December 6, 2022 6:45 pm
New Year’s wizard is not as simple as it seems.
Santa Claus and Santa Claus have a lot in common – they wear the same bright costumes and give gifts only to obedient children. But unlike the Russian wizard, who is gladly welcomed into any home, the American prefers to enter the dwelling secretly, using a fireplace for this.
It turned out that such a tradition directly connects Santa Claus and medieval witches. As early as 1400, the opinion that evil spirits enter the house through any solid object was widely discussed in Europe. The anxiety of the townspeople reached such a peak that the authors of the book “Hammer of the Witches” were forced to prescribe only windows and pipes as the ways for witches to enter the dwelling.
Since then, the fireplace has become a symbol of the connection between the real and supernatural worlds. Thus, when the legend of Santa Claus developed, the “journey” through the chimney was also included. And then the Europeans and Americans had a tradition to hang Christmas socks there so that the wizard would immediately put gifts on them.
