Product Description

Much of the modern-day vision of Santa Claus is owed to the Clement Moore poem "The Night Before Christmas." His description of Saint Nicholas personified the "jolly old elf" known to millions of children throughout the world. However, far from being the offshoot of Saint Nicholas of Turkey, Santa Claus is the last of a longline of what scholars call Wild Men who were worshipped in ancient European fertility rites and came to America through Pennsylvania's Germans. This pagan creature is described from prehistoric times through his various forms-Robin Hood, The Fool, Harlequin, Satan and Robin Goodfellow-into today's carnival and Christmas scenes. In this thoroughly researched work, the origins of Santa Claus are found to stretch back over 50,000 years, jolting the foundation of Christian myths about the jolly old elf.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #646627 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .1 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 219 pages

Fortean Times
"gripping.... Studies as rich as this are few and far between. Let the kids have their sanitized Santa; when they are a bit older they can scare themselves shitless reading this wonderful, dangerous book"

Come-All-Ye
"diligent research.... The excellent study, with many rare illustrations (b/w), will be of great interest to folklorists and other researchers and storytellers"