"Bettina Schade, of the Frankfurter Nicholas Initiative, said: "We object to the material things, the hectic rush to buy gifts and the ubiquity of the bearded man in the red suit taking away from the core meaning of Christmas."

Not averse to using other images (St Nicholas; baby Jesus), I'll bet, to sell stuff in what is essentially a pagan winter festival hijacked by Christianity.

I wonder if pagans will go around banning Nativity scenes, and St Nicholas. Probably not - they tend to be a bit more 'live and let live'...

No we know Santa has nothing to do with the christian version of christmas, and it has become far to overcommercialised, but correct me if I'm wrong here
wasn't it Queen Victorias Husband Albert who brought
the Ide of Santa Claus over from Germany.
Let's face it we are in a post christian era now, hopefully but not likely a post religious era soon, let the kids have some fun, while they can.

Wasnt Santa Claus really someone called Kris Kringle?

I think it's good that they are making a stand against commercialism, and getting 'back to the basics' so to speak...

I agree w/the efforts to stop the commercialism of Christmas...wish we could ban Santa.

Just ban everything to make you happy or just worship yourself.

I agree with the comments of "maestra" re pagans. And what was that about Santa Claus being modeled on the Green Man?
The Musiknave

Actually, Santa Claus was a creation of Clement C. Moore, author of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. Moore based Santa on the drawings of Thomas Nast and of St. Nicholas.

Coca-Cola started drawing him as we know him today, but Coke was NOT the creator of Santa.

Maestra is right; most of us Pagans could care less about whether people display Santa, or Nativities or that sort of thing. The original Yuletide celebration, the Winter Solstice celebration, was a Pagan festival, meaning the whole thing was originally non-Christian, in fact it was Pre-Christian. Everything else, from the Nativity, to Father Christmas, to Santa Clause came after. But none of that really matters to most Pagans, nor should it matter to Non-Pagans. If WE don’t complain about having our Festival hijacked, why should someone complain about displaying more images of Santa Clause than of Jesus? The REAL spirit of the holidays should be about bringing people together, not driving them apart, regardless of what religion you choose to follow.

If christmas brings families together for one day of the year, let's us all give gifts to each other and watch crappy tv shows whilst getting pished on the couch..who cares who santa is?

To get us all on the same page: Santa Claus is the current manifestation of the Keltic "Holly King" and is materialistic but in a very good way. After Samhaim, the Holly King (usually a village Elder), would visit the local homes to assess the harvest. Then the village council would draw from the most bountiful to provide for the least fortunate. Everyone would contribute and everyone would receive "at least a pin". As his final act of the year, the Holly King would then visit each and every home distributing his presents. That's how our ancestors got through the Winter. This custom is still practiced in parts of the Keltic world. e.g. In parts of France, village Mayors visit local homes distributing Yuletide gifts (see Rick Steves' special, "Christmas in Europe"). You may also want to view any of several film versions of Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" to see the Holly King/Santa portrayed as the "Spirit of Christmas Present". Coca-Cola's contribution was, essentially, to change the Holly King's robe from Green to Red. See Erik's post (#7) for further details.

I was told that St. Nicholas was an Austrian Bishop (well, clergy of some sort) who literally walked around people's houses (or dwellings?) carrying coal (for fuel) and what food he could collect, in a sack slung across his shoulder, to the desperately poor. His name day, i.e. the day on which his memory is celebrated, is December 6. I've had to put up with a neighbor coming by the house - yes, bedecked in red coat and white cotton beard (but with a very heavy accent, and sounding suspiciously just like - well, that neighbor)?, listing all my misdeeds and perhaps a few good points I had even then, and leaving chocolates and fruit - but also a passle of switches for my parents to use p.r.n. - which they did, all year long!

Ahhh! The refreshing taste of liberal socialism!