David Vance SubstackRead More
I bet we all know that Santa is an anagram of Satan but is Christmas itself devil worship? This muslim chap seems to think it is and issues a warning.
Has he a point? Short answer – no! Of course not.
The origins of Christmas are as a Christian festival marking the birth of Jesus Christ. Yes, it grew by absorbing earlier midwinter and Roman pagan celebrations around the same time of year. Over many centuries it has developed into both a religious feast and a wider cultural holiday with familiar customs like trees, gifts, and Santa Claus.
Santa Claus himself traces to Saint Nicholas, a 4th‑century bishop known for generosity to the poor and to children. His feast on 6th December involved gift‑giving. Again, over the centuries, European figures like Sinterklaas and Father Christmas blended with Saint Nicholas traditions in North America, producing the modern, red‑suited Santa associated with presents at Christmas. So he’s a blend!
The image that we all associate with Santa as a red-suited portly bearded man came from a man called Nast, a German-American cartoonist. He first illustrated Santa in a red suit with white fur trim starting in the 1860. His 1881 drawing “Merry Old Santa Claus” solidified the jolly, rotund figure in red attire supporting Union troops during the Civil War.
Coca-Cola’s Haddon Sundblom further popularised the image in the 1930s, but he did not invent the red suit—Nast had depicted it decades earlier.
As for the Christmas Tree itself, well that has middle ages origins in the emerging Protestant community. German Lutherans in the early 1500s set up evergreen fir trees indoors, decorated with apples, wafers, and later candles. They say Martin Luther came up with the idea of adding lights inspired by starry skies. By the 18th century, the custom spread across Protestant regions initially resisted by Catholics as a Lutheran practice.
German immigrants then brought trees to America in the 1700s, while Prince Albert popularizsd them here in the 1840s; artificial versions emerged in Germany by the 1880s to spare forests.
For Christians, the clue about Christmas is in the name! All the commercial crap surrounding it distracts from the core of it but I don’t see it as Satanic, crass perhaps
Islam tends to be hostile towards celebrations of any rivals to Mohammad and the birth of Jesus Christ seems to trigger them. However if we want to discuss devil worship, perhaps a 7th century warlord who urged death on non-believers would be a good starting point?
