Christmas is my favorite season because aside from the story, festivity, feeling of togetherness, and the lovely cartoons they show, it is celebrated in the month I was born: December.
But the thing is, just as many of us also love Christmas, some people don’t like Christmas. Or more correctly some people who are afraid of Santa.
Someone afraid of Santa is known as Santaphobia or Clausophobia. You would think it is Santaphonic but it is just this way.
If I am reading your mind correctly, you want to know why anyone, just anyone in the world, would be afraid of our Christmas mascot who as the story goes, (and still goes if you are a kid) gives away to everyone who has been nice. Well, I got you.
Why are people afraid of Santa?
First, I will say that most children have Santaphobia but here are reasons that apply to both adults and children. Here are six reasons people are afraid of Santa:
We don’t really know this guy
For someone I don’t know, I won’t just go about talking to them and letting them carry me.
The goody bag might make them trust him but most will just ignore him.
Children are taught to stay away from strangers and at a tender age, they can tell who their family and friends are – who they are familiar with and who they are not.
I am sorry did I sound like a children’s therapist for a second. My point is, that most children will feel that I don’t know this guy and as such, I should not trust him and let him touch me and not give me anything.
Santa is judgemental
With Santa, there is no in-between, you are either good or bad. The fear of that judgment makes children afraid of him.
If the good kids are given toys then the bad ones are punished, and Santa knows what everyone is doing even if you have never seen him, it is very scary.
He is watching but you can’t see him and yet he knows that you are doing something wrong.
In simple terms, Santa has the power to punish kids and they don’t want to be punished no matter how naughty they have been.
And then it may sound off, but then children delight in gifts and since gifts are the rewards for good behavior, those bad children or the nervous ones will feel really bad about being judged and excluded from what they love.
At a young age, don’t you think they will be afraid of being judged as bad when sometimes they can’t help it?
Bad memories
Maybe your earliest memories of Santa were your parents using him to keep your behavior in check.
Like, Santa won’t give you anything because you lost your water bottle. It may also be you do not feel comfortable with Santa and others.
No matter how silly, you feel that at that point Santa had some power over you and that is how bad memories are formed and you slowly become afraid of Santa.
Also, you may just feel someone climbing all the chimneys of all the houses all over the world in one night is creepy.
Ever looked into that green and red stocking and not seen a gift? Bad memory number one. For some, they will feel Santa doesn’t love them, while others feel scared.
What do you call someone who is scared of Christmas?
People can be afraid of the entire holiday of Christmas and all the traditions in it. It is called Christougenniatikophobia.
Pretty long name, and confusing. Just like the phobia. Well Christougenniatikophobia is under Heortophobia (the fear of holidays), and it is a combination of other phobias so let’s look at them.
If you think about it, you might just hate Christmas because of some of the elements in it.
For example, I love Christmas but I am not big on snow. It is lovely and all but I get cold very fast and I am mostly trapped in my house the entire time.
My best friend doesn’t just like snow, she is afraid of it, making her have a phobia called chionophobia. She also doesn’t like the snow miser so that makes it snowmiserphobia, and chionophobia.
Others are:
Doronophobia is the fear of opening gifts. Not to be confused with Ghabhphobia, which is the fear of receiving gifts.
Simbosiophobia is the fear of Christmas parties whether at home, for charities, in neighborhoods, in schools, or in any place possible.
Prophobia is the fear of fires in hearths, (or maybe generally fireplaces).
While I would have the feeling of warmth and love, a person who has prophobia would be terrified and would probably leave.
Syngenesophobia: the fear of family during Christmas. If you avoided them all year, you can’t at Christmas or the big turkey dinner.
Meleagrisphobia, the fear of roasted Christmas turkeys. I don’t know what a cooked bird would do to you to make you scared of it but it is delicious.
Phagophobia: the fear of eating and swallowing. It may be the turkey you are worried about but people who have Phagophobia are worried about throwing up while eating or choking. This is a little understandable.
And that is all, don’t ruin Christmas for you. To think it was a jolly holiday.
What do you call Santa when he has gone bankrupt?
Honestly, I would never think of Santa as poor or not having money. You don’t call a guy who gives every child in the world a gift every year, poor.
The name you can call Santa when he has no money is Saint Nickelless.
If you know the history of Christmas, you should understand the joke. Christmas was said to be started by a saint named Nicholas.
Nickelless and Nicholas sound alike and it is not only accurate but hilarious. Still, give the guy a break.
Maybe if he didn’t spend all his money on gifts, he would have some left to avoid the name.
A child who does not believe in Santa Claus is called?
After a while of fear or not just having this “be nice, not naughty, Santa is coming” home training, kids don’t believe in Santa Claus.
Yes, they will eat turkey, open gifts, and write thank-you letters as you force them to do but they give too hoot about Santa.
We call those kids “rebels without a Claus”.
Why? Well, there is a 1995 movie called “Rebel without a cause”. The protagonist became a rev for well, no good reasons.
That is the “without a cause part”. For children, the cause is replaced with Claus because they don’t believe in Santa Claus.
Fun fact, the director of the movie is named Nicholas. The irony.
Why is Santa important for Christmas?
Have you ever thought about it? Why is he there, on Christmas? Because if you think about it, the original story of Christmas has no jolly old man giving out gifts.
Guess we will need a history class on why Santa Claus is so important.
The connection
Don’t worry it is short and precise. I will start with the connections between Jesus (then the baby Jesus) and Santa Claus.
Santa Claus is really Saint Nicholas, the bishop of a small church. He was a follower of Christ and tried to live as he did by giving and preaching the word.
He was known for his generosity and kindness to all that was poor and in need. When he died, his death was honored.
They even had an anniversary. It makes sense as Christ gave his life that this man gave what he had.
How the name came about
So how did he get called Santa Claus? Language! The Dutch called him Sint Nikolaas, which is the way you pronounce Saint Nicholas if you are dutch, I guess.
And then there was a nickname, Sinter Klaas which if you pronounce it in English is Santa Claus. The people kept giving in remembrance of him through Santa Claus.
The role model
That story narrated, Santa Claus is a legend for two, to remember the kind saint, Saint Nicholas, and Jesus Christ.
He is also used to teach children the importance of giving and not only receiving. That’s why we spend time with the people we love exchanging gifts during that season.
Aside from giving, he is a role model in terms of behavior. Since he is against naughty behavior, we should believe nicely every time, to everyone.
Just as Saint Nicholas did. And what more? The holly jolly big guy in red reminds me of joy and happiness in the yuletide season.
Ahh. We learned a lot today. Thank you for reading. I did enjoy researching and writing this article. I hope you enjoyed reading.
You can drop your questions below and I will be happy to answer. Do have a lovely day and to all a merry Christmas.
Related:
