America is well-known for its love of firearms. It is no surprise therefore that advertisers have used Santa Claus as bait to engender interest in buying weapons for Christmas. Here are some 20th-century examples:
Month: February 2024
The Three Kings Candle
In Norway, this sort of three-light candelabra is called a helligetrekongerslys: a Three Kings Candle. On January 6, Epiphany, it is lit and when the candles have burnt down to where the arms meet, the Christmas season has come to an end. The illustration is by the Swedish artist Jenny Nyström who was so influential in creating the image of Scandinavian Christmas elves.
King Hilary and the Beggarman
A poem for Christmas by A.A. Milne, author of Winnie the Pooh, illustrated by E.H. Shepherd.
KING HILARY AND THE BEGGERMAN
Of Hilary the Great and Good
They tell a tale at Christmas time;
I’ve often thought the story would
Be prettier but just as good
If almost anybody should
Translate it into rime.
So I have done the best I can
For lack of some more learned man.
Good King Hilary
Said to his Chancellor
(Proud Lord Willoughby,
Lord High Chancellor):
“Run to the wicket-gate
Quickly, quickly,
Run to the wicket gate
And see who is knocking.
It may be a rich man,
Sea-borne from Araby,
Bringing me peacocks,
Emeralds and ivory;
It may be a poor man,
Travel-worn and weary,
Bringing me oranges
To put in my stocking.”
Proud Lord Willoughby,
Lord High Chancellor,
Laughed both loud and free:
“I’ve served Your Majesty, man to man,
Since first Your Majesty’s reign began,
And I’ve often walked, but I never, never ran,
Never, never, never,” quoth he.
Haw! Haw! Haw!
Good King Hilary
Said to his Chancellor
(Proud Lord Willoughby,
Lord High Chancellor):
“Walk to the wicket-gate
Quickly, quickly,
Walk to the wicket-gate
And see who is knocking.
It may be a captain,
Hawk-nosed, bearded,
Bringing me gold-dust,
Spices, and sandalwood:
It may be a scullion,
Care-free, whistling,
Bringing me sugar-plums
To put in my stocking.”
Proud Lord Willoughby,
Lord High Chancellor,
Laughed both loud and free:
“I’ve served in the Palace since I was four,
And I’ll serve in the Palace a-many years more,
And I’ve opened a window, but never a door,
Never, never, never,” quoth he.
Good King Hilary
Said to his Chancellor
(Proud Lord Willoughby,
Lord High Chancellor):
“Open the window
Quickly, quickly,
Open the window
And see who is knocking.
It may be a waiting-maid,
Apple-cheeked, dimpled,
Sent by her mistress
To bring me greeting;
It may be children,
Anxious, whispering,
Bringing me cobnuts,
To put in my stocking.”
Proud Lord Willoughby,
Lord High Chancellor,
Laughed both loud and free:
“I’ll serve Your Majesty till I die—
As Lord Chancellor, not as spy
To peep from lattices; no, not I,
Never, never, never,” quoth he.
Good King Hilary
Looked at his Chancellor
(Proud Lord Willoughby,
Lord High Chancellor):
He said no word
To his stiff-set Chancellor,
But ran to the wicket-gate
To see who was knocking.
He found no rich man
Trading from Araby;
He found no captain,
Blue-eyed, weather-tanned;
He found no waiting-maid
Sent by her mistress;
But only a beggarman
With one red stocking.
Good King Hilary
Looked at the beggarman,
And laughed him three times three;
And he turned that beggarman round about:
“Your thews are strong, and your arm is stout;
Come, throw me a Lord High Chancellor out,
And take his place,” quoth he.
Of Hilary the Good and Great
Old wives at Christmas time relate
This tale, which points, at any rate,
Two morals on the way.
The first: “Whatever Fortune brings,
Don’t be afraid of doing things.“
(Especially, of course, for Kings.)
It also seems to say
(But not so wisely): “He who begs
With one red stocking on his legs
Will be, as sure as eggs are eggs,
A Chancellor some day.“
The Christmas Fire
From an 1826 English book, this admiring praise of a Christmas fire:
I remember we had a discussion that time, as to what was the great point and crowning glory of Christmas. Many were for mince-pie; some for the beef and plum-pudding; more for the wassail-bowl; a maiden lady timidly said, the misletoe; but we agreed at last, that although all these were prodigious, and some of them exclusively belonging to the season, the fire was the great indispensable. Upon which we all turned our faces towards it, and began warming our already scorched hands. A great blazing fire, too big, is the visible heart and soul of Christmas. You may do without beef and plum-pudding; even the absence of mince-pie may be tolerated; there must be a bowl, poetically speaking, but it need not be absolutely wassail. The bowl may give place to the bottle. But a huge, heaped-up, over heaped-up, all-attracting fire, with a semicircle of faces about it, is not to be denied us. It is the lar and genius of the meeting; the proof positive of the season; the representative of all our warm emotions and bright thoughts; the glorious eye of the room; the inciter to mirth, yet the retainer of order; the amalgamater of the age and sex; the universal relish. Tastes may differ even on a mince-pie; but who gainsays a fire? The absence of other luxuries still leaves you in possession of that; but
‘Who can hold a fire in his hand
With thinking on the frostiest twelfth-cake?’
Let me have a dinner of some sort, no matter what, and then give me my fire, and my friends, the humblest glass of wine, and a few penn’orths of chesnuts, and I will still make out my Christmas.
New Year’s Gifts
Since we must always consider Christmas as a season, and not just December 25, we can understand how a gift given on St Nicholas Day, or St Catherine’s Day, or St Lucy’s Day, New Year’s Eve, or New Year’s Day is a Christmas present.
Thus the title of the first book to feature a picture of Santa Claus: “The Children’s Friend: A New-Year’s Present to the Little Ones from Five to Twelve.” In this publication Santa Claus arrives on Christmas Eve to deliver gifts.
In the sixteenth century, the English humanist Roger Ascham spoke about writing a book that might prove to be “a new-year’s gift that Christmas.” That book turned out to be The Scholemaster, showing a plain and perfect way of teaching the learned languages. In it Ascham criticizes the use of corporal punishment as an aid to educating children. “Beat a child if he dance not well,” he said, “and cherish him though he learn not well, ye shall have him unwilling to go to dance, and glad to go to his book.”
Some Christmas Propaganda
During World War I the British navy imposed a blockade on the German Empire, cutting it off from needed resources and foodstuffs. This cartoon imagines that all Germans have left to enjoy for their Christmas meal is art depicting the food they are deprived of.
Christmas “pantos” are dramatic presentations during the holiday season much enjoyed by British families for over a century. The characters are stereotyped and familiar to the audiences. One of the favourite themes is Jack and the Beanstalk. Here the cartoonist in the midst of World War II portrays Soviet leader Stalin as Joe the Giant Killer with a Nazi soldier tumbling to his doom.
