Santa in Ozland
Created | Updated Dec 18, 2002
In my country, Australia, Santa is seen somewhat as the village idiot. As temperatures reach the high thirties' (celsius), the silly man in the red woollen suit can be seen on city pavements in full arctic regalia. He is usually sweating profusely, and every few hours he will consume another can of beer. By the end of the festival, Santa is drunk, dehydrated, and very difficult to communicate with.
The sleigh and reindeer are usually replaced by the town's fire engine. The two main reasons for this are the fact that the chassis of the firetruck is the same shade of red as Santa's breeches, and also the fact that Christmas falls into Mother Nature's annual cycle of Bushfires. Another facet to the absence of reindeer is the high price per kilo of venison. They wouldn't make it 30km without being culled, spit roasted and served with spring onions and potatoes!
It's not that Santa isn't appreciated; folklore tells of creations to replace the cultural icon...St Mick the ***** with the 10 foot...well, it wasn't too successful; and a Santa wearing singlet and shorts just isn't mistifying enough.
If any of you researchers have any comments on how to further develop our yule tide culture, please feel free to reply!
