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Is Father Christmas Dead??? R.I.P Father Christmas


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Old 24-12-2016, 22:24
Eadfrith
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The English/British personification of Christmas Killed by the usurper Santa? RIP Father Christmas...

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Old 24-12-2016, 22:28
D_Mcd4
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I think I saw my mother kissing him underneath the mistletoe . Hope my dear my mother isn't a necrophiliac.
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Old 24-12-2016, 22:30
Eadfrith
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Dont want to hear "Saaanta Claaws" again
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Old 24-12-2016, 22:34
Jim_Maguire
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There is no room for atheists at Christmas, away with you
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Old 24-12-2016, 22:36
platelet
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The English/British personification of Christmas Killed by the usurper Santa? RIP Father Christmas...

The English/British personification of Christmas used to be Captain Christmas so I heard recently.

Father Christmas was just 17th century propaganda - so stuff him. Bring back Captain Christmas
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Old 24-12-2016, 22:39
Eadfrith
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The English/British personification of Christmas used to be Captain Christmas so I heard recently.

Father Christmas was just 17th century propaganda - so stuff him. Bring back Captain Christmas
nooo... I am NOT having it lol
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Old 24-12-2016, 22:45
sodavlac
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Rip in pieces.

I do actually prefer Father Christmas to Santa, I just like the ring of it. Makes me think of the phrase "the father of the feast" (kind of ripped off "founder of feast") as though he's the one bringing the fun, festivities and joviality. He's the daddy of it all!
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Old 24-12-2016, 22:46
Keyser_Soze1
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No - but Santa is.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_1ejqdrtxFB...0/fn_CN5CF.jpg
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Old 24-12-2016, 22:52
Eadfrith
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Old 25-12-2016, 03:12
dee123
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I never called him Father Christmas.
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Old 25-12-2016, 05:33
SegaGamer
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The English/British personification of Christmas Killed by the usurper Santa? RIP Father Christmas...

Yeah, what the hell is this about ? I never knew anybody that called him Santa at one point, now it's the majority that say this.

Bloody weirdos
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Old 25-12-2016, 05:45
jarryhack
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It's never been Father Christmas round here. Always been Santa even when I was a kid in the 70's.
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Old 25-12-2016, 06:03
zounds
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Out of interest,

Father Christmas and Santa have different history:

Father Christmas was originally part of an old English midwinter festival, normally dressed in green, a sign of the returning spring. He was known as 'Sir Christmas', 'Old Father Christmas' or Old Winter'.
In this earliest form, Father Christmas was not the bringer of gifts for small children, nor did he come down the chimney. He simply wandered around from home to home, knocking on doors and feasting with families before moving on to the next house.

The Ghost of Christmas Present in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (1843) is based on Father Christmas. He is described as a large man with a red beard and fur-lined green robe.


Santa Claus is based on a real person, St. Nicholas.

St. Nicholas, or Sinter Klaas in Dutch, was a very shy man and wanted to give money to poor people without them knowing about it. It is said that one day, he climbed the roof of a house and dropped a purse of money down the chimney. It landed in the stocking which a girl had put to dry by the fire! This may explain the belief that Father Christmas comes down the chimney and places gifts in children's stockings.

When the Dutch introduced Sinter Klaas to the Americans they called him Santa Claus.


Now we know!

Got that info from here: http://projectbritain.com/Xmas/santa.html
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Old 25-12-2016, 06:18
d'@ve
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Father Christmas was originally part of an old English midwinter festival,

Winterval!
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Old 25-12-2016, 07:37
Scots rool
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I never called him Father Christmas.
Always been known as Santa here!
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Old 25-12-2016, 07:49
2shy2007
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He has always, and will always be, Father Christmas from where I come from, none of this Santa/Saint rubbish, we like to uphold the old British Traditions. we know he has morphed from being dressed in green to dressed in red over the decades, but to us he will remain Father Christmas.
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Old 25-12-2016, 10:00
davidmcn
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He's always been Santa in Scotland, "Father Christmas" was the strange thing that English people on the telly called him.
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Old 25-12-2016, 10:59
Scots rool
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He's always been Santa in Scotland, "Father Christmas" was the strange thing that English people on the telly called him.
That's only because they think they're posh.
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Old 25-12-2016, 15:12
Eadfrith
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He's always been Santa in Scotland, "Father Christmas" was the strange thing that English people on the telly called him.
Really? How?when Santa Claus is American
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Old 25-12-2016, 18:44
davidmcn
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Really? How?when Santa Claus is American
Of Dutch origin really, but we were probably already subject to Americanisms by the time Christmas started being a big thing in Scotland.
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Old 25-12-2016, 20:22
Eadfrith
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Of Dutch origin really, but we were probably already subject to Americanisms by the time Christmas started being a big thing in Scotland.
I don't believe a word of that lol
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Old 25-12-2016, 20:35
Pencil
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Is Father Christmas Dead???
Well, he hasn't been to see me since I was around 8 or 9, so I would he is, yes.
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Old 26-12-2016, 08:16
Scots rool
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I don't believe a word of that lol
Christmas wasn't really a big thing in Scotland until late 50's 60's

- Christmas Celebrations in Scotland


Pagan Celts had celebrations around the time of the winter solstice, in part to brighten the darkest days, in part to propitiate the gods to allow the sun to return!

The Scots word "Yule" comes from the Old Norse "jól, which was a midwinter pagan celebration of the winter soltice. Traditionally, Yule refers not just to Christmas Day but the twelve days of the earlier festival.

The Christian Church took over the celebration, but some of the traditions harked back to the pagan roots. The Yule log was burned in the fireplace, there was kissing under the misletoe (related to a Druidic fertility rite) and the house was decorated with holly (evergreen trees were regarded with reverence). Of course such activities were not confined to the Celts or to Scotland.

After the Church Reformation in the 16th century, the celebration of Christmas was frowned on by the Kirk, which regarded it as a "Popish festival".

Mass was banned in Scotland at that time and "Christmas" or "Christ's Mass" was included in that.

There are records of charges being brought against people for keeping "Yule" as it was called in Scotland.

Amazingly, this dour, joy-crushing attitude lasted for 400 years. Until the 1960s, Christmas Day was a normal working day for most people in Scotland.

So if there is a specifically "Scottish" aspect to Christmas, it is that it was not celebrated.

Most of our "traditional" Christmas celebrations (other than the religious festival) originated in the 19th century (Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's husband, had a lot to do with it!) and so England and Scotland developed the same traditions from around that time - Christmas trees, decorations, Santa Claus, presents, stockings at the end of the bed, Christmas Carols, Christmas cards etc. Christmas cards are said to have been invented in Edinburgh in the mid-nineteenth century,
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Old 26-12-2016, 10:41
scottie2121
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I believe in Father Christmas.
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Old 26-12-2016, 11:11
davidmcn
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Of Dutch origin really, but we were probably already subject to Americanisms by the time Christmas started being a big thing in Scotland.
I don't believe a word of that lol
Not sure why any of that would make you laugh out loud or what your argument is? "Santa Claus" is from "Sinterklaas" (and first used in America in the 18th century, so not exactly a modern term).

Christmas Day wasn't a generally-observed holiday in Scotland until post-war, by which time we had been exposed to all of the American movies and songs featuring Santa.
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