The current character of Santa Claus is a gigantic mixture: it starts from a 4th century Turkish saint, patron of children, lawyers, merchants and prostitutes, then his figure crosses Europe between stockings full of straw and traps made with nails from the crucifixion and gets confused and overlaps with Alpine monsters, Germanic gods and Scandinavian elves, arrives in America and when New Amsterdam becomes New York it combines Dutch legends and traditional English figures, takes shape in books and then in films and commercials advertisers… Until a Christian saint from Anatolia became an old man with a big belly and a long beard who lives at the North Pole with reindeer and magical elves.

A mess so confusing that every family has its own version, never without inconsistencies and inexplicable exceptions (how to justify the gift received from the hands of the aunt, for example?). And in fact I believe that my eldest seven-year-old daughter, after having questioned the tooth fairy’s economic availability, is close to writing her first and last letter to Santa Claus in her own hand.

It’s difficult not to ask yourself questions and give yourself inevitable answers beyond a certain age, even more so in the hyper-connected, ultra-globalized and arch-consumerist society in which we live.

Some parents, not myself, are even a little upset when that moment comes when their children lose the innocence of Christmas naivety. However, if we think about it carefully, in the end we shouldn’t despair, rather we should ask ourselves: but what use is Santa Claus anymore?

What is Santa Claus for according to ChatGpt

I tried asking ChatGpt: “What is Santa Claus for?”. He replied that it “serves” several purposes:

1. Fuel magic and imagination, keeping children’s imagination alive.

2. ⁠It transmits positive values, such as generosity, kindness, gratitude and a spirit of sharing, embodied by the giver of gifts.

3. Create family rituals, including letters, biscuits to put under the tree (the artificial intelligent romantic even talks about preparing biscuits with the children to “unite the family”, because he evidently has no children), moments which then become sweet memories.

4. It makes the world a little happier, adding a touch of joy and hope to a time of year that many experience as special.

I didn’t want to offend ChatGpt, but I expected a more convincing response from his superior intelligence. Because if that’s all, then we can safely do without Santa Claus.

The imagination of today’s children no longer needs Santa Claus

The magic and imagination of today’s children do not need Santa Claus to nurture and protect them. Books, games, films, the stories they tell each other or, from an early age, even to themselves. There are many opportunities to give free rein to the imagination, perhaps too many, but certainly better this way than when the harsh reality of children, made up of hunger, fatigue and deprivation, made a joyful outlet necessary, denied even by fairy tales which in the past only spoke of evil stepmothers, witches, wolves and all sorts of dangers.

Positive values ​​such as unbridled consumption and a rush for never-satisfying gifts?

Generosity, kindness, spirit of sharing? Perhaps in the fantasies of children of the past, or in less realistic films. Usually those who have children/grandchildren know that the race for gifts from adults is a great disruption which then gives rise to competition, envy and selfishness of children who are never completely satisfied.

As for gratitude, should they feel it for an old stranger? And who pays for those toys that are certainly not made by magical elves, given that they were in the shop two weeks ago, when your son made that scene because he wanted them immediately? Mum and dad pay, and it is good that they know this to have a minimum awareness of the sacrifices made by parents.

For family rituals, Santa Claus is a threat at best

If you manage to have one or two Christmases in which children write their own letters, the fat is already dripping, as Santa Claus says when he sweats (benign quote). First, you have to write them in their place; afterwards, they leave pieces of paper that look like invoices on the dresser or in the pocket of the jacket.

We have already talked about homemade biscuits. So there are no Christmas family rituals? No, those are definitely there. Except that generally children who believe in Santa Claus don’t care much about those rituals.

After a while they get bored of decorating the tree, they don’t want to go and visit their relatives, they don’t eat anything at the restaurant and at home they only eat sweets and roast potatoes. They blow repeatedly on the candles in the center of the table, they would like to stay in their pajamas all day and to take a decent family photo you need at least thirty shots.

At the age when they still believe in fairy tales, family rituals are something that children observe without interest if it goes well, and if it goes badly they get in their way. In all of this, the figure of Santa Claus serves at most to threaten them with sudden calls to the North Pole to cancel shipments to our home, if they don’t obey and don’t be good.

Santa Claus is a bearer of injustice, rather than hope

Now even films are starting to underline the injustices of Santa Claus, those that are there for all to see, big or small (the injustices and the people).

Because there is the spiteful and obnoxious classmate who received the most gifts of all just because his parents are rich. And there is the good and kind one who only received a small gift because the single mother can’t afford more. This is without considering the children who live where there is war or where people are dying of hunger.

In short, Santa Claus gives hope and joy without looking so much at merit as at the wallet and the navigator, and such a mechanism does not generate joy but a sense of injustice. Without even the promise of an otherworldly and eternal justice, given that over the centuries every religious meaning of the ancient Anatolian saint has been abandoned in favor of marketing and entertainment.

Wouldn’t it be easier for us to no longer pass on the myth of Santa Claus?

At this point, what purpose does the character of Santa Claus still serve? To keep children good by attributing to them the judgment on who is deserving of gifts and therefore also the possible (and partial) gratitude after unwrapping the packages?

To commit ourselves to packing colored boxes and explanations to the little ones’ questions about obvious inconsistencies of the red-dressed gentleman? How to get first and second grade children to practice writing?

Perhaps it would be more educational to tell them the truth, to make them understand that it is us adults who observe their behavior and decide what they deserve for Christmas, always based on our finances.

Also because, perhaps some people forget, children are not born believing in Santa Claus: we are the ones who instill this belief in their little heads. Shouldn’t we stop sooner?