When we are children, we talk about Father Christmas. Who is he? A sacred being? A god? A real person? A figment of our fertile imaginations? Contrary to many varying – and sometimes quite outrageous – suggestions, it is most likely that this figure of sacred folk memory has evolved out of an amalgamation of northern deities such as the god, Odin, and the Wild Man of the Boreal Forest of Eastern Europe.
Knowing what incredible effects the sheer power of thought can have upon creative energy, I am very willing to accept that the mass consciousness of humanity has by now very possibly actually created Father Christmas or Santa Claus. (We should all be very careful what we think! Our kindly and benign festive old elf is lovely, but not some of the other monsters we niaevley give credence to.)
As we become adults, we begin to refer to the ‘Spirit of Christmas’. What is that? And how does it differ from Father Christmas or Santa Claus?
