Vantage | Open myth of Santa Claus: Folklore or triumph of marketing?

Let us talk about the world’s greatest home invader. “He sees you when you’re sleeping.” “He knows when you’re awake.” He works one day a year and then spends the rest of it judging you. We are talking about Santa Claus. Spoiler alert: He doesn’t exist. Hopefully you knew that. Research says: The more live Santa Clauses children are exposed to the more likely they are to believe he exists. Now, Santa is big in America. So about 85 percent of young American children believe in him, especially, till the age of 5. Then a shift happens between the ages of 7 and 10, and there is a decline in belief. But what about outside America? In Europe, over 90 percent of children believe in Santa up to the age of 8. In other continents the percentage is lower, but the age group is similar, including India. Where most children stop believing in Santa after the age of 8. That may not be good news for some parents. While children believe in Santa Claus, parents can finally play Secret Santa without hating it. Seriously, according to surveys, nearly half of office workers hate Secret Santa. But with the arrival of Christmas comes an annual conflict for many parents. A haunting question: Is Santa real? Should parents lie and preserve a sense of childhood? Or should they spout some spoilers? The answer is subjective but it is becoming objectively harder to keep the secret. Thanks to the internet. The answer is a google search away. But research says, there isn’t much to worry about, contrary to what you might expect, about half the children feel good after discovering about Santa. And that is the magic of Santa Claus. His myth is an open secret. People seem to be okay with that. Even Santa’s origin story is unclear. That is okay too. One assumption is that his imagery is based on St. Nicholas, the fourth-century Bishop of Myra, or modern day Turkiye. It is said that he gave away his wealth to help the poor. The second assumption is marketing. Santa was introduced as a commercial figure. In advertisements for the coca cola company in 1931. So Santa may be a folklore or a triumph of marketing. But has he managed to persist? Or is Santa losing his edge? There was a pandemic slump, of course. Christmas 2020 was a washout. Christmas 2021 was muted. But since 2022, everyone has wanted a piece of Santa.

Santa bookings are skyrocketing. Their wages are up. A Santa’s average pay for an event stands at 275 dollars. This could be for a home visit or a corporate party. It is even higher for store or mall appearances. Santas earn about 4,000 dollars through them. On a major Santa hiring platform, Hiresanta, there are 20 clients for one hired Santa. This is double the demand than pre-pandemic times. Santas even help the stock market. It is called the “Santa Claus rally”. It happens the world over, where the stock market goes up by about 1 percent, around Christmas time. Santa boosts the dying art of letter writing, his dedicated postal code attracts half a million letters each year. Santa is also boosting tourism, especially in Finland. People make their way to Santa’s so-called “official hometown” — Santa Claus Village. Despite freezing temperatures, and 22 hour long nights, people have travelled here from 180 countries so far. Only to sit on Santa’s lap, and get a picture clicked (around 60 dollars a pop). Many of them are not even Christians. The largest single group of visitors are the Chinese. In fact, in 2010, President Xi Jinping also posed for pictures with Santa. Don’t worry, he didn’t sit on Santa’s lap. They sat side by side like two powerful men. But many do and will continue to. Santa may not be real but his spirit of generosity is. He helps children understand the concept of giving. He makes adults do special things despite their scepticism. And if that is not enough, it hardly matters because as long as we have capitalism Santa will be big money. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and  Instagram .