26/12/2020
After what passed over all of us, hope you all are doing well, enjoying the holidays with friends or snuggled in the cozy blankets whiling away the time (yes it's us :'D). Oh, and we are late yet again but Quiz Club wishes everyone a Merry Christmas๐โ๐
!! And since we are in joyful spirits right now, let's dust off the keyboard and start talking about Christmas itself (โโขแดโขโ) in the course of next few days.
So what comes first in our mind when we hear Christmas? Snow? Reindeer? Or is it our beloved jolly old man, giving gifts to children all over the world? The most popular icon, the face of Christmas worldwide, ubiquitous in his depiction yet he's not a religious icon. Then how did he come to be? His story of origin is no less interesting, because he was not born in a single moment but out of centuries of complex cultural exchange and assimilation. That's how folkloric icons are shaped, but as is demanded by his universal appeal, his modern depiction has elements from folklores of many countries, like Saint Nicholas of Myra (the progenitor of his name), Father Christmas of England and Sinterklaas of Dutch and Belgian folklore. But two regions has a more ancient and significant contribution to this development.
Prior to Christianization, the Germanic peoples (English ancestors included) celebrated a midwinter event called Yule. With the Christianization of Germanic Europe, numerous traditions were absorbed from Yuletide celebrations into modern Christmas. During the time of Yule, it was believed that supernatural occurrences increased and a spectacular ghostly procession called the Wild Hunt was seen through the sky. The leader of the wild hunt was believed to be the god Wodan, or as we better know him, the Norse God Odin, bearing names like Jรณlnir, meaning "Yule figure", and Langbarรฐr, meaning "long-beard". Cue the last name and you'll realise that the old white-bearded Odin riding the midwinter sky on his eight-footed steed Sleipnir, visiting his people with gifts sounds so much familiar. Imagine looking upward on Christmas and what you get to see is Santa Claus leading an army of ghosts and monsters through the night sky (๏ฝกล๏นล)
