Sunday morning thoughts – December 10, 2023

Do you believe in Santa?

This week was Samichlaustag in Switzerland (Dec 6). That’s like our Santa Claus but he doesn’t bring Christmas presents. Kids can recite little poems and they’ll get small bags with nuts, chocolates, gingerbread and tangerines if they’ve been good. There used to be a rod for children who’ve been bad. I think we banned that a while back.

Similar concept to Santa Claus, I guess. Our Christmas presents are brought by the Christchindli (literally small Christ-child) who is usually portrayed as a little angel. Again, not looking stuff up on Sundays – so I don’t know when that tradition started and how it came about. You might have heard of Christkindlmarkets. There are a few famous ones in German speaking Europe.

Anyway, there comes a time in everybody’s life when they stop believing in Santa etc. If you’re like Phoebe from Friends, this might be a bit later in life but I’m guessing the rest of us stopped believing in Santa sometime in primary school. It makes sense to start questioning improbable things. I mean Santa coming down the chimney, who are we kidding? It’s a nice illusion but also one that most parents are happy for their kids to figure out pretty organically at some point.

It’s also about the same time children start questioning the existence of God. And while stopping to believe in Santa is considered progress, normal and is encouraged, questioning the existence of God – that’s a no-go. Children are guilted and scared into believing. They are shamed or even harshly punished for not believing. Questions are not encouraged. It’s a matter of faith. Nobody is born with religious beliefs. Those are taught. It’s also a matter of geography. Where you are born kind of defines what religion you’ll grow up with.

I don’t know about you but if you have to scare, guilt or shame somebody into believing what you believe, what kind of a message are you sending? Children are not allowed to think for themselves, they are not allowed to make up their own mind. And they are not allowed to do what comes so naturally to them - ask questions. I mean, I don’t know a child who didn’t wonder how Noah got all those animals onto his Arch and how carnivores did not eat the other animals.

Growing up I read or was read the classic fairytales. Alongside that I read biblical stories and listened to them on cassettes (yes, this was pre-CDs). To me those stories were all the same. I never thought the biblical stories were any more real than the fairytales. They were just stories. I enjoyed listening to them because “the good” usually won. And they lived happily ever after. And no, I didn’t believe everything I read.

I read a lot when I was in primary school. Those books were stories. It didn’t even occur to me to ask whether this really happened. They were stories out of books. They were an escape. They formed my imagination. All of them did. I just never thought of them as real life. They were all a fantasy. And yes, I wanted to be like some of the main characters. Like the kids from “The Three Investigators” (in German: Die drei ???) who solved crimes. I so wanted to be them.

So far so healthy.

I heard someone say recently that the minimum age for joining any religion or religious groups should be 18. Now, think about that. How easy would it be to convince a teenager to believe in fairytales? Not very – I don’t think. I do like the concept. Building your own world view and then deciding what, how or even if you want to believe in a God. Works for me. And if you’re convinced that your God or your religion is the one true one – this should work for you too.

The traditions we can keep. Lights around Christmas time and maybe even presents. Those are lovely. And traditional foods too. And gathering with friends or family – of course we should do that. Have I mentioned Christmas cookies? Aren’t they the best?

Let’s teach our children about our traditions without piling on the dogma, religious guilt and all that. It’s possible. It’s healthy. It let’s them experience different traditions without it feeling weird. Let’s not limit their and our own world view.

Somewhere in Manhattan, December 2022.

I’ll leave you with this picure from last December - four days to go and I’ll be back there. Can’t wait to see you all.

Happy holidays everybody.