CHRIST is at the Heart of CHRISTmas, Don't X HIM Out!

Don't X HIM Out! (Associate Producer, Darell Thorpe's Christmas Message, 12-24-2011)

It's sad to hear in the news about the fights, pepper spraying, & other materialistic grasping that goes on by rude customers, during the first days after Thanksgiving. Plus, the other crazy things that people do, as they start their X-mas shopping & in some cases, shoplifting!

It seems that Christ has been X-ed out of X-mas, and smothered over by materialism. In 1978, a Finnish artist, symbolized the materialism that was taking over & smothering out Christ from X-mas. He did so by depicting a child being ignored, with not enough clothing on to keep warm in the cold. He watches the arguments going on, others so loaded down with things they can't see him, others rush on by. The caption reads: "Birthday child watches the celebration of his birthday." 1

My own version of this Finnish artist's work shows the modern materialism still going on in 2011, as the Christkindl (German for Christ-child), is ignored, in the cold, while people fight over things & pass by, loaded down with packages, not seeing the Christkindl near by.

Over the years, Santa Claus has taken over the earlier Kriss Kringle, who took over Christkind's position as the gift giver of true charity and love, in the giving of gifts. This is not to say that many today, don't give out of charity. But it's to point out the eventual X-ing out of Christ, who is hardly sung about in schools now days because "many might be offended!" It's to also point out how far many have retrogressed to these later materialistic versions of these later Santa Claus' materialistic world wide flights. Thus, another art work I did, shows the wandering Christ covered over with many layers of snow, & being thus snow bound, he no longer is on the move, as Santa Claus waves good bye, because he & materialism have taken over.

To put the CHRIST back in X-mas to make it, CHRISTmas again, we ought to remember those earlier golden days, when kids could sing about the Christ-child in schools; & when Christ's birth & name was not such a big offensive issue, as it now seems to be with many these days.

Earlier versions of "Santa Claus" were inspired by, & have some connections to the Germans' versions of the wandering Christ-child, called "Santa Claus," such in The Strand Magazine, Jan. 1891. In 1996, I did my own re-drawing of this, it shows a blond female Christkindl, named "Santa Claus," descending through the woods towards a town below, she is delivering a Christmas tree, which she holds in her hands. 2

There are legends & stories that show evidences, that some earlier versions of Santa Claus were derived from earlier legends about the wandering Christ-child, during Christmas time. One example in many, I put to art work, it illustrates a legend told by Elise Traut, about the Christ-child wandering all over the world, going from castle to hovel, up hills and down valleys, in search for the good and deserving. He pleads for help at the door, and appears in different guises: A beggar, the poor, and child in need, etc. 3 There are many other stories, art works & traditions that puts the Christ back into CHRISTmas, & here are a few to consider. Mills Crenshaw's the Christmas of '45. Mills up coming shows the week following Christmas this Sunday, 12-25-2011. Plus, there's a video documentary called, Christ, As Cosmic Cruiser, and The Christ in Santa Claus Unmasked: How Early Christian Doctrines About Christ's World Wide Treks Became Legends. And: Christ, The World Wide Wounded Wanderer. And a new poem & short story for kids and adults: Christmas Child, Christmas Visits From Santa Claus, (The original 1891 "Santa Claus," or Christkindl).

So, during this Christmas season, Don't X HIM Out, Don't X Christ out of your Christmas season with so much materialism, that you don't remember HIM & others. Also, keep in mind how that some threads of the traditions that make up later versions of Santa Claus, are just, simply put, later legends about Christ's world wide treks. Merry Christmas & may you feel Christ's love for you & your family. 4

End Notes:

1- Christmas Around the World, A Celebration, Pub. by New Orchard Editions, 1985, CR 1978 Blandford Press LTD., p. 30.

2- For original see: William Sansom, A Book of Christmas, (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1968), 105-6.

3- See: Lillian Eichler, The Customs Of Mankind, With Notes on modern Etiquette and the Newest Trend in Entertainment, (Garden City, New York: Nelson Doubleday, Inc., 1924), 463-4; Roselle Williams Crawford, Survival of Legends, Legends and Their Relation to History, Literature and Life of the Southwest, (San Antonio, Texas: The Naylor Co. , 1952), 62-3, notes 74 & 79, & p.82; Christmas, Its Origin, Celebration And Significance As Related In Prose and Verse, Edited by Robert Haven Schauffler, (New York: 1907, Dodd, Mead & Co., 1947), introduction xi; Hamilton W. Mabie, The Book of Christmas, (Toronto: The Macmillan Co., of Canada, LTD), 38.

4- From: Darell Thorpe, Associate Producer, Sat. 12-24-2011, see also, on my blog: The Christ in Santa Unmasked.