ASSIGNMENT

ON
ERRONEOUS BELIEF
ON SANTA CLAUS

BY,
T.RESHMA
MBA
AMITY B-
SCHOOL
OUR IMAGINATION FOR
CHRISTMAS
Each year we deck out our homes,Schools,Colleges
in evergreen and lights. A Christmas tree is often
displayed with beautiful ornaments. Gifts are
exchanged and carols are sung, but do we really
know the true origin of Christmas? Most people
don't think about it, and among those who do,
even fewer actually know the answer to the
question. I used to be one of those who thought I
knew, that is, until I did a little deeper study on it.
Like many people today, I once subscribed to the
notion that Christmas was originally a Pagan
celebration in pre-Christian Europe. I was under
the impression that Christianity commandeered
the celebration and used it to redirect European
focus away from Pagan beliefs, and toward the
Christian gospel. I couldn't have been more
mistaken.

Today, a small but growing number of Evangelical

Christians object to the celebration of Christmas.
This is because of Christmas' alleged Pagan roots.
They'll have nothing to do with Paganism, and so
Christmas is out! I wish them the best of luck in
this endeavor, because they're gonna need it.
Around the world, the Christmas celebration is the
most beloved holiday time of the year. Christmas-
banning Evangelicals are going to have an uphill
fight with their families and children around the
holidays. It's easy to say you're gonna ban
Christmas in your home, but it's quite another
thing when it comes to actually doing it. Sadly, this
notion is misplaced, and it's one based on
ignorance of the facts.

What is the true meaning of

Christmas?
The true meaning of Christmas is love. John 3:16-17 says,
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only
Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but
have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the
world to condemn the world, but to save the world
through him." The true meaning of Christmas is the
celebration of this incredible act of love.

The real Christmas story is the story of God's becoming a

human being in the Person of Jesus Christ. Why did God
do such a thing? Because He loves us! Why was
Christmas necessary? Because we needed a Savior! Why
does God love us so much? Because He is love itself (1
4:8). Why do we celebrate Christmas each year? Out of
gratitude for what God did for us, we remember His birth
by giving each other gifts, worshipping Him, and being
especially conscious of the poor and less fortunate.

ORIGIN OF THE WORD CHRISTMAS

 The word Christmas comes
from the words Cristes
maesse, or "Christ's Mass."
Christmas is the celebration
of the birth of Jesus for
members of the Christian
religion. Most historians
peg the first celebration of
Christmas to Rome in 336
A.D.

In 325AD, Constantine the

Great, the first Christian
Roman emperor, introduced
Christmas as an immovable
feast on 25 December. He
also introduced Sunday as a
holy day in a new 7-day
week, and introduced
movable feasts (Easter).

In 354AD, Bishop Liberius of Rome officially

ordered his members to celebrate the birth of
Jesus on 25 December.

However, even though Constantine officiated 25

December as the birthday of Christ, Christians,
recognizing the date as a pagan festival, did not
share in the emperor's good meaning. Christmas
failed to gain universal recognition among
Christians until quite recently. In certain
Protestant areas the celebration of Christmas was
even banned. In England, Oliver Cromwell banned
Christmas festivities between 1649 and 1660
through the so-called Blue Laws, believing that
Christmas should be a solemn day.

When many Protestants escaped persecution from

the Catholic Church by fleeing to the colonies all
over the world, interest in joyous Christmas
celebrations was rekindled. Still, Christmas was
not even a legal holiday until last century. And,
keep in mind, there was no Father Christmas
(Santa Claus) figure at that time.

The popularity of Christmas was spurred on in

1820 by Washington Irving's book The Keeping of
Christmas at Bracebridge Hall. In 1834, Britain's
Queen Victoria brought her German husband,
Prince Albert, into Windsor Castle, introducing the
tradition of the Christmas tree and carols that
were held in Europe to the British Empire. A week
before Christmas in 1834, Charles Dickens
published A Christmas Carol (in which he wrote
that Scrooge required Cratchit to work, and that
the US Congress met on Christmas Day). It was so
popular that neither the churches nor the
governments could not ignore the importance of
Christmas celebrations. In 1836, Alabama became
the first state in the US to declare Christmas a
legal holiday. In 1837, T.H. Hervey's The Book of
Christmas also became a best seller. In 1860,
American illustrator Thomas Nast borrowed from
the European stories about Saint Nicholas, the
patron saint of children, to create Father Christmas
(Santa Claus). In 1907, Oklahoma became the last
US state to declare Christmas a legal holiday. Year
by year, countries all over the world started to
recognize Christmas as the day for celebrating the
birth of Jesus.
According to Daniel Boorstin in his book The
Americans, Christmas was largely a non-event in
America until the 1860s. 1867 was the first year
that Macy's department store in New York City
remained open until midnight on Christmas Eve.
1874 was the year of the first window displays with
a Christmas theme at Macy's. It has snowballed
from there.

The custom of sending Christmas cards started in

Britain in 1840 when the first 'Penny Post' public
postal deliveries began. (Helped by the new
railway system, the public postal service was the
19th century's communication revolution, just as
email is for us today.) As printing methods
improved, Christmas cards were produced in large
numbers from about 1860. They became even more
popular in Britain when a card could be posted in
an unsealed envelope for one half-penny - half the
price of an ordinary letter.

Birth of Jesus
In the western world the birthday of Jesus Christ
has been celebrated on December 25th since AD
354, partly to replace the pagan worship that was
commonplace in those days. However, we can be
fairly sure that Jesus wasn't actually born on that
date. (See also The History of Christmas)

The Bible tells us that shepherds were staying out

in the fields overnight when Jesus was born (Luke
2:8), but in that part of the world it would have
been far too cold at night to do so in December.
What is more likely is that He was born in the
Spring, perhaps between March and May. Whatever
the time of year, it is virtually impossible to
identify the actual date.

This situation is further complicated by the fact

that the Christian scholar Dionysius Exiguus was
asked by the Pope in AD 525 to calculate new
cycles for fixing the date of Easter. However, he
decided to base his calculations on the date of
Jesus's birth. Unfortunately, it wasn't discovered
until the 9th century that he got it badly wrong, by
which time it was too late to change the calendar.

He fixed the birth in the year 1 BC or AD 1

(Historians apparently can't agree which.) and
began counting from the latter. But both earlier
and later scholars agreed that Jesus was born at an
earlier date. Indeed, it was eventually established
that Herod the Great died in Spring of 4 BC. If
Jesus had been born at the start of AD 1, as we
currently have it, then Jesus would have been born
some 4 or 5 years after Herod died. There is no
way of accurately establishing the actual date of
his birth, but it is most likely to have been between
5 and 6 BC.

The important thing is that he was born, and his

nominal birthrate of December 25th seems as good
as any to celebrate his birth and his message. It
also a wonderful catalyst for enjoying the precious
and simple pleasures of being, if only for a brief
time, close together in the warm familiarity of
friends and family, renewing relationships and
sharing memories.

Tradition
From November onwards, it is impossible to forget
that Christmas is coming. Colored lights decorate
many town centers and shops, along with shiny
decorations, and artificial snow painted on shop
windows.

In streets and shops, 'Christmas trees' (real or

plastic evergreen 'conifer' trees) will also be
decorated with lights and Christmas ornaments.

Shopping centers become busier as December

approaches and often stay open till late. Shopping
center speaker systems systems will play
Christmas 'carols' - the traditional Christmas
Christian songs, and groups of people will often
sing carols on the streets to raise money for
charity. Most places of work will hold a short
Christmas party about a week before Christmas.
Although traditional Christmas foods may be
eaten, drink (and plenty of it) means that little
work will be done after the party!
By mid-December, most homes will also be
decorated with Christmas trees, colored lights and
paper or plastic decorations around the rooms.
These days, many more people also decorate
garden trees or house walls with colored electric
lights, a habit which has long been popular in USA.
In many countries, most people post Christmas
greeting cards to their friends and family, and
these cards will be hung on the walls of their
homes. In UK this year, the British Post Office
expects to handle over 100 million cards EACH DAY,
in the three weeks before Christmas.

Traditionally, Christmas cards showed religious

pictures - Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus, or other
parts of the Christmas story. Today, pictures are
often jokes, winter pictures, Father Christmas, or
romantic scenes of life in past times.

Who is Santa
Claus?
Children are taught that he
is the person who performs
miracles and wonders every
Christmas Eve. He is able to
create and deliver virtually
any present any child can
imagine. He can fly through
the sky and deliver these
gifts to billions of children
all over the world - all during
one night. And not just any
old presents but exactly the
 ones desired by each
individual child.
But Santa Claus is not just omnipresent, he is also
all-seeing and all-knowing. He has the divine
power of omniscience, and this not only on
Christmas Eve but all through the year.

He sees you when you're sleepin'

He knows when you're awake,
He knows if you're been bad or good,
So be good for goodness sake ...
People imagine similar powers for their god:
You see me, whether I am
working or resting;

In addition, children are taught that Santa Claus is

all-good and all-just; He rewards the good children
and leaves the bad ones empty handed. Perfect
goodness and justice are also attributes of deity. In
other words, Santa is really a god who performs
miracles by his own powers. To be sure, he is a
kind of childish god. He is concerned only about
children, and he brings childish presents. But
that's the only sort of god who could have any
meaning for the young child. Adults think of their
deity as the creator of all things visible and
invisible, but such an entity is beyond a child's
comprehension. What children can relate to is a
creator of toys and goodies. While grownups
characterize their god as all-holy, all merciful, all-
just, all-powerful, omnipresent and infinitely
perfect, this conception is too vast, nebulous and
remote to have any meaning for a little child.
Children from 2 to 8 - the Santa Claus years -
cannot grasp such a transcendent abstraction;
they can only relate to a material being. Santa is
such a god-in-the-flesh - a deity tailor-made for
children.

Santa has not always appeared the way we think of

him today. The first well-known gift-giver was a
true person--St. Nicholas. He lived in Myra (today
we know it as Turkey) in about 300A.D. Born an
only child of a wealthy family, he was orphaned at
an early age when both parents died of the plague.
He grew up in a monastery and at the age of 17
became one of the youngest priests ever. Many
stories are told of his generosity as he gave his
wealth away in the form of gifts to those in need,
especially children. Legends tell of him either
dropping bags of gold down chimneys or throwing
the bags through the windows where they landed
in the stockings hung from the fireplace to dry.
Some years later Nicholas became a bishop--hence
the bishop's hat or miter, long flowing gown, white
beard and red cape. After his death he was
elevated to sainthood. Eventually the Catholic
Church started celebrating Christmas and St.
Nicholas was incorporated into the season.

Finally, from 1931 to 1964, Haddon Sundblom

created a new Santa each Christmas for Coca-Cola
advertisements that appeared world-wide on the
back covers of Post and National Geographic
magazines. This is the Santa we know and love
today with a red suit trimmed with white fur,
leather boots and belt, long white beard and a
pack of toys slung onto his back.

THE ERRONEOUS BELIEF ON

SANTA CLAUS
Although Santa Claus is a mythical figure, his creation is
based in part on a great Christian man named Saint
Nicholas of Myra, who lived in the 4th century. Nicholas
was born to Christian parents who left him an inheritance
when they died, which he distributed to the poor. He
became a priest at a young age and was well-known for
his compassion and generosity. He had a reputation for
giving gifts anonymously, and he would throw bags of
money into people's homes (and sometimes down their
chimneys) under the cover of night to avoid being
spotted.

Nicholas passed away on December 6 sometime around

the 340s or 350s AD, and the day of his death became an
annual feast in which children would put out food for
Nicholas and straw for his donkey. It was said that the
saint would come down from heaven during the night and
replace the offerings with toys and treats—but only for
the good boys and girls. There are many different
versions of the legend of Saint Nicholas, but all are the
inspiration for the jolly, red-suited gift-giver that we now
know as Santa Claus.

Many Christian parents are torn as to whether or not they

should play the "Santa game" with their children. On one
hand, he makes Christmas fun and magical, leaving
wonderful holiday memories for years to come. On the
other hand, the focus of Christmas should be on Jesus
Christ and how much He has already given us. So, is the
story of Santa Claus an innocent addition to Christmas
festivities, or is he a subject that should be avoided?

Parents need to use their own judgment in deciding

whether or not to include Santa during the holidays, but
here are some things to consider: Children who believe
that the gifts they receive Christmas morning are from a
magical man with unending resources are less likely to
appreciate what they have been given, and the sacrifices
their parents make in providing them. Greed and
materialism can overshadow the holiday season, which is
meant to be about giving, loving, and worshiping God.
Children whose parents are on a tight budget may feel
that they have been overlooked by Santa, or even worse,
deemed one of the "bad" boys or girls.

An even more troubling aspect of telling our children that

Santa comes down the chimney each year to leave their
gifts is that it is, obviously, a lie. We live in a society that
believes that lying for the "right" reason is acceptable. As
long as it doesn't hurt anyone, it is not a problem. This is
contrary to what the Bible tells us. "For the Scriptures
say, 'If you want to live a happy life and good days, keep
your tongue from speaking evil, and keep your lips from
telling lies'" (1 Peter 3:10, NLT). Of course, telling our
children that Santa is real is not a malicious deception,
but it is, nevertheless, a lie.

Although it is probably not typical, some children honestly

feel deceived and betrayed by their parents when they
find out that Santa is not real. Children trust their parents
to tell them the truth, and it is our responsibility not to
break this trust. If we do, they will not believe more
important things we tell them, such as the truth about
Christ, whom they also cannot physically see.

This doesn’t mean we must leave Santa completely out of

Christmas. Children can still play the "Santa game" even
if they know it is all pretend. They can make lists, sit on
his lap at the mall, and leave out cookies and milk on
Christmas Eve. This will not rob them of their joy of the
season, and gives parents the opportunity to tell their
children about the godly qualities of the real Saint
Nicholas, who dedicated his life to serving others and
made himself into a living example of Jesus Christ.

Positive Aspects of Santa Claus

Santa, as taught to most children, has most of the
attributes of God:

He is virtually omnipresent. He can visit hundreds

of millions of homes in one night.
He is omniscient. He monitors each child; he is all-
seeing and all-knowing; he knows when they are
bad and good.
Although not omnipotent, he does have great
powers. He can manufacture gifts for hundreds of
millions of children, and deliver them in one night
-- each to the correct child.
He is all-good and all-just. He judges which
children have shown good behavior and rewards
them appropriately. Bad children are bypassed or
receive a lump of coal.
He is eternal.
He rewards good and punishes bad behavior.

As every coin has two sides or Every Rose has a

thorn…So, Santa claus too has some negative
outcomes.

Negative Aspects Or Problems

faced because of Santa Claus
His behavior damages a child's self-esteem

In practice, children are not rewarded with gifts

according to their behavior; they receive presents
according to the amount of money that their
parents are willing or able to spend on them at
Christmas time.

A child may receive little or nothing from Santa

because his/her parents are poor. Unfortunately,
the child has probably adsorbed from the media
and their friends only bad children get nothing
from Santa. He/she might begin to look upon
themselves as a bad person. This may well damage
their self esteem.

Most children in Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Jehovah's

Witnesses or some other faith traditions do not
receive gifts from Santa. But when they go to
school, they see that their Christian
contemporaries have been given presents. They
might feel that they are less worthy than their
friends, or that their religion is inferior to
Christianity. To protect from this kind of mental
development, most of the Non-Christian Parents
should think some alternatives.

Telling children that Santa comes down the chimney each

year to leave their gifts is that it is, obviously, a lie.

Some children honestly feel deceived and betrayed by

their parents when they find out that Santa is not real.

What should children be taught

about Santa Claus?

A "Santa Truth Poll" on familyeducation.com shows

that, in the estimation of adults, most children
stop believing in Santa Claus between the ages of
8 and 10. 12

Belief in Santa Claus is

dangerous:
The Rev. John Eich suggests that teaching a child
about Santa can backfire. "When a parent says
'Yes, there really is a Santa Claus and his reindeer
can fly,' he is no longer playing a game. The parent
is lending his personal authority as a parent to the
myth, giving it the ring of truth." When the child
later finds out that there is no Santa Claus, then
she/he might also doubt other parental teachings.

A lesson for today

Parents should be aware that fostering a belief in

the Santa Claus of today may backfire later. A child
looks to parents to furnish everything--food,
comfort, courage, and truth. When a parent says,
“Yes, there really is a Santa Claus, and his reindeer
can really fly,” he is no longer playing a game. That
parent is lending his personal authority as a parent
to the myth, giving it the ring of truth. What
happens later to a parent’s credibility when the
child finds out that the story isn’t true? Maybe the
other things a parent has said about safety, moral
values, right or wrong aren’t true either.

If you once believed in a man who knew what you

were doing, who had amazing abilities, and who
gave you nice things, and he turned out to be a
fake, why should you believe in another man who
knows what you are doing, has amazing abilities,
gives you nice things--Jesus Christ? If you get
burned once, why get burned the second time?
Wouldn’t it be better to be honest with our
children right from the start, and teach them the
difference between truth and make-believe?

Some people love Santa Claus so much that they

forget about Jesus. Some churches burn the
present day Santa Claus in effigy. Both extremes
are too much. It’s better to remember the real
Nicholas, who can serve as an example of how to
really keep Christmas.

Don’t think “Look what the world is coming to.”

Rather think “Look who’s coming into the world!”
A little girl was once asked, “What is a saint?”
Thinking of the heroes of faith who are pictured in
stained glass windows she answered, “A saint is
someone who lets the light in.” That’s how we best
perhaps can use the myths about Santa Claus.
Let’s use them to let the “light in,” Jesus Christ the
light of the world. Let’s keep Santa Claus always
kneeling at the manger of his Savior and ours.

SUGGESTIONS
It is fair to play Santa Game but at the e nd of the
day they should really know, the story of Santa
Claus.

Parents should use this time perfectly to explain

the good deeds of God and cultivate them with
positive attitude,helping nature citind the example
of Jesus and Santa claus.

Mould the behavior of their children as they need

by giving good gifts.
Disclose the real meaning of Santa Claus by giving
effective advertisements,directing good
movies,etc…

But at the same time,we should never forget that

Santa Claus is just fallacy.

WRAPPING UP
Christians can get in touch with the spiritual roots
of the Christmas celebration simply by extending
their own observances of Christmas out to the full
eight days from December 25th through January
1st.

Rather than trying to cram it all into one day, (as

the commercialized celebration has taught us over
the last 100 years), we can spread things out a
little, giving ourselves some breathing room to
actually enjoy the season a little bit more. We
could light a candle for each day of the octave,
similar to the Jewish practice of lighting the
menorah, but not duplicating it entirely.

The reason for the whole celebration is

remembering that Christmas marks the coming of
the Light (Christ) into the world. Regular church
attendance should be central to the observance of
this Christmas Octave, and the continuation of
Christmas songs and prayers throughout the week
will also help. Of course the end of the Octave is
already well marked for us with the celebration of
the new year, and isn't it fitting that an eight-day
feast marking the birthday of Christ ends with a
really big party.

Main Christmas Song

MERRY
CHRISTMAS 1
JINGLE BELLS

Dashing through the snow, on a one-horse open

sleigh,Over the fields we go, laughing all the way;
Bells on bob-tail ring, making spirits bright,
What fun it is to ride and sing a sleighing song
tonight.

Chorus:
Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way!
O what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh.

A day or two ago, I thought I'd take a ride,

And soon Miss Fannie Bright was seated by my
side;
The horse was lean and lank, misfortune seemed
his lot;
He got into a drifted bank, and we, we got upsot.

Chorus

Now the ground is white, go it while you're young,

Take the girls tonight, and sing this sleighing song;
Just get a bob-tailed bay, two-forty as his speed,
Hitch him to an open sleigh, and crack! you'll the
lead.