Father Christmas: Exactly who is he?

The lack of main stream news stories today prompted a debate exploring the identity of Father Christmas - and very interesting it was too.

The number of claims on him are almost endless with the Germans, the Russians, the Scandinavians and the Coca Cola company all jockeying for position. It's a good point though because the Father Christmas as we now know him has not always been around. An aggrieved member of the public in the USA has reportedly complained at the depiction of Father Christmas being white skinned. Being black, she had always considered him to be black. That sounds entirely reasonable to me. I think the point here is that Father Christmas is one of those conceptual figures such as God which we all visualise in our own way.

Whether or not we think of him as black, white, big or small doesn't matter. He is merely symbolic of a figure who ushers in the Christmas celebrations. I suspect his historical origin was probably far more religious than the commercial version to which we have become more accustomed of late. One though though. Since there are thousands of different people dressed up as Father Christmas at this time of year, perhaps we need to think of him as being of an appearance more consistent with the times we live in. On this basis, I would guess that yellow would be a reasonable colour because that is the colour of alcohol induced jaundice. That said, yellow wouldn't be as pleasing to the eye with the colour red as white is - or indeed black for that matter.

One aspect of the Father Christmas which most of us think of is his size. Being decidedly rotund, he certainly fits in to the modern society. He is also thought to be very jovial. I would attribute that to the alcohol and as Raymond Briggs suggested in his book, he might be a bit grumpy in the mornings. Our children are reminded daily at this time of year that he won't come with gifts if they are naughty. Given that the residents of the UK are about to spend an estimated £40 billion this December, we must surely boast the most perfect children anywhere in the world so that does give cause for optimism.

Just last week, a man dressed as Father Christmas crashed his car in to a hedge in Dundee and fled the scene. Police are continuing their search for the elusive Father Christmas. Since he was dressed like him, is it reasonable to assume it really was him? If so, why did he flee the scene? It's surely too early for him to be delivering presents just yet. Why was he driving a car when he has so many capable rein deer? Might he have been over the limit for alcohol? That is normally why people flee their vehicles following a car crash with no witnesses!

Either way, I hope he comes to see you - provided you've been good of course...