In contradiction to what christianity had led us to believe, and later american consumerism, i suggest that Santa Claus origin is rather to be found in the northern folklore figure of Väinämöinen, the hero creator of our world anew. And in the stories about him where he is viewed as the essence and the source. A wise man. The seer and creator. The bringer of conciousness. A bard, and the god of chants, songs and poetry.
Väinämöinen is thus very far from the figure we invigorate our children with. And he has nothing to do with our present day view of Santa Claus or the christian substitution Saint Nicholas.
Väinämöinen is connected to the foundation of the world pillar, also thought of as the ”world tree” that was thought to rest on the Pohjantähti or the North Star holding up the world. This is the very star that we put att the top of the christmas tree.
The north star and its position in the sky is also the place where heroes seek marriage with the daughters of Pohjola. Here in Pohjola the female Louhi is the powerful and evil witch queen ruling over the northern realm of Pohjola with her ability to change shape and weave mighty enchantments. She is a queen of great power that request a payment for the hands of her daughters in marriage. Louhi sets difficult to impossible tasks to perform in order to claim such a prize as her daughters, which leads to the forging of the Sampo.
The sampo is one such payment, a magic mill of plenty which churns out abundance. Its churning lid have also been interpreted as a symbol of the celestial vault of the heavens, embedded with stars, revolving around a central axis or the pillar of the world, which is our christmas tree. The giving of gifts as the sampo, can be seen as an act of sacrifice to Louhi, for one of her daughters hands. The hero and creator has to give something up to gain entrance to Pohjola and to get himself a wife. And this is done with chants, songs and poetry. And in giving we also get the magic abundance back. The celestial vault of the heavens. And we are also helping to keep the world up on its pillar. Because if there is no pillar, there is no wife. And there is no world.
There is also a good reason for doing all this at the time of ”christmas”. Christmas is celebrated on winter solstice when the pillar seems to be at its weakest, and almost broken on the longest night of the year. And as a recognition of rebirth, of creating or balancing up the world again with the help of ”Santa Claus”, or Väinämöinen, we try to assemble back his lost gift. The Sampo. Which was stolen by Louhi and broken. We bring back the pieces of sampo as christmas gifts to be able to enter Pohjola.
When we celebrate christmas, we are trying to help keeping the world up on its pillar.