How Santa Started Flying Down Chimneys:
The Santa Complex

Santa Chimney Cartoon

Santa Chimney Cartoon

Fantasies of Chimney Flying Santas

This Christmas many children will stay up late enamored with the notion of an oversized magical man flying down their chimney to deliver their most prized gifts. Years later, the let down of such falsehoods set forth by their parents and society will leave the adult children with a sense of disillusionment, betrayal, and perhaps an inferiority complex. Or, maybe they will learn one of the greatest lessons Santa teaches: fantasy is short-lived, violates the human intellect, and is ultimately disappointing. Reality proves to be far more favorable.

What bad can a little lying about reality do? Teaching our children to live in reality while they are young shows them later in life that they don’t need to do drugs, get into meaningless troubles, or get lost in any other kind of false sense of reality. That, sobriety and life as it truly is, has much to be enjoyed without any additives. That the troubles that life brings may be faced with courage and head on. The Santa fantasy may come at such healthy psychologies with a crowbar, masked under a bag of overflowing gifts.

How Exactly He Flys Down Chimneys

One of Santa’s greatest magical powers is his ability to fit his great belly down a narrow chimney. Here, relative theory, science, or physics is not needed – only faith. Faith in what? Some guy’s poem from 200 years ago. Santa coming down the chimney was made up in a poem by Clement Clarke Moore called “A Visit From St. Nicholas.” We’ve all heard the line. . . “Twas the night before Christmas . . .” Here, is described children awaiting their greatest hopes when Santa comes flashing past the windows like lightning, travelling about by reindeer before descending the chimney with a bag of toys to deliver – full of merriness and delight. Also introduced in this poem are elves. . . which I won’t get started on here.

Santa in a Chimney

Santa in a Chimney

Who is Santa Anyway?

We have all heard one of the greatest arguments against santa… that if you move the letters around, S-A-N-T-A spells SATAN! Well, that’s quite clever, although santa in Spanish is actually the word for saint – so perhaps it’s not clever enough. Santa is a derived from an actual saint – Saint Nicholas who was born in Greece around 270 AD. Actually, we know little about him. . . but that through the giving of payments he saved three young girls from a life of prostitution among other works and miracles. He also was the Bishop of Myra and attended the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. There is also a rumor that he served some time in prison after slapping the heretic Arius for his heresies!

Sv. Mikulas, Jaroslav Cermak (1831-1878)

Sv. Mikulas, Jaroslav Cermak (1831-1878)

Chimney Travelers

Where does such an imagination come from? Well, European paganism of course! European records in 1400’s reveals the mindset of chimney travelers. However, these chimney travelers were witches and occult figures. Such is La Befana – Italy’s Epiphany Witch among many other characters - Zwarte Piet, Belsnickel, Krampus, Pere Fouettard, Ded Moroz, Knecht Ruprecth, Zwarte Piet, Sinterklaas, Befana. From such beginnings of folklore and witchery the Santa as we now know it has been influenced and evolved from Father Christmas . . . and has embedded himself into the hearts and minds of millions of unsuspecting children!

Various Pagan Santa Figures

Various Pagan Santa Figures

Santa is Here to Stay

Let's face it. Santa is not going anywhere. For all of history, Christmas has been personified as demanded by the multitudes. Yet, with all this folklore and fantasy, how can we tell ourselves and our children’s forming minds the true reality of Christmas?

Portrait of Santa TNast 1881

Portrait of Santa TNast 1881

  • Let Stories Be Stories: Share fictional stories, but keep them fictional
  • Faith and belief should be reserved for that which is reality – not fantasy. Enjoy a Santa poem, but teach the true meaning of Christmas (Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, the expected Messiah).
  • Instruct yourself and your children about the actual life of St. Nicholas and other saints
  • Enjoy the wonders of gift giving and family time while avoiding the overindulgence that Santa represents
  • Don’t place your Christmas tree, wrapped packages, gift boxes or other combustible materials too close to the fireplace.
  • Don’t burn wrapping paper or other scraps in your fireplace.
  • Don’t dispose of your tree in your fireplace; the wood has not been properly seasoned.
  • Get your industrial smokestack chimney inspected
  • Keep a fire extinguisher and working smoke detectors near your fireplace in case of an emergency.

You Can Contact Us

Continental Chimney, an industrial smokestack contractor specializes in the safest and most efficient practices for industrial smokestack piecemeal dismantlement demolition, repair, and maintenance. For more information on chimney inspections or to schedule maintenance with an industrial chimney contractor today, contact us today for a quote or free binocular inspection.