How do we celebrate Santanalia today?

Santanalia is a winter holiday, which celebrates the conception (and by extension, the birth and life) of Santa Claus. Santanalia begins on the first night of Hanukkah or the first day of Christmas, whichever comes first, and ending on the last day of Kwanzaa or the 12th day of Christmas, whichever comes last. It thus comprises the entire holiday season. Celebrants of this festival, while it is in progress, are referred to as “Santanaliacs,” while those who believe in Santa Claus are generally referred to as “Santanalians,” though these terms are sometimes used interchangeably. Santa Claus, according to Santanalians, is a magical and beneficent being believed to live on the North Pole and to distribute toys on the evening of December 24th and morning of December 25th.

By performing the rituals associated with Santanalia, Santanaliacs work themselves up to a peculiar state of mind, the “spirit of the season,” something between frenzy and serenity, which they refer to as “cheer.” Cheer is etymologically linked to charity, and Santanaliac cheer can be thought of as a kind of heightened state of charitableness, a generosity of spirit, friendliness, an openness, a tolerance, a good will to all men, all women, and especially all children. Santanaliacs thus open their festival to people of all faiths, creeds, and ethnic groups. Santanaliacs include Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, atheists and agnostics, among others, and in general Santanalia is celebrated “in addition to, not as an alternative to, the other winter holidays.”

In accordance with the ways of Cheer, Santanaliacs are exhorted to be like Santa: cheerful, kind, generous, forgiving, magnanimous, and especially charitable. Cheer is somewhat paradoxical, however, and may include periods of extreme acquisitiveness as well as charity. The Santanialia season is also famous for bouts of extreme depression, (the suicide rate is highest around this time) and/or angry outbursts at loved ones, especially family members. For some Santanaliacs, the state of cheer is achieved with the assistance of intoxicating chemicals, such as alcoholic egg-nog.

The first part of the holiday, preceding December 24th, is spent by Santanaliacs as a furious period of buying, in order to appease the gnome known as Economicus, or Black Peter (among other names). The purpose of this is to make oneself as frenzied and as miserable as possible, so that upon the midnight that initiates the twenty-fifth of December, one will become that much happier by contrast. Upon the 24th and 25th, Santanaliacs engage in festive behavior, including feasts of sometimes superhuman consumption, followed by a rite of gift-giving similar in many ways to the nearly universal human practice of potlatch. This is followed by a day (or group of days) known as Slothanalia, in which celebrants try to accomplish as little as possible. Finally, on the evening of December 31st, leading up to and following the midnight of January 1st, celebrants engange in a joyous, often drunken rite surrounding a descending red orb. Some make the pilgrimage to circumambulate this sphere in person (it is located in Times Square, in New York City), while most simply watch the descent of the orb via satellite television.

Traditions based on the Santanalia mythology

Santanalia is a celebration of the conception of Santa Claus, who freed the Elves and later the people of Sombertown. Therefore, Santanaliacs perform activities that commemorate this great event and its aftermath. To commemorate the pumpkin in which he was conceived, people try to make their houses look red and green, like the holly that covered Ivy’s house. They use actual holly, and put wreaths on their doors. They also decorate with mistletoe, which is said to bring true love to those who kiss beneath it – a reflection of the fertility rite that Economicus had used on Ivy. Then they put up stockings hoping that Santa will come down their chimneys and give them toys. They put up trees like Economicus’s tree with which he lured the blind girl, hang candy canes from their branches, and put presents underneath them. Children anxiously await Santa’s arrival, looking for the red light of Rudolf’s nose in the sky, and leaving out cookies and milk to wash them down.

To commemorate Ivy (as well as Frosty, who has become more popular), people build snowmen, and in honor of both Santa and Old Man Winter, people ride sleds. People mainly decorate the outside of their houses with images of Santa, Mrs. Claus, the reindeer, the Elves, and so on. Remembering the tiny sparkles of multicolored light that covered everything when Economicus fell and smashed open, people string up multicolored electric lights. And people buy, buy and buy some more around the holidays, to appease Economicus and keep him “bullish” rather than “bearish”.

After the 25th, people usually lay around and watch tv, doing very little, during a period known as Slothanalia. This is in memory of Ivy’s magical gestation of Santa. Then, on New Years Eve, the decorations change: now the theme is usually an old, withered bearded man wearing only underpants and a white sash (representing Old Man Winter, or Economicus, also identified with the previous year) and a little baby, also wearing only diapers and a white sash (representing Baby Santa, or the coming year). People watch a descending red orb, which is meant to represent Economicus falling out of the sky. When the ball hits its lowest point, people, who are often wearing costumes, including pointy hats, blow little noise-makers and drink Champaign. Acting like the Elves, who celebrated when Economicus fell, people affirm that Economicus (or the Economy) is not God. Though the Gnome may be very powerful, he is still only a Gnome, and we, like the Elves, are free, and can make choices that are not pre-determined by “the Invisible Hand of the Market.”

Finally, when Groundhog Day comes, we wait to see if Punxatawny Phil will see his shadow and run back inside his hole, or stay out. If he runs back in, Old Man Winter will run around, looking for him for several more weeks, causing Winter to last longer.