Written and © by Jarno Tarkoma

The Northern Myth

How is it possible that in the predominantly Mediterranean / Near East tradition of Christianity something arises like Santa Claus of today? What force has generated the dominance of North in the directional map of popular Christmas tradition? Why not East as in the original traditions of St.Nicholas and the Magi? I can only offer some educated guesses.

Christmas was originally in pagan times the festival of End of Darkness, the shortest day of the year, after which comes Spring and and then Summer . We say in Finland "Talven selkä taittuu" meaning that the back of Winter is broken. The more northern the country the more pronounced is the contrast between winter and summer solstices. The length of December day in Helsinki is about 5 hours, the longest June day is 19 hours. The temperature in Winter might be -30 degrees Celsius, the temperature in Summer +30. These extremes set the span of the year in the North.

Thus,in minds of Northern men Christmas is associated with Winter ways: snow, cold, darkness illuminated by candles, sleighs drawn by horses, fur coats. Christmas things are in contrast with summer things. If this applies to the folk of the North the more it will interest Southern peoples who do not have such pronounced climatic changes but who find the traditions of Northern Christmas delightfully odd and alluring. Furthermore, to preserve a myth one generally likes to place it as far as possible from the everyday experience: in North Pole, Lapland. I think that in Northern Europe in intensity of Christmas feeling is greatest because of the contrasts of Midwinter. The custom tends to accelerate towards greatest intensity. In this case, the Northern Christmas, with its peculiar romance and idyll.


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