Looking For Santa in Riga

Santa isn't coming to town in Latvia - she lives there

Riga - With record warm spells making a white Christmas more uncertain than ever this year, the one thing Latvians are sure of is that Santa isn't coming to town - she lives there already.

Across the English-speaking world, the name 'Santa' conjures up images of a fat, jolly man in a red suit and white beard.

The full form of the name, Santa Claus, comes from the Dutch name 'Sinterklaas,' an abbreviation of 'Sint Nicolaas,' St Nicholas. The saint - a fourth-century bishop in what is now Turkey - was famous for giving gifts to the poor.

But in Latvia, the name 'Santa' is a common women's name. The traditional winter gift-giver is Ziemassvetku vecitis, the 'winter festival old man,' who wears blue robes.

'The name Santa is a phonetic variation derived from 'Alexandra' and 'Sandra.' It's relatively new - it seems to date from the 1970s,' Ojars Buss, an expert in personal names at the Latvian Language Institute in Riga, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

'The Vecitis dates back to the mid-19th century,' he added.

In Latvia, Christmas itself is a relatively recent tradition. Christianity only reached the country in 1200, brought by German crusaders, and pagan resistance lasted centuries.

Indeed, Christmas and Easter still compete with the feast of Midsummer for the title of 'most important festival.' Midsummer, like Christmas, is a two-day national holiday, and despite a thin veneer of Christianity, its symbolism remains profoundly pagan.

'The difference in the feasts still causes arguments. For example, my wife's family think Christmas is more important, but my family think Midsummer is more important,' Buss said.

As Christmas approaches, the one thing all Latvians are likely to agree on is that, given current fashions, Santa is more likely to come to town in a miniskirt than a red suit and beard.

Original article posted here.