Who is Kris Kringle?

[hfojvt]

Wiki has the story

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christkind

"Promulgated by Martin Luther, explicitly to discourage the figure of St. Nicholas, at the Reformation in 16th-17th century Europe, many Protestants changed the gift bringer to the Christ Child or Christkindl, and the date of giving gifts changed from December 6 to Christmas Eve.[1] A gift-bringer familiar to German children, the Christkind bears little resemblance to the infant of Bethlehem."

Way, way back in the 1500s, Martin Luther was worried that Santa Claus was overshadowing Jesus at Christmastime. Hence, he created the character of Christkindl (or Christ child) as an alternative to Santa Claus.

But Santa Claus swallowed up that alternative which later switched from Christkindl to Kris Kringle - just another name for Santa Claus, who continues to overshadow Jesus at Christmas.

Although all the pretending and explaining and stories that say there really is a Santa Claus, is maybe just another way of trying to suggest that there really is a God. A powerful figure with miraculous powers who loves us all, wants us to be good, watches over us, and gives us gifts.

Santa could be seen as an archetype.

[JDPriestly]

1. In Austria, the Christkind comes on Christmas Eve.

The children leave the house with one of the adults, and when the children come back, the tree is up and decorated. I don't know if they still use candles, but as recently as the early 1980s, the Christmas trees had real candles, not electric lights. Also, in addition to the candles, the trees had edibles -- cookies, for example, especially Lebkuchen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebkuchen

Some pictures of Lebkuchen.

http://isearch.avg.com/images?s=sideNav&cid={725D3AF0-7BD1-4F37-917D-B71C369841F0}&mid=3d391eb0612cc704f96c0ef2c096b8f2-41c8206584f19d7c018ecee13000e7ad1d2ae599&ds=AVG&lang=en&v=12.2.5.34&pr=fr&d=2012-09-30+10%3a23%3a27&sap=dsp&q=Lebkuchen

As you can see, down the page of the Google images search, some of the Lebkuchen look like Christmas decorations. There are even a few hearts with ribbon in them so that they are ready to be hung on the tree.

Austria is, for the most part, a Catholic country. So the Christkind is not just a Protestant tradition.

Some traditional Austrians fast part of the time before Christmas and many used to attend Christmas Eve mass. I don't know if so many still do.

[duffyduff]

2. Edmund Gwenn n/t