Ban Santa - in Germany and Austria

Germans and Austrians are uniting against a kindly old man who brings joy to children all over the world. Their call: Ban Santa.




Campaigners in both countries claim Father Christmas is an invention of the Coca-Cola company in the United States and should be ditched.



In Austria, "Pro Christkind" - it means "For Christ Child" - want images of the baby Jesus and St Nicholas to replace the white-haired, portly old man dressed in red and white, who they see as symbolic of the commercialisation of Christmas. Their campaign, with a logo featuring a picture of Santa with a red line through him, begins on 2 December, the day before the first Sunday in Advent, at an event where traditional Christmas wreaths are made.



Thousands of "Santa Free Zones" stickers have been printed and pamphlets have been handed out reminding people that the traditional bringer of presents is St Nicholas. There are even kits on sale with stickers to turn chocolate Santas into St Nicholas.



Internet campaign is urging people in Switzerland, Germany and Austria to sign up to promote activities that support a traditional Christmas and not the Santa-led celebrations that have appeared in recent years.

In some places, such as the east Austrian town of St Wolfgang, Santa has even been banned from the local Christmas market and shopkeepers have been restricted to offering traditional Austrian products and gifts as well as typical local culinary delights.



Bettina Schade, of the Frankfurter Nicholas Initiative, said: "We object to the material things, the hectic rush to buy gifts and the ubiquity of the bearded man in the red suit taking away from the core meaning of Christmas.

"The Christian origins of Christmas, like the birth of Jesus, have receded into the background. It's becoming more and more a festival that is reduced to simply worldly gifts and commerce."



Swedish-American artist, Haddon Sundblom, created the jolly Santa character for Coke and it was used in advertising campaigns in the 1930s and 40s. He was based on a previous figure produced for Harper's Weekly in the 19th century by Thomas Nast, a German immigrant to the US.

Haddon Sundblom

Character is thought to have been based on several figures, including St Nicholas, a 4th-century bishop who had a reputation for generosity - Santa Claus is a corruption of the Dutch "Sinterklaas", meaning St Nicholas - the Russian character Ded Moroz, meaning Grandfather Frost, who gives presents to children, and the pagan Green Man.

Early depictions of Father Christmas in Britain often showed him wreathed in ivy and dressed in green. Before Coca-Cola made red his signature colour, the Victorians would dress him in a range of colours including red, blue and purple.