I don’t think anyone argues that the modern celebration of Christmas is an amalgamation of a dizzying and often confounding melange of myths stemming from a wide variety of cultural and religious traditions. In many ways the most anomalous prominent bit is this Santa Claus/jolly old St. Nick character.
The New York Times recently looked at the historical roots of a part of the mythology and the current situation of the backdrop of that part of the story, the town of Demre, in Turkey, a not especially jolly tale. Read it and weep.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/17/world/middleeast/turkeys-santa-claus-.html?_r=0.
PS – what’s up with the mudra?
