Santa & the Solstice

Hello everyone –

In the final installment of my annual hollydaze Quotemail series, I have two poems to share about the Winter Solstice (coming up tomorrow night), along with some brief reflections about the Yuletide gift-giver who is most familiar in North America – Santa Claus. Despite the misappropriation of this beloved figure by commercial interests each December, Santa’s core message remains the same from one generation to the next, and it’s a message that isn’t limited to a single holiday or religion or culture or nation. Here’s how Fred Astaire summarized the message of Santa Claus in the closing narration of the classic Rankin-Bass holiday special, Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (1970):

“But what would happen if we all tried to be like Santa and learned to give, as only he can give: of ourselves, our talents, our love and our hearts? Maybe we could all learn Santa’s beautiful lesson, and maybe there would finally be peace on Earth and good will toward men.”

Selections from My Remarks at the ACES Honors Symposium

Friday, April 13^th, 2007

[Editor’s Note: Here are some of my own reflections on the message of Santa Claus – a message for all people, all over the world, especially for children, their families, and their caregivers.]

        In L. Frank Baum’s classic holiday tale, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (1902), we meet a young man named Claus, a human foundling raised by the immortal denizens of an enchanted forest. In his young manhood, he chose to dwell among mortal humans because he wanted to share the joys of his own happy childhood with the children of humankind. At first he simply played, sang, and shared stories with the children who lived near his home in the Laughing Valley of Hohaho, but afterward, he “invented” the first toys and spread the joy of giving Yuletide gifts around the world. Claus obtained endless life within the circles of the world, when the immortals who had raised him endowed him with the Mantle of Immortality. They gave Claus such a momentous gift because Claus had seen that the lives of mortal children in that long-ago time were filled with drudgery and misery, and he had determined to correct this injustice by sharing with them the fruits of his experience – namely, that a happy childhood, filled with kindness and giving, could lay the foundation for a better world when the children grew up.

        Baum summarizes so eloquently the lessons to be drawn from his mythical biography of Santa Claus that they require no further comment on my part. He writes:

·         Everything perishes except the world itself and its keepers. But while life lasts, everything on Earth has its use. The wise seek ways to be helpful to the world, for the helpful ones are sure to live again. … Yet every man has his mission, which is to leave the world better, in some way, than he found it. (Book I, Chapters 6 & 7)

·         [Santa Claus] brought toys to the children because they were little and helpless, and because he loved them. He knew that the best of children were sometimes naughty, and that the naughty ones were often good. It is the way with children, the world over, and he would not have changed their natures had he possessed the power to do so.  And that is how our Claus became Santa Claus. It is possible for any man, by good deeds, to enshrine himself as a Saint in the hearts of the people.  (Book II, Chapter 9)

·         It is true that great warriors and mighty kings and clever scholars of that day were often spoken of by the people; but no one of them was so greatly beloved as Santa Claus, because none other was so unselfish as to devote himself to making others happy. For a generous deed lives longer than a great battle or a king's decree or a scholar's essay, because it spreads and leaves its mark on all nature and endures through many generations. (Book II, Chapter 11)

·         “In all this world there is nothing so beautiful as a happy child,” says good old Santa Claus; and if he had his way, the children would all be beautiful, for all would be happy. (Book III, Chapter 3)

The Winter Solstice arrives at 10:19 PM (CST) on Saturday, December 21^st – the shortest day and longest night of the year. It marks the beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and the slow-but-sure return of the light; in the coming weeks, we’ll start to notice the days getting longer and the nights getting shorter. This is definitely something to celebrate – with poetry! J

“Up and Down”

By George MacDonald (1824-1905)

Excerpted from At the Back of the North Wind (1871) – Chapter 37

The Sun is gone down, and the Moon’s in the sky;

But the Sun will come up, and the Moon be laid by.

The flower is asleep, but it is not dead;

When the morning shines, it will lift its head.

When winter comes, it will die – no, no;

It will only hide from the frost and the snow.

Sure is the summer, sure is the Sun;

The night and the winter are shadows that run.

“Welcome to the Sun”

Anonymous – Collected in Scotland (19th Century)

Editor’s Note: In the Germanic, Keltik, and Slavic languages – as well as in Japanese – the Sun is feminine and the Moon is masculine.

Welcome to you, Sun of the seasons’ turning,

In your circuit of the high heavens;

Strong are your steps on the unfurled heights,

Glad Mother are you to the constellations.

You sink down into the ocean of want,

Without defeat, without scathe;

You rise up on the peaceful wave

Like a Queen in her maidenhood's flower.

Quotemail will resume its fortnightly publication schedule on Friday, January 3^rd, 2020.

In the meantime, may the calendar keep bringing Happy Hollydaze to you! J

Rob