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Pastimes : Don't Ask Rambi -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rambi who wrote (57789)	12/27/2000 12:20:30 AM
From: JF Quinnelly	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 71178

Peikoff is a fool. "Santa" is hardly "a thoroughly American invention" of the 19th century. It's a composite of a lot of old traditions. The name itself is an English corruption of a Dutch name, Sinter Klaas, if memory serves. He bears a lot of resemblance to Father Christmas, who long predates America. New York, of course, was originally New Amsterdam, ergo the Dutch influence. The Pilgrims, not the later Puritans, had lived in Holland before sailing to America and would have known Dutch traditions. It doesn't matter what "the Puritans" thought about Christmas, since they were but one of many Christian sects in the colonies, and localized in Massachusetts. . All the best customs of Christmas, from carols to trees to spectacular decorations, have their root in pagan ideas and practices. These customs were greatly amplified by American culture, as the product of reason, science, business, worldliness, and egoism, i.e., the pursuit of happiness. Leonard used to have a radio program here in LA on Saturday afternoons. I used to enjoy listening, as it is hard to find as much dry nonsense packed into one half hour. But alas, the station no longer runs such excellent fodder. As a musician you are surely aware that many, and perhaps most, Christmas carols were composed expressly as just that, Christmas carols. And far from pagan roots, they have something more like German Lutheran roots. I don't know when gift-giving began. But there was actually a St. Nicholas, and he attended the Council of Nicea in the 300's. He is supposed to have come from a wealthy family, and the tale attached to his life has him secretly bestowing money on the needy, especially the young needy, of his parish (or apparently not so secretly, since his name is attached to gift giving). Moreover, gift giving at Christmas can be found in a source that seems to have escaped the estimable Leonard, and that's in the story of the three Magi. But enough with Piekoff. He's a dope, and suitable only for impressing the Easily Fooled, X and Pennirambi....