Santa: the thief in the night

Last Saturday in New Zealand, 40 Santas, under the influence, went on a looting spree in Auckland to protest at how commercial Christmas has become. A new mythology of Santa is emerging, writes John Holden

Being Santa Claus isn't just about giving to children and having a slight weakness for cake and biscuits. Jovial gluttony is just one of his vices now.

This Christmas season I had the good fortune of being a Santa Claus and visiting children in schools and hospitals around Dublin. I thought I would hate it. And while the beard was itchy, it was not long forgotten once you saw the look on a four-year olds face when you walk into the room.

An old jolly fat man with flying reindeer, a grotto in the North Pole and a friendly red face is the image that everyone under 14 years conjures up when you mention Santa Claus. For the cynical and wrinkly majority, however, Santa has taken on a new form. The older generation have had the misfortune of finding out the truth about the big man and now the red and white costume calls up a stereotype also frequently associated with older, rounder men – the grouchy drunk.

Over the last two weeks I have had to suffer the same "jokes" regarding Santa's odour, his problems with alcohol and his susceptibility to pies. At first it made me feel angry. But the anger soon turned to foreboding as it became clear that sloth and over-indulgence are the first impressions adults get on seeing a "Santa Claus".

It isn't that surprising really. Christmas has to be the most commercially influenced holiday we have. It was widely believed, for example, that the traditional red, white and jolly Santa image was actually a creation of Coca Cola. This is not true but the Coca Cola Santa has certainly served to cement the image we now all recognise. So there is little to say that we could not be just as affected once more by some other aspect of popular culture.

For the faux pas Santa, it appears that the movie industry is most to blame for turning our festive altruist into a rogue. Movies like Trading Places (1983) where Dan Aykroyd, dressed in the red and white outfit, gets drunk and holds up a bank and more recently, Bad Santa, where Billy Bob Thornton and his sidekick do the American Santa mall circuit in order to rob each establishment, are two of the better examples. It was reported by one film critic that there are more mentions of the 'F' word in Bad Santa than in Scarface.

And this week, stories of festive disorder are making the jolly man from the North Pole even more of an undesirable. Reuters have been reporting Santas wreaking havoc across the globe. Only last week a man in a Santa outfit, armed with a gun, held up a furniture design shop in the German town of Ludwigshafen. He forced open the safe, filled his sack and escaped. He is wanted for over €500,000 worth of robberies.

In Britain, police are looking for a Santa flasher who has been exposing himself to women all over the South coast of England.

The list goes on. However, all pale in comparison with what happened last Saturday in New Zealand, when 40 Santas, under the influence, went on a looting spree in the city of Auckland to protest at how commercial Christmas has become.

It could be argued that commercialism is the main channel for this Santa metamorphosis. One in London was sacked for spending too much time with each child. The Daily Mirror reported that actor Alan Seymour, 57, was given his marching orders for demanding he spent ten minutes with each child as they had brought letters and so needed to speak at length.

Nevertheless, the jolly Santa we know and love is probably here to stay. Few puritans could deny to any child the wondrous feeling that comes from believing in the good one. However, we must now also recognise the eminence of the murky other Santa, a new take on the old myth. I should know. I embodied it.