Dec 13, 2014

Santa Claus.. Pretender To The Throne - Part 2


This is great research on the origins of Santa Claus.  And scary stuff too.  Santa falls under paganism/demonology, and is the poster boy for consumerism, the madness that manifests itself in the video of Black Friday a few posts down.  Time to end Santa's attachment to the remembrance of the birth of the Savior.  Fascinating to read here the links of santa to Thor (the Norwegian Apollo), gnomes (demons) and even Satan. 

A Curious Amalgam

While undoubtedly Santa Claus was based in part on St Nicholas and the gift giving legends associated with him, the modern day Santa Claus bears remarkable similarities to other sources.

    In Germany, St. Nicholas is also known as Klaasbuur, Sunnercla, Burklaas, Bullerklaas, and Rauklas, and in eastern Germany, he is also known as Shaggy Goat, Ash Man and Rider and is more reflective of earlier pagan influences (Norse) that were blended in with the figure of St. Nicholas, when Christianity came to Germany. [13]
King Winter

The truth is that St. Nicholas is a blend of many different cultures, customs, legends and mythological creatures. Consider the similarities to these early legends.


Thor and Odin

    9th Century

    In 9th century England the Saxons honoured King Winter or King Frost. He would be represented by somebody dressed in a fur hat or crown and would visit their firesides. The Saxons believed that by welcoming Winter as a personage or deity the season would be less harsh to them.
    9th & 10th Century

    With the arrival of the Vikings in England during the 9th and 10th centuries Odin, their chief god, influenced the Winter gift practices. Odin had twelve characters and the one for December was known as Yalka or Jule and his month was called Jultid from which Yuletide derives. The Vikings believed that Odin visited Earth during Jultid on Sleipnir, his eight-legged horse. He would be disguised in a long blue hooded cloak and carrying a staff and a satchel of bread. His companion was either a Raven or Crow. He was said to join groups around their fire and listen to their conversations to see if they were content. He would sometimes leave the bread as a gift at poor homesteads. [14]

Most Santa researchers agree that some traits of Santa [including the reindeer?] was borrowed from Norse [Scandinavian] mythology.

    Prior to the Germanic peoples' Christianization, Germanic folklore contained stories about the god Odin (Wodan), who would each year, at Yule, have a great hunting party accompanied by his fellow gods and the fallen warriors residing in his realm. Children would place their boots, filled with carrots, straw or sugar, near the chimney for Odin's flying horse, Sleipnir, to eat. Odin would then reward those children for their kindness by replacing Sleipnir's food with gifts or candy [Siefker, chap. 9, esp. 171-173]. This practice survived in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands after the adoption of Christianity and became associated with Saint Nicholas. [15]
    Most of the stories originate with in the European culture, primarily that of the Nordic traditions of Northern Europe. The Norse god Odin rode on a white eight legged horse and delivered either presents or punishments. The eight legged horse may be the origins of the eight reindeer that we know of today along with the naughty or nice list is constantly checked. [16]

[Santa Originally had eight reindeer. Rudolph, the ninth reindeer and son of Donner, was the result of a verse written by Robert L. May for Montgomery Ward in 1939 and published as a book to be given to children in the store at Christmas.]

    “It is held by some scholars that the legends of Nicholas as gift-giver drew in part from pagan, pre-Christian sources. For example, the Teutonic god of the air, Odin, would ride through the air on a gray horse (named Sleipnir) each Autumn - so did Nicholas; Odin had a long white beard - so did Nicholas; a sheaf of grain was left in the field for Odin's horse - children left a wisp of straw in their shoes for Nicholas. [McKnight, 24-25, 138-139] Others claim that attributes of the Germanic god Thor, the god of thunder, were transferred to Nicholas. Thor was supposedly elderly and heavy with a long white beard; he road through the air in a chariot drawn by two white goats (called Cracker and Gnasher); he dressed in red; his palace was in the "northland;" he was friendly and cheerful; he would come down the chimney into his element, the fire. [17]
    No definitive correlation has ever been found between the "visit of St. Nicholas" and pagan gods such as Odin and Thor. However the similarity is striking and some relationship seems likely”. [18] Emphasis Added]

Encyclopedia Britannica describes the role of Nordic mythology in the life of Santa:

    Sinterklaas was adopted by the country's English-speaking majority under the name Santa Claus, and his legend of a kindly old man was united with old Nordic folktales of a magician who punished naughty children and rewarded good children with presents. [19]
    Some Santa researchers associate Santa with the Norse "god" of Odin or Woden. Crichton describes Odin as riding through the sky on an eight-legged, white horse name Sleipnir. (Santa originally had eight reindeers, Rudolph was nine). Odin lived in Valhalla (the North) and had a long white beard. Odin would fly through the sky during the winter solstice (December 21-25) rewarding the good children and punishing the naughty. [20]
    Mythologist Helene Adeline Guerber presents a very convincing case tracing Santa to the Norse god Thor in Myths of Northern Lands: [Thor being a son of Odin with Thursday (Thor’s Day) being named after him. [21].
    Thor was the god of the peasants and the common people. He was represented as an elderly man, jovial and friendly, of heavy build, with a long white beard. His element was the fire, his color red. The rumble and roar of thunder were said to be caused by the rolling of his chariot, for he alone among the gods never rode on horseback but drove in a chariot drawn by two white goats (called Cracker and Gnasher). He was fighting the giants of ice and snow, and thus became the Yule-god. He was said to live in the "Northland" where he had his palace among icebergs. By our pagan forefathers he was considered as the cheerful and friendly god, never harming the humans but rather helping and protecting them. The fireplace in every home was especially sacred to him, and he was said to come down through the chimney into his element, the fire. [22]

In the Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs, author Francis Weiser traces the origin of Santa to Thor:

    "Behind the name Santa Claus actually stands the figure of the pagan Germanic god Thor." [23]

After listing some the common attributes of Thor and Santa, Weiser concludes:

    Here, [Thor] then, is the true origin of our "Santa Claus." . . . With the Christian saint whose name he still bears, however, this Santa Claus has really nothing to do. [24]

In the words of Dr. Terry Watkins in Santa Claus The Great Imposter … “The unusual and common characteristics of Santa and Thor are too close to ignore.

  • An elderly man, jovial and friendly and of heavy build.
  • With a long white beard.
  • His element was the fire and his color red.
  • Drove a chariot drawn by two white goats, named called Cracker and Gnasher.
  • He was the Yule-god. (Yule is Christmas time).
  • He lived in the Northland (North Pole).
  • He was considered the cheerful and friendly god.
  • He was benevolent to humans.
  • The fireplace was especially sacred to him.
  • He came down through the chimney into his element, the fire”. 

The Tomte/Nisse

The tomte/nisse is a mythical creature of Scandinavian folklore originating from Norse paganism and in ancient times was believed to be the "soul" of the first inhabitor of the farm. The tomte/nisse was usually described as a short man (under four feet tall) wearing a red cap with a tassel. Nisse were believed to take care of a farmer’s home and children and protect them from misfortune, in particular at night, when the house folk were asleep. Despite his smallness, the tomte/nisse possessed an immense strength. Even though he was protective and caring he was easy to offend, and his retributions ranged from a stout box on the ears to the killing of livestock or ruining of the farm’s fortune. A particular gift was a bowl of porridge on Christmas night. If he wasn’t given his payment, he would leave the farm or house, or engage in mischief such as tying the cows’ tails together in the barn, turning objects upside-down, and breaking things. The tomte was not always a popular figure: Like most creatures of folklore he would be seen as heathen and become connected to the Devil and having a tomte on the farm meant you put the fate of your soul at risk.

In the English editions of the fairy tales of H. C. Andersen the word nisse has been inaccurately translated as "goblin". A more accurate translation is "brownie"... the Scottish counterpart of the Scandinavian tomte. Since there is a Tomtar & Troll shop in Stockholm Sweden, I assume Tomtar is closely related to a Troll.

    In the 1840s the farm's "nisse" became the bearer of Christmas presents in Denmark, and was then called "julenisse". In 1881, the Swedish magazine Ny Illustrerad Tidning published Viktor Rydberg's poem Tomten, where the tomte is alone awake in the cold Christmas night, pondering the mysteries of life and death. This poem featured the first painting by Jenny Nyström of this traditional Swedish mythical character which she turned into the white-bearded, red-capped friendly figure associated with Christmas ever since. Shortly afterwards, and obviously influenced by the emerging Father Christmas traditions as well as the new Danish tradition, a variant of the tomte/nisse, called the "jultomte" in Sweden and "julenisse" in Norway, started bringing the Christmas presents in Sweden and Norway, instead of the traditional julbock Yule Goat. [25]SC-Tomte

Jenny Nyström is mainly known as the person who created the Swedes’ image of the “jultomte” on numerous Christmas cards and magazine covers [illustration on the right], thus linking the Swedish version of Santa Claus to the gnomes of Scandinavian folklore. [26]

The Jultomten brings gifts in a sleigh driven by the goats of Thor..

    Swedish children wait eagerly for Jultomten, a gnome whose sleigh is drawn by the Julbocker, the goats of the thunder god Thor. With his red suit and cap, and a bulging sack on his back, he looks much like the American Santa Claus. [27]
    In some areas of Sweden, Jultmoten the Gift-Bringer is a gnome whose sleigh is drawn by the Julbocker, goats which are the property of Thor, God of Thunder. Julmoten dresses in red and carries a bulging sack upon his back. [28] Emphasis Added].





The Long Leap



It has been oft claimed that Santa Claus was introduced to America by the Dutch, who settled in what was known as New Amsterdam.. now New York. Apparently this story is without much, if any merit. The St, Nicholas center tells us that….[All Emphasis Added]

    Although it is nearly universally reported that the Dutch did bring St. Nicholas to New Amsterdam [Now New York], scholars find limited evidence of such traditions in Dutch New Netherland. Colonial Germans in Pennsylvania held the feast of St. Nicholas, and several accounts do have St. Nicholas visiting New York Dutch on New Years' Eve. [29]
    This was not a saintly bishop, rather an elfin Dutch burgher with a clay pipe. These delightful flights of imagination are the origin of the New Amsterdam St. Nicholas legends: that the first Dutch emigrant ship had a figurehead of St. Nicholas; that St. Nicholas Day was observed in the colony; that the first church was dedicated to him; and that St. Nicholas comes down chimneys to bring gifts. Irving's work was regarded as the "first notable work of imagination in the New World." [29]

Other Sources [All Emphasis Added ]

    The claim that Dutch settlers, in 1626 introduced Sinter Claes to New Amsterdam (to be New York) is an invention of Washington Irving (History of New York, started in 1809). Charles W. Jones states (1954, Knickerbocker Santa Claus, New York Historical Society Quarterly, Vol. 38, No. 4, pp. 357-383, see pp. 367-71) that no documentary evidence has ever been found of a Dutch Santa Claus cult in New Amsterdam or in the [pre-1773, BKS, see below] British colonial period in New York. The settlers of New Amsterdam were Protestants, not Catholics, with little St. Nicholas tradition. [30]
    Nearly everyone repeats this story [the Dutch-Santa]. . . But when we look at the evidence—that is, the newspapers, magazines, diaries, books, broadsides, music, sculpture, and merchandise of past times, the picture is not substantiated. [31]
    There is no evidence that it [Santa Claus] existed in New Amsterdam, or for a century after occupation. . . ([31]
    I have not found evidence of St. Nicholas in any form—in juveniles or periodicals or diaries—in the period of Dutch rule, or straight through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to the year 1773. [31]
    Years of research confirmed that initial doubt: Santa Claus is an Americanization, all right, but not of a Catholic Saint. . . Despite a century of repetition, this story is simply untrue. . . [32]
    The dilemma was solved by transferring the visit of the mysterious man whom the Dutch called Santa Claus from December 5 to Christmas, and by introducing a radical change in the figure itself. It was not merely a "disguise," but the ancient saint was completely replaced by an entirely different character. . .With the Christian saint whose name he still bears, however this Santa Claus has really nothing to do. [33]

The truth is that the modern day Santa Claus bears little resemblance to the Catholic Saint and has almost entirely replaced him.

The Development of Santa Claus in America

The following is a short summation of the development of Santa Claus in America..

In 1804, the New York Historical Society was founded with Nicholas as its patron saint, its members reviving the Dutch tradition of St. Nicholas as a gift-bringer. In 1809, Washington Irving published his satirical A History of New York, by one "Diedrich Knickerbocker," a work that poked fun at New York's Dutch past (St. Nicholas included). When Irving became a member of the Society the following year, the annual St. Nicholas Day dinner festivities included a woodcut of the traditional Nicholas figure (tall, with long robes) accompanied by a Dutch rhyme about "Sancte Claus" (in Dutch, "Sinterklaas"). Irving revised his History of New York in 1812, adding details about Nicholas' "riding over the tops of the trees, in that selfsame waggon wherein he brings his yearly presents to children." [14]

    Two quotes from Washington Irving’s A History of New York
      And the sage Oloffe dreamed a dream,–and lo, the good St. Nicholas came riding over the tops of the trees, in that self-same wagon wherein he brings his yearly presents to the children. . . And when St. Nicholas had smoked his pipe, he twisted it in his hatband, and laying his finger beside his nose, gave the astonished Van Kortlandt a very significant look; then, mounting his wagon, he returned over the treetops and disappeared. [34]
      At this early period was instituted that pious ceremony, still religiously observed in all our ancient families of the right breed, of hanging up a stocking in the chimney on St. Nicholas Eve; which stocking is always found in the morning miraculously filled; for the good St. Nicholas has ever been a great giver of gifts, particularly to children. [35]

“In 1821, a New York printer named William Gilley issued a poem about a "Santeclaus" who dressed all in fur and drove a sleigh pulled by one reindeer. Gilley's "Sante," however, was very short.

On Christmas Eve of 1822, another New Yorker, Clement Clarke Moore, wrote down and read to his children a series of verses; his poem was published a year later as "An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas" (more commonly known today by its opening line, "'Twas the night before Christmas . . ."). Moore gave St. Nick eight reindeer (and named them all), and he devised the now-familiar entrance by chimney. Moore's Nicholas was still a small figure, however -- the poem describes a "miniature sleigh" with a "little old driver."

In 1863, a caricaturist for Harper's Weekly named Thomas Nast began developing his own image of Santa.SC-Nast Nast gave his figure a "flowing set of whiskers" and dressed him "all in fur, from his head to his foot." Nast's 1866 montage entitled "Santa Claus and His Works" established Santa as a maker of toys; an 1869 book of the same name collected new Nast drawings with a poem by George P. Webster that identified the North Pole as Santa's home. Although Nast never settled on one size for his Santa figures (they ranged from elf-like to man-sized), his 1881 "Merry Old Santa Claus" drawing is quite close to the modern-day image”. “ [14]

Harper’s Weekly online provides a little more insight.

    While setting the national standard, Nast’s own depiction of Santa Claus changed over the years. He began his almost-annual contribution of Christmas illustrations when he joined the staff of Harper’s Weekly in 1862 during the Civil War. [Nast contributed 33 Christmas drawings to Harper’s Weekly from 1863 through 1886, and Santa is seen or referenced in all but one. His first Santa (in the postdated January 3, 1863 issue) is a small elf distributing Christmas presents to Union soldiers in camp. [36]
    From 1866-1871, Nast continued to elaborate upon the image of Santa Claus portrayed in “Santa and His Works.” As in the featured cartoon, he also emphasized during this period Santa’s disciplinary role in judging whether the behavior of children during the past year warranted Christmas rewards or punishment. In an 1870 cartoon, Santa surprises two naughty children by jumping out as a jack-in-the-box clutching a switch for spanking. In 1871, Santa sits at his desk reading letter from parents chronicling their children’s good and bad acts, with the “letters from naughty children’s parents” far outnumbering the “letters from good children’s parents.” [36].

Incidentally the tradition of decorating a Christmas Tree originated in Germany, and arrived on American shores in the ‘40’s. Time Magazine reported..

    “even before the arrival of Christianity, Germans decorated evergreen trees to brighten the dark, gloomy days of the winter solstice. The first "Christmas trees" appeared in Strasbourg in the 17th century and spread to Pennsylvania in the 1820s with the arrival of German immigrants. When Queen Victoria married Germany's Prince Albert in 1840, he brought the tradition to England. Eight years later, the first American newspaper ran a picture of the royal Christmas tree and Americans outside of Pennsylvania quickly followed.” [36b]


Santa’s Companion
This section is almost entirely excerpted from Santa Claus The Great Imposter by Dr. Terry Watkins.)


There is a little-known piece in the life of Santa that time and tradition has silently erased. Few people are aware that for most of his life, St. Nicholas (Sinter Klaas, Christkind, et. al.) had an unusual helper or companion. This mysterious sidekick had many names or aliases. He was known as Knecht Rupprecht; SC-KrampusPelznickle; Ru-Klas; Swarthy; Dark One; Dark Helper; Black Peter; Hans Trapp; Krampus; Grampus; Zwarte Piets; Furry Nicholas; Rough Nicholas; Schimmelreiter; Klapperbock; Julebuk; et. al.


Though his name changed, he was always there.
Some other well known titles given to St. Nick’s bizarre companion is a demon, evil one, the devil and Satan. One of his dark duties was to punish children and "gleefully drag them to hell."

The following references are provided to demonstrate the "devil" who accompanies St. Nicholas is a well documented fact. In every forerunner of Santa this dark and diabolic character appears.

    It is the Christkind who brings the presents, accompanied by one of its many devilish companions, Knecht Ruprecht, Pelznickle, Ru-Klas. . . [37]
    In many areas of Germany, Hans Trapp is the demon who accompanies Christkind on its gift-giving round. . . [38]
    Another Christmas demon from lower Austria, Krampus or Grampus, accompanies St. Nicholas on December 6. [39]
    Like Santa, Sinterklaas and the Dark Helper were also supposed to have the peculiar habit of entering homes through the chimney. . . [40]
    In Sarajevo in Bosnia, Saint Nickolas appears with gifts for the children in spite of the war and shelling. He is assisted by a small black devil who scares the children. [41]
    Ruprecht here plays the part of bogeyman, a black, hairy, horned, cannibalistic, stick-carrying nightmare. His role and character are of unmitigated evil, the ultimate horror that could befall children who had been remiss in learning their prayers and doing their lessons. He was hell on earth. [42]
    In Holland, Sinterklaas (Santa Claus) wore a red robe while riding a white horse and carried a bag ofSC-Krampus-2 gifts to fill the children's stockings. A sinister assistant called Black Pete proceeded Sinterklaas in the Holland tradition to seek out the naughty boys and girls who would not receive gifts. [43]
    The Christian figure of Saint Nicholas replaced or incorporated various pagan gift-giving figures such as the Roman Befana and the Germanic Berchta and Knecht Ruprecht. . . He was depicted wearing a bishop's robes and was said to be accompanied at times by Black Peter, an elf whose job was to whip the naughty children. [44]

Christmas historian Miles Clement relates that no "satisfactory account has yet been given" to the origins of these demons and devils that appear with St. Nicholas.

    It can hardly be said that any satisfactory account has yet been given of the origins of this personage, or of his relation to St. Nicholas, Pelzmarte, and monstrous creatures like the Klapperbock. [45]

Maybe a satisfactory account has been given. Let us keep reading.

Previously, we established the peculiar fact that today’s Santa Claus and St. Nicholas are not the same. They never have been. Santa Claus is dressed in a long shaggy beard, furs, short, burly and obese. The legends of St. Nicholas portrayed a thin, tall, neatly dressed man in religious apparel. You could not possibly find two different characters.

    If Nicholas, the ascetic bishop of fourth-century Asia Manor, could see Santa Claus, he would not know who he was. [46]
    So the legends of Saint Nicholas afford but a slight clue to the origin of Santa Klaus,–alike, indeed, in name but so unlike in all other respects. [47]





The Model For Nast’s Santa..



The startling fact is, Santa Claus is not the Bishop St. Nicholas – but his Dark Helper!

    In certain German children’s games, the Saint Nicholas figure itself is the Dark Helper, a devil who wants to punish children, but is stopped from doing so by Christ. [48]
    Black Pete, the ‘grandfather’ of our modern Santa Claus. Known in Holland as Zwarte Piet, this eighteenth-century German version, is—like his ancient shamanic ancestor—still horned, fur-clad, scary, and less than kind to children. Although portrayed as the slave helper of Saint Nicholas, the two are, in many villages, blended into one character. This figure often has the name Nikolass or Klaus, but has the swarthy appearance of the Dark Helper. [49]

Artist Thomas Nast is rightfully credited for conceiving the image of our modern day Santa, but Nast’s model for Santa was not the Bishop St. Nicholas but his dark companion, the evil Pelznickle.

[IPS Note: Nast was an immigrant from Bavaria and was familiar with Pelznickle]

    The Christmas demon Knecht Rupprecht first appeared in a play in 1668 and was condemned by the Roman Catholic as being a devil in 1680. . . To the Pennsylvania Dutch, he is known as Belsnickel. Other names for the same character are Pelznickle, "Furry Nicholas," and Ru-Klas, "Rough Nicholas." From these names, it is easy to see that he is looked upon as not merely a companion to St. Nicholas, but almost another version of him. [50]

In Thomas Nast: His Period and His Pictures, biographer Albert Bigelow Paine, documents that Nast’s Santa was Pelznickle.

    But on Christmas Eve, to Protestant and Catholic alike, came the German Santa Claus, Pelze-Nicol, leading a child dressed as the Christkind, and distributing toys and cakes, or switches, according as the parents made report. It was this Pelze-Nicol – a fat, fur-clad, bearded old fellow, at whose hands he doubtless received many benefits – that the boy in later years was to present to us as his conception of the true Santa Claus – a pictorial type which shall lone endure. [51]

Santa historian and author, Tony van Renterghem also documents Nast’s Santa Claus was not Saint Nicholas, but the evil Black Pete–the devil.

    Thomas Nast was assigned to draw this Santa Claus, but having no idea what he looked like, drew him as the fur-clad, small, troll-like figure he had known in Bavaria when he was a child. This figure was quite unlike the tall Dutch Sinterklaas, who was traditionally depicted as a Catholic bishop. Who he drew was Saint Nicholas’ dark helper, Swarthy, or Black Pete (a slang name for the devil in medieval Dutch). . . [52]

Santa researcher, Phyllis Siefker, echoes Renterghem’s conclusion:

    It seems obvious, therefore, that Santa Claus can be neither the alter ego of Saint Nicholas nor the brainchild of Washington Irving. . . If we peek behind the imposing Saint Nicholas, we see, glowering in the shadows, the saint’s reprobate companion, Black Pete. He, like Santa, has a coat of hair, a disheveled beard, a bag, and ashes on his face. . . In fact, it is this creature, rather than Irving’s creation or an Asian saint, who fathered Santa Claus. [53]

By the way, St. Nicholas did not come down the chimney. It was his fur-clad, dark companion that came down the chimney. One of the reasons his sidekick was called the "Dark One" or "Black Peter" was because he was normally covered in soot and ashes from his chimney travels. The "dark companion" also carried the bag, distributed the goodies and punished the bad boys and girls.

    Children [in Holland] are told that Black Peter enters the house through the chimney, which also explained his black face and hands, and would leave a bundle of sticks or a small bag with salt in the shoe instead of candy when the child had been bad. [54]

SC-Krampus-4It is significant that Black Peter, Pelze-Nicol, Knecht Rupprecht and all of St. Nicholas companions are openly identified as the devil.

    To the medieval Dutch, Black Peter was another name for the devil. Somewhere along the way, he was subdued by St. Nicholas and forced to be his servant. [55]
    In Denmark, Sweden, and Norway creatures resembling both the Schimmelreiter and the Klapperbock are or were to be met with at Christmas. . . People seem to have had a bad conscience about these things, for there are stories connecting them with the Devil. A girl, for instance, who danced at midnight with a straw Julebuk, found that her partner was no puppet but the Evil One himself. 56]
    Thus, in parts of Europe, the Church turned Herne into Saint Nicholas’ captive, chained Dark Helper, none other than Satan, the Dark One, symbolic of all evil. [57]

One of the bizarre jobs of St. Nick’s devilish helper was to "gleefully drag sinners" to hell! SC-Krampus-3

    On the eve of December 6, the myth told that this bearded, white-haired old ‘saint,’ clad in a wide mantel, rode through the skies on a white horse, together with his slave, the swarthy Dark Helper. This reluctant helper had to disperse gifts to good people, but much preferred to threaten them with his broom-like scourge, and, at a sign of his master, would gleefully drag sinners away to a place of eternal suffering. [58]

The shocking truth is Santa Claus originated from a character identified as the devil or Satan. 
Read more at - http://www.inplainsite.org/html/santa_claus.html#Popularity

Notes:

[13] Anise Hollingshead. St. Nicholas: The Story of Santa Clause.
http://holidays.kaboose.com/christmas/traditions/st-nicholas/xmas-around-stnicholas.html

[14] http://www.time4me.com/card/legend/SantaClaus.html

[15] http://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Santa-Claus [16]

[16] Diana Tierney. Jolly Old Saint Nicholas The evolution of an Icon http://folktalesmyths.suite101.com/article.cfm/jolly_old_saint_nicholas

[17] Francis X. Weiser, Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs. New York: Harcourt, Brace, and Company, 1958, 113-114

[18] Dr. Richard P. Bucher. The Origin of Santa Claus and the Christian Response to Him.

[19] "Santa Claus" Encyclopaedia Britannica 99. As Quoted in Santa Claus The Great Imposter by Dr. Terry Watkins.

[20] Crichton, Robin. Who is Santa Claus? The Truth Behind a Living Legend. Bath: The Bath Press, 1987, pp. 55-56. As Quoted in Santa Claus The Great Imposter by Dr. Terry Watkins.

[21] As Quoted in Santa Claus The Great Imposter by Dr. Terry Watkins

[22] Guerber, H.A. Myths of Northern Lands. New York: American Book Company, 1895, p. 61

[23] Weiser, Francis X. Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1952, p. 113

[24] Ibid. p. 114

[25] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomte

[26] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Nystr%C3%B6m

[27] Barth, Edna. Holly, Reindeer, and Colored Lights, The Story of the Christmas Symbols. New York: Clarion Books, 1971, p. 49. As Quoted in Santa Claus The Great Imposter by Dr. Terry Watkins.

[28] http://www.novareinna.com/festive/gift.html

[29] St. Nicholas Center. Saint Nicholas and the Origin of Santa Claus. http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=35

[30] B. K. Swartz, Jr. The Origin Of American Christmas Myth And Customs. http://www.bsu.edu/web/01bkswartz/xmaspub.html

[31] Jones, Charles. W. "Knickerbocker Santa Claus." The New-York Historical Society Quarterly, October 1954, Volume XXXVIII Number Four, p. 362. As Quoted in Santa Claus The Great Imposter by Dr. Terry Watkins.

[32] Siefker, Phyllis. Santa Claus, Last of the Wild Men: The Origins and Evolution of Saint Nicholas. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1997, pp. 5,7. As Quoted in Santa Claus The Great Imposter by Dr. Terry Watkins.

[33] Weiser, Francis X. Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1952, p. 114. As Quoted in Santa Claus The Great Imposter by Dr. Terry Watkins.

[34] Irving, Washington. A History Of New York From The Beginning Of The World To The End Of The Dutch Dynasty: Paperback edition (2004) from Kessinger Publishing. p. 88-89

[35] Ibid. p. 98

[36] Robert C. Kennedy. Santa Claus and His Works.
http://www.harpweek.com/09Cartoon/BrowseByDateCartoon.asp?Month=December&Date=25

[36b] http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1868506_1868508_1868530,00.html

[37] Del Re, Gerard and Patricia. The Christmas Almanack. New York: Random House, 2004, p. 70

[38]Ibid p. 75

[39] Ibid p. 94

[40] Renterghem, Tony van. When Santa Was a Shaman. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 1995, p. 102

[41] Ibid Renterghem, Tony van. When Santa Was a Shaman. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 1995, p. 102

[42] Siefker, Phyllis. Santa Claus, Last of the Wild Men: The Origins and Evolution of Saint Nicholas. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1997, p. 155

[43] "History of Santa Claus," www.christmas-decorations-gifts-store.com/history_of_santa.htm?

[44] "Santa Claus" Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 99)

[45] Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition Christian and Pagan. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1912, p. 232

[46] Del Re, Gerard and Patricia. The Christmas Almanack. New York: Random House, 2004, pp. 138,141

[47] Walsh, William S. The Story of Santa Klaus. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1970, p. 54

[48] Renterghem, Tony van. When Santa Was a Shaman. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 1995, p. 105

[49] Ibid p. 98

[50] Del Re, Gerard and Patricia. The Christmas Almanack. New York: Random House, 2004, pp. 93,94

[51] Paine, Albert Bigelow. Thomas Nast: His Period and His Pictures. New York: Chelsea House, 1980, p. 6

[52] Renterghem, Tony van. When Santa Was a Shaman. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 1995, pp. 95-96

[53] Siefker, Phyllis. Santa Claus, Last of the Wild Men: The Origins and Evolution of Saint Nicholas. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1997, p. 15

[54] "Saint Nicholas," Wikipedia Encyclopedia. < en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicholas>

[55] Del Re, Gerard and Patricia. The Christmas Almanack. New York: Random House, 2004, p. 44

[56] Miles, Clement A. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition Christian and Pagan. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1912, p. 202

[57] Renterghem, Tony van. When Santa Was a Shaman. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 1995, p. 97

[58] Renterghem, Tony van. When Santa Was a Shaman. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 1995, p. 111

Spiritual Warfare by Russ Dizdar And Steven Anderson




Spiritual Warfare by Russ Dizdar And Steven Anderson

Russ Dizdar
Websites theblackawakening.com shatterthedarkness.net

Books The Black Awakening God's Ghostbusters

Biography:
Russ Dizdar is a licensed and ordained minister. He was a former police chaplain at the University of Akron Police Department and was permitted to teach on occult/satanic crimes. Russ works with the victims for satanic ritual abuse and has investigated satanic rituals, occult crimes, and mind control. Russ founded the agency Shatter The Darkness in 1982 to engage extraordinary underground growth of satanic ritual abuse and its connection to the Nazis, government programs, programmed assassins and has spent thousands of hours working with many victims and in investigations of the connection and ritual crimes.

About Steven Anderson
http://www.faithfulwordbaptist.org/
Pastor Steven Anderson was born and raised in Sacramento, CA. At age 18, he travelled throughout Germany and Eastern Europe for 3 months serving in local independent Baptist churches, studying foreign languages, and getting experience in the ministry. It was on this trip that he met his future wife, Zsuzsanna, while out soul-winning in the streets of Munich, Bavaria. He eventually lead her to the Lord, and they were married shortly thereafter. They have been married for over 13 years, and God has blessed them with 7 beautiful children.

Pastor Anderson started Faithful Word Baptist Church on December 25, 2005. He holds no college degree but has well over 140 chapters of the Bible memorized word-for-word, including approximately half of the New Testament. Today, most Baptist churches are started by Bible colleges. However, the Bible makes it clear that the church is the pillar and ground of the truth, not a school. Faithful Word Baptist Church is a totally independent Baptist church, and Pastor Anderson was sent out by a totally independent Baptist church to start it the old-fashioned way by knocking doors and winning souls to Christ.

God has blessed Faithful Word Baptist Church tremendously. Thousands have been saved, many have been baptized, and many more have learned to win souls both door-to-door and in their daily lives.

Steve Quayle, Tom Horn, LA Marzulli, Stan Deyo, Russ Dizdar, Kenneth Hagin, End Times, Last Days, Revelation, Blood Moons, Mark Of The Beast, Armageddon, Tribulation, Rapture, Nephilim, Giants, Antichrist, Signs Of The Times, Image Of The Beast, Aliens, UFO, Watchers, Prophecy, Coast To Coast AM, Days Of Noah, 666, Gog And Magog, Bible Prophecy, Coast To Coast AM, C2CAM, Alex Jones, Doug Woodward, PITN, End Of The World, 4 Horsemen, FED,

The Encounter (Christian Movie FULL Version)

Thanks for Vigilant Citizen for making this available...interesting folks and things happening in here...well worth the watch!
 


I really enjoyed this movie so I figured I would share it with you all. Grab some organic pop-corn and enjoy!
The Encounter, is a Christian film released in 2010. It follows 5 strangers living in California: Nick, a former NFL player and owner of a chain of burger restaurants; Hank and Catherine, a married couple whose marriage is falling apart; Melissa, a Christian on the way to visit her boyfriend (who is a non-Christian) and Kayla, a hitchhiker escaping her horrible living conditions in Los Angeles. When a detour road is closed off, the 5 are stranded in a diner with its' omnipresent owner, who is revealed to be Jesus Christ, and attempts to help each of the patrons face their troubles and help them seek repentance.

Jesus helps Hank and Catherine resolve their marriage issues, helps Melissa realize she needs to break up with her boyfriend as he is not a believer, and helps Kayla find it in her heart to forgive her abusive stepfather, despite everything he has done.

Each patron at the diner ends up being either born-again or is brought to a life changing decision by Jesus except for Nick, whose pride and selfishness causes him to refuse to give up all of his success to convert to Christianity. Officer Deville (the police officer who first informed the patrons of the road being closed off) returns and tells everyone that the road has been re-opened. Nick happily leaves with Deville, who gloats that he has taken one with Jesus saying he has saved four in rebuttal.

As the other patrons leave the diner, they learn from an officer on the road that Nick was involved in a car crash, which killed him instantly. He also reveals that he has never heard of Officer Deville (Kayla also realizes that Deville was actually the Devil in disguise based on the pronunciation of his surname).

The next day, Hank and Catherine find that the diner has mysteriously vanished, possibly because Jesus has managed to accomplish his mission of turning their lives around. In Thailand, Jesus shows up as a waiter, alluding to the sequel film, The Encounter: Paradise Lost.

The film was followed by a 2012 sequel, The Encounter: Paradise Lost. Marchiano reprised his role as Jesus in the sequel.

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Kesha: The Satanic Cult Leader




WARNING: For mature audiences. Some footage may be inappropriate and/or offensive to some viewers.

Ke$ha is one of pop music's hottest artists on the scene today. But what message is she spreading to countless young fans? Millions of her young impressionable fans are being introduced to overtly satanic themes, partying, promiscuity and more. Is this really what we want our kids exposed to?

If you like the work we are doing here at Good Fight Ministries, we invite you to share this video with everyone you know and subscribe to our channel. Also Like Us on Facebook!

To learn more about our ministry, please visit:
http://www.goodfight.org

Dec 12, 2014

Tobymac - Lego - Christmas This Year

One of my newer favorites for Christmas songs and videos....


Hey everyone!!!! First of all I DO NOT OWN THIS SONG!!!!! No copyright infringement intended. This is my latest video, a music video for Tobymac's Christmas song "Christmas This Year." This is one of my best videos yet in my opinion. This video took about 18 hours to make and used some very cool techniques such as green (actually I used pink (bad idea) and purple) screening, light adjustment, dolly shots, and advanced overlays. I built some of my favorite sets yet for this video, and made some really cool background effects.
Info:
Frame rate: 10 fps
Pictures taken: About 1040
Days spent: 4
Hours spent: 18
Scenes with green/purple/pink screen effects: 7
Scenes with no green screening: 1
Enjoy

Caravan To Midnight - Spiritual Warfare and the N.W.O. with Cris Putnam

An interview with theologian Cris Putnam touching on a number of spiritual subjects including his latest book, "A Supernatural Worldview", which is pretty good (that's my condensed review:)


 

Gay Rights Activists Outraged Over Billboard’s Message About Homosexuality and Genetics

This info has been around for decades, but nobody wants to talk about it....research by numerous universities has shown homosexuality has no known genetic cause, but does have social and cultural causes relating to how one is nurtured...



A controversial billboard proclaiming that “nobody is born gay” has sparked a great deal of controversy in Richmond, Virginia, where it was recently put on display.

Paid for by Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays — an organization aimed at helping so-called “ex-gays” gain acceptance — the ad features a picture of male twins and reads, “Identical twins. One gay. One not. We believe twins research studies show nobody is born gay.”

While the billboard is offending local gay and lesbian advocates, Regina Griggs, executive director of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays, believes that critics aren’t looking at the facts, specifically when it comes to analyzing how same-sex attraction pertains to twins.

“Identical twins have the same genes or DNA. They are nurtured in equal prenatal conditions.  If homosexuality is caused by genetics or prenatal conditions and one twin is gay, the co-twin should also be gay,” she said, according to WVUE-TV. “Because identical twins are always genetically identical, homosexuality cannot be genetically dictated. No one is born gay."

Read the rest of this article at - http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/12/11/nobody-is-born-gay-activists-outraged-by-billboards-message-about-homosexuality-and-genetics/

Lars Skrefsrud, Norway's Famous Missionary

Lars Skrefsrud, Norway's Famous Missionary
In 1862, when Lars Skrefsrud asked the Norwegian Missionary Society to send him out as a missionary, the mission leaders in Stavanger, Norway turned him down. They didn't want an ex-con representing them on the foreign field. Lars had just spent four years in prison for theft. But he persevered and became Norway's best-known missionary.

Lars would not give up because Christ had transformed his life. A Norwegian named Hans Hauge had recently led Scandinavia in revival. The influence of Hauge's movement reached Lars even in prison. He read religious books and repented of the alcoholism and wild living that had put him behind bars. He was encouraged by his friend Anna Olsum, who never stopped believing in him. Gifted with the ability to master languages, he learned English and German while in prison.

His knowledge of German came in handy. When the Norwegian Missionary Society rejected him, he turned to the Gossner Mission Society in Germany. This Baptist mission gave Lars the training he needed. From 1861 when he left prison until he left for India in 1863, Lars fasted almost constantly, eating only bread, cheese and water. He was determined to bring his body into submission. During those two years, he attended church services daily.

The Gossner Mission allowed Lars to go to India; he worked his way there at his own expense. There he worked among the Santal people who lived north of Calcutta. Anna joined him on the mission field and they married.

A war between Denmark and Germany left bad feelings. When the Gossner leaders refused to allow Lars to work with his friend Hans Peter Boerreson, a Dane, Lars withdrew from the mission.
Lars and Hans joined another Baptist Mission Society. Soon they left it, too, and formed the Santal Mission. To get the funding they needed from Norway, they had to return to their Lutheran roots. They had abandoned infant baptism but now went back to the practice. The one blot on their record was the misleading information they issued to friends back home on this subject, trying to make it appear they had not really adopted Baptist practice earlier.

In spite of this episode, their work prospered. By 1890, Santal mission had 6,000 baptized church members. The Santal tribe suffered from oppression by their Hindu neighbors. Lars not only labored to obtain British protection for them, but preserved their language by reducing it to written form.
He translated the Bible into the Santal tongue and produced a hymnal using native tunes. He wrote textbooks and even collected traditional Santal myths into a book. The schools that he founded taught farming, animal care, carpentry and other useful skills. Determined to make the Santalese self-sufficient in agriculture, he also wanted to give them a church they could run themselves. "It is the heathenism we want to get rid of, not the national character." He made as few changes in Santal culture as he could consistent with Christianity. When Lars died on this day, December 11, 1910, there were between 15,000 and 20,000 Santal Christians.

Bibliography:
  1. Bloch-Hoell, Nils E. "Lars O(lsen) Skrefsrud." Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, edited by Gerald H. Anderson. Macmillan, 1998.
  2. "From Hans Nielsen Hauge and Lars Olsen Skrefsrud to Normisjon." Normisjon. http://www.normisjon.no/index.cgi?
    section=omnormisjon&page=english
  3. Gordon, Ernest. A Book of Protestant Saints. Chicago: Moody, 1946.
  4. "Lars Olsen Skrefsrud, Missionary to India 11 December 1910." Lutheran Calendar. http://elvis.rowan.edu/~kilroy/JEK/12/ 11.html
  5. Neill, Stephen. A History of Christian Missions. Pelican, 1964.
  6. "Northern Evangelical Lutheran Church (India)." http://www.elca.org/dgm/country_packet/packets/ asia-oceania/india/nelc.html
  7. "Norwegian Santal Mission." http://www.nla.no/ew/norskmisjon.htm
Read this article at - http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1901-2000/lars-skrefsrud-norways-famous-missionary-11630694.html

Tom Horn Interview Excerpt with Dr. Tom VanFlandern on Intelligent Constructs on Mars

Even science communities in recent years have speculated that artificial structures may just be waiting to be discovered on other planets. In fact, teams of astronomers have of late argued that the best way to find extraterrestrial intelligence—either dead and gone or still alive—would be to search for their “signposts” in the form of megastructures that may stand out as unnatural on other worlds or artificial satellites in orbit around ET planets called “Dyson Spheres.”[i] 
                                                                                                                                                                               
(A Dyson Sphere is a hypothetical structure originally described by theoretical physicist and mathematician, Freeman Dyson, who speculated that extraterrestrial societies that survived long enough would eventually build massive starlight or solar collectors to harness their energy. Searching for such artificial structures might lead to the detection of advanced alien life, he believed.) 
                                                          
Still others think discovery of artificiality has already been made on at least one other planet and massively covered up by a league of nations, being held back until a specific time of “Official Disclosure.” This find was made right where Mission to Mars director Brian De Palma suggested it would be—Cydonia. Before he died of cancer in 2009, Tom Horn was privileged to interview Dr. Tom Van Flandern, who held a PhD in astronomy, specializing in celestial mechanics (the theory of orbits), from Yale University. He had spent twenty-one years (1963–1983) at the US Naval Observatory in Washington, DC, where he became the chief of the Celestial Mechanics Branch of the Nautical Almanac Office. For the last decade of his life, Professor Flandern was a research associate at the University of Maryland Physics Department in College Park, MD, and a consultant to the Army Research Laboratory in Adelphi, MD, working on improving the accuracy of the Global Positioning System (GPS). The American Spectator, Salon magazine, and others often quoted him regarding his challenges to Einstein’s theory of relativity, but it was his outspoken belief that artificial structures dotted the Martian landscape and were being obfuscated by NASA and other national powers that caught our attention. In the 2007 interview, Tom asked:                                                          
           HORN: On your website, there is a page where high-resolution spacecraft photos of Mars appear to show artificial structures. Tell us about these.
VAN FLANDERN: The biggest surprise of the space program to date has been the finding of several categories of anomalies on the surface of Mars that, if seen on Earth, would certainly be attributed to human activity. These include an abundance of special shapes not normally found in nature, such as closed triangles and pyramids; vehicle-like tracks and trails across otherwise featureless desert terrain; mostly underground networks of huge “glassy tubes” apparently extending for hundreds of miles, visible in places where the surface is cracked, and seeming to connect interesting surface places; odd patterns and symbols; and an abundance of large-scale “artistic” imagery such as the five known faces on Mars and some geoglyphs reminiscent of those on the plains of Nazca in Peru.
HORN: What stands out to you the most as special shapes on Mars that do not normally arise in nature?
VAN FLANDERN: Closed triangles with sharp vertices and straight sides are not normally seen in nature. 3, 4, and 5-sided pyramids are also rare. Yet many of these are found on Mars, but not on any other planet or moon yet examined in similar detail. On the Elysium plains of Mars there may be an entire field of pyramid-shaped objects laid out in linear arrays.
HORN: Describe the objects on Mars you call “glassy tubes.”
VAN FLANDERN: From an examination of hundreds of these objects, we know that they are tube-like shapes typically 50–100 meters in diameter. White bands wrap around the tube about every ten meters along its entire length. The material between bands is translucent, and we can faintly see the white bands on the underside through the tube. When direct sunlight is available, it reflects from the tube in a mirror-like way instead of just scattering the light. Where a boulder has damaged a tube, we often see a collapsed tube section, where broken white bands lie flat on the surface, and sharp, spine-like portions of broken bands jut out from an intact-but-torn tube section. Tubes are visible mainly in fissures or where a flood has eroded away the topsoil. In some places, they can be traced underground in infrared images that can detect such things if they are not too far below the surface. Some tubes cross one another (one above, one below) in perpendicular intersections, while others have junctions where one tube becomes two or vice versa. In a few places, many tubes come together in patterns suggestive of “terminals” for train stations.
HORN: What else is seen that might be of special interest?
VAN FLANDERN: In certain places on Mars, especially near the location of the former equator of the planet, we see “artistic imagery”, sometimes in abundance, although not always with distinct clarity. Moreover, the shapes seen are not random, but depict familiar terrestrial images in organized groupings. For example, in one region of Mars named “Cydonia”, we see an apparent mosaic scene showing impressions of sky, land, and water, with animal shapes organized in appropriate sections of the mosaic. Amphibious creatures are in the water area, animals on the land area, and aviary creatures in the air area. However, millions of years of dust storms and erosion have left many of the images more impressionistic than life-like. Had the images been as distinct as the words I must use to describe them, the shock waves from this discovery would have already traveled around the world.
HORN: What distinguishes the many artistic faces and other familiar shapes on Mars from faces and shapes seen in clouds and natural landscapes here on Earth?
VAN FLANDERN: It is possible to see even very detailed shapes in random, noisy backgrounds. But some of the Martian shapes appear against flat, featureless backgrounds. The context and relationship appropriateness is additional evidence these are not products of geology or random processes. But the most compelling proof, to a scientist at least, is the fulfillment of what we call a priori predictions. For example, if you are dealt a 13-card hand and get all 13 spades, you might wonder if that was an accident or the result of a fixed deck because the odds against that happening by chance are 635-billion-to-one. Yet every specific randomized deal of 13 unique cards had the same odds against happening by chance. So unlikely events, like unlikely card hands, can and do happen by chance. Yet if I predicted that on the next deal, your hand would contain 13 spades, and it did, you could be sure at odds of 635-billion-to-one that was not a lucky guess but the result of a controlled process. That’s how the a priori principle works—through the power of predictions.  
When the Viking spacecraft saw an apparent face on Mars in the Cydonia region, that was interesting but could easily have been a “trick of light and shadow”. So scientists formulated tests to tell whether the object was natural (a product of geology and illusion) or artificial (a product of intelligences). The first eight such tests initially gave a split decision, 5 to 3 in favor of artificiality. Two of those tests were based on the fact that the Cydonia face-object cannot be seen from the ground but must be viewed from above, for example from an orbiting space station. So if artificial, it would logically be built on the equator of Mars and built upright. But the Cydonia face was far from the equator (latitude 41 degrees north) and was tilted from upright by an angle of about 35 degrees. Those statistics favored a natural origin. Then in 1996 we took a look at the pole shift of Mars to see where the face-like object was before the pole shift. The answer was exactly on the old equator and upright to within two degrees! The odds against that happening by chance were roughly 1000-to-one. So if the builders were active before the cataclysm that tipped the pole of Mars (the explosion of the other moon 3.2 million years ago), then both these tests indicated an artificial origin. By the end of that year, all eight tests favored an artificial origin over a natural one.

Read the rest of this article at - http://www.raidersnewsupdate.com/CydoniaFlandern.htm