as present the diesel club concept in england is a very interesting one. not a lot of when you because the bosses force their workers to save money during the

years. so they could celebrate christmas with dignity. and by the famous goose which was the english dish, or this notion of a christmas that is reconnected to morality, reconnected to religion and the american gift of a santa claus figure is going to combine in the 19th century. i think in fact gifts were a part of this to begin with. i see morning for the but the had to be someone to bring, i guess if i had 1st character bringing a gift, dependent on with the gradually became the same one. it was santa claus. he brought the gift once it became known if he laid organ ah, the american style, santa claus also became

a major commercial figure who invaded the advertising sphere. santa became universally famous thanks to guess what the department stores. they were becoming very popular at the time, and they enrolled santa as their number one sales clerk. ah, alternator j between the 2 world wars eldric, santa claus became the ideal partner to promote the products to add up. so you should have both. then he also became a bit naughty on the edges, palpable bit of us come back to europe, who was used to push big cigars. liquor and easy women, uncle pho evicted from leisure. ah,

we'll do so. yes. santa claus was indeed exploited by advertisers and brandon, among which the best known as coca cola would use. but coca cola certainly didn't invent santa claus galloway, santa claus are so powerful, christmas are so powerful that they call forth enemies. and one of these enemies is totalitarianism. in the soviet union, after the revolution, celebrating christmas was considered bourgeois, thus discouraged. so the communist party decided to revive a non religious figure, dead. moreover, the slavic wizard of winter, under the soviets dead morose, was made to look like a blue santa who came to offer gifts to the children, not at christmas, but for the new year's holiday. of course, dead morose as imagery was soon used to praise the revolution and glorify the

working class of the new regime. another totalitarian party that also decided to exploit santa's image for its own benefit was the nazi party. when um the nazis take power in 1933. their 1st thought that the nazis had is just to co op to christmas. so they will try and associate naziism with all of the good things with christmas. and so the ss tries to pagan eyes christmas, they want to move the celebration from december 25th to december 21st, the winter solstice. this is met with a good deal of resistance by the german population. in the aftermath of world war 2, department stores hired santa's by the thousands. but 1st the santa's had to take

classes at newly created santa claus schools. oh, so my mom up in france, santa close only really becomes important after world war 2 call now she get with the adoption of a more american light star after the war. people don't to spoil they kids. so by me for the 1st high school christmas eve, tina rossi sings the son the premises. little children, gifts by the thousands, in toy factories open up. every way. for young you industrialized production methods produce more affordable toys to spoil the children wiffle. ah, but where does santa live it is rumored that he lives near the north pole. but where exactly is it in canada, in greenland, or in lapland? what is certain is that the official santa claus village was opened in 1985 near the finished town of ravone, emmy,

right on the arctic circle. it's become the largest santa theme park in the world. more than $500000.00 visitors come here every year from all countries and religions . hello, please come here. good morning. how are you today? so for country good, don't, don't, don't be afraid. don't be afraid shortly here. just take it easy as they can. so let's start with the photo. so again, in 1951 and an under privileged parish of dijon, france, a group of parishioners rejected santa for his consumerist attitude and for up staging jesus. so they dressed up a mannequin at santa and set it on fire in the next 48 hours. well, these images were seen all over france, so it caused a big scandal really big scandal. everyone saw that the church had burned some totally booked, reveal the short as it turns out, the mayor of dijon, felix here, who was also a religious man,

vivid on to prove of the burning. so the next day he staged an opposing spectacle. the 1st in which santa was lowered from one of the tallest buildings in dijon in the city hall rooftop repair. when it gets sent out to a press release, denying the center was dead and stating, burning had been fast. ah, allow his prompted acquirement between intellectuals that several years we'll give a drip years at the the cot i fool newspaper provided a forum for defenders and opponents. the defendant, santa claus may rise dollar go in the pro sam to come. there were french intellectuals like john cato, she'll birth escrow oh cro levy straus housekeeper quarter, dedicated a special essay to santa phil bobby view the debates became very he for his cray

pre preview long. ready despite the controversies of the past today, the enthusiasm for santa is undiminished every year. millions of childrens and letters, the santa all over the world, santa's official post office and ravone. emmy received 17000000 letters from 100 countries in 1985 postal systems everywhere. have had to adapt to this incredible situation, mister dela, should you know santa, i'll tell you a secret of being. he isn't easy either. every one wants the children to be good and to work hard at school demise. your health look to forget the battery because it's always annoying to receive a gift. i'm not able to try it out right away because the batteries are missing. look a thing to follow in france,

the person who is decisive in making it official to respond to letters to santa is a minister named shock. merritt of zach. bye. when he was put in charge of supervising the postal says to do it, he felt it wasn't acceptable. that hundreds of thousands of letters were mailed to santa before never reached their destination. it or you can look it up. so he created santa team of personal secretary as mobiles, and he asked his sister francoise merritt to be santas, 1st secretary lisa crypto dubuque. good francois merritt is better known as the writer francois stole to, to, ah, for from swans dole. to understood how important it is for children to develop their imagination pool awful. by the way. yes, that's also the reason why john cocktail have been so virulent and angry against francois maria and the opponents of santa claus. he told them, you break the dreams of children. you don't have the right to do that. these are

doing the boxes. now suffice which children send us to move over the world because growing up is about taking a step on the way the kids said that they pacifies a milk bottles and cuddled told well, another aspect of santa claus and father christmas is it's a bright passage for children to learn that he doesn't exist and that he is impact your father. probably just bringing the presence on all that 6 winds at primary school at. well, it's compulsory. know, and that's where the oldest students would mock up and say, ha, they still believe in se nicholas glass and he could then after a year or 2, we found out the big c crackling negative result parent bus, the why, like the new sometimes on tv, their commercials with toys on sale. so i one, did it sad to make toys, or why are they the same for profiles for my son, legible, your colors and to brings them said there's really no use in buying them, don't you think and present. that's when i started having doubts,

and i thought i'll post if they're on sale, this is that means the parents probably have to pay for the beginning of school. ah, and now santos, facing a new barrage of criticism. will he survive it? the fight is on. he's targeted, it's jesus versus santa, who represents the true spirit of christmas. the original one santa is the symbol of capitalism, the destroyer of the planet, with a terrible carbon footprint. santa is all about junk food. his health is catastrophic. ca, lester, all diabetes, hypertension, possibly lung cancer because of his smoking habits. people want to hang him to crucify him. they criticize him of having waited years before introducing himself as a black santa. what do you expect?

he's only the image of those who created him. a reflection of our society. it took him a long time to be accepted as a black man, especially in some parts of the us. in the netherlands controversy surround the racial implications of santas, companion, black, pete. but one of the absolute constants of the history of christmas is people always complaining that it's been losing its true, meaning. people have been warring that we've lost gossum the true sense of christmas. and so christmas is necessarily a nostalgic time when we look back and we warry that we have lost something i. so i don't think the interesting thing is that christmas has become commercial. i think the interesting thing is how worried we all the christmas has become commercial, because that is our worry about the way that society as a whole is heading from time immemorial, people have either tried to appropriate his image or get rid of him. he's been

banned, forbidden sacrificed, hanged, burned, but santa still returns every winter. this a lot of the chose to centric cc. none. if it's a 100 percent for sure. so i don't always believe in santa i ah, [000:00:00;00] ah, a tax hikes for

millionaires. one millionaire is demanding just that her wealth could help others, especially during the pandemic. but that doesn't mean that the rest of the super rich are ready to pay their different views as to who should profit the most from their money. germany's wealthy elite after corona close up in 30 minutes on d. w. welcome to the dark side where intelligence agencies are pulling the strings. there was a before 911 and after 911, he says after 911, the clubs came off. where organized crime rules were conglomerates make their own laws? what's true was a,

it doesn't matter. the only criteria is worked. we'll hook people. we shed light on the opaque world who's behind the benefits. and why are they a threat to us all? oh, pete world starts january 5th on d. w. a pulse a beginning of a story that moves us and takes us along for the ride. it's own about the perspective culture information is, is dw and d, w made from mines. i'm the green a. do you feel worried about the planet we to i'm neil,

host of the on the green fence post coast. and to me it's clear we need to change the solutions or out that join me for deep dive into the green transformation. for me to do with oh ah ah, this is dw news why from berlin? friends introduces new measures to slow the spread of the corona virus. the country's prime minister says it's facing the highest number of cases since the