Dec. 24, 2025

Before Santa: The Deities & Creatures of Christmas

Christmas didn’t always belong to Santa Claus. Long before stockings and sleigh bells, the darkest days of winter were ruled by ancient gods, roaming spirits, and creatures meant to reward—or punish—the living. Yule was a season of survival, magic,...

Apple Podcasts podcast player badge
Spotify podcast player badge
RSS Feed podcast player badge
Amazon Music podcast player badge
Castbox podcast player badge
Deezer podcast player badge
Podcast Addict podcast player badge
Podchaser podcast player badge
JioSaavn podcast player badge
Spreaker podcast player badge
Apple Podcasts podcast player iconSpotify podcast player iconRSS Feed podcast player iconAmazon Music podcast player iconCastbox podcast player iconDeezer podcast player iconPodcast Addict podcast player iconPodchaser podcast player iconJioSaavn podcast player iconSpreaker podcast player icon

Christmas didn’t always belong to Santa Claus.

Long before stockings and sleigh bells, the darkest days of winter were ruled by ancient gods, roaming spirits, and creatures meant to reward—or punish—the living. Yule was a season of survival, magic, and fear… and many of those old beliefs still echo in modern Christmas traditions.

In this special Christmas episode of ParaTruth: Reborn, Justin & Erik explore the forgotten side of the holiday season—diving into Yule deities, pagan gods, and legendary creatures tied to Christmas across cultures. From benevolent gift-givers to terrifying watchers in the night, this is the side of Christmas most people never hear about.

Because before Christmas was cheerful… it was powerful.


Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/paratruth-reborn--6273542/support.

Thanks for listening!

WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.600 --> 00:00:05.160
Before Santa watched children something else did long before Christmas.

2
00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:09.560
Trees and stockings, winter belonged to gods who judged, spirits

3
00:00:09.599 --> 00:00:14.000
who wandered, and creatures that punish the wicked. Tonight we

4
00:00:14.119 --> 00:00:18.280
stripped Christmas down to his ancient roots, when Yu'll ruled

5
00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:22.480
the darkest nights and fear was part of the celebration.

6
00:00:23.440 --> 00:00:31.960
This is Christmas before Santa.

7
00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:42.000
Welcome to Paratruth Reborn, the Christmas edition.

8
00:00:55.439 --> 00:01:01.039
God, I love that intro. Welcome everybody to another episode

9
00:01:01.079 --> 00:01:02.840
of Paratruth Reborn.

10
00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:06.840
My name is Justin and I'm Eric. Tonight, we want

11
00:01:06.879 --> 00:01:09.200
to give a special shout out, of course, to our

12
00:01:09.239 --> 00:01:12.959
friend a cat Ward and her incredible show Paranormal Heart.

13
00:01:13.439 --> 00:01:16.239
You can join her every Tuesday evening at six pm

14
00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:19.239
Eastern Standard Time as she delves into the world of

15
00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:23.599
the paranormal with guests from around at the world. Earlier tonight,

16
00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:27.439
we joined her for her annual Christmas episode titled Haunted

17
00:01:27.519 --> 00:01:30.200
Christmas Gifts and Creepy Traditions from around the World with

18
00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:33.959
yours truly, So if you list it, make sure you

19
00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:37.439
check out the archive here, on EPRN and everywhere you

20
00:01:37.480 --> 00:01:40.480
find your favorite podcasts. We'll also have a link to

21
00:01:40.680 --> 00:01:43.040
that specific episode in the comment section below.

22
00:01:45.079 --> 00:01:49.400
All Right, folks, tonight we are talking Yule gods, and

23
00:01:49.640 --> 00:01:51.840
of course getting into some of the stuff we've gotten

24
00:01:51.879 --> 00:01:56.079
to in the past, like crampis perked, the Yule cat,

25
00:01:56.239 --> 00:02:01.280
all those great creatures. We talked about this a couple

26
00:02:01.359 --> 00:02:04.760
of weeks ago about talked about Yule and what it was,

27
00:02:05.840 --> 00:02:10.719
the traditions there. Now Yule will kind of do a

28
00:02:10.719 --> 00:02:16.039
brief over here. The ancient German Germanic Norse winter Solstice

29
00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:20.520
festival celebrating the sun's rebirth and Christmas, the Christian holiday

30
00:02:20.599 --> 00:02:26.520
for Jesus' birth, overlapped significantly as Christianity absorbed Yuele traditions

31
00:02:26.680 --> 00:02:31.080
to ease conversion, resulting ensured customs like the Yule log,

32
00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:34.159
which is now kind of a cake or more of

33
00:02:34.199 --> 00:02:38.360
a decoration than actually burning it, you know. Evergreen decorations

34
00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:45.360
like the Christmas tree and the wreaths, even holly and mistletoe,

35
00:02:45.360 --> 00:02:50.039
I believe cave for Mule feasting, gift giving, and festive

36
00:02:50.199 --> 00:02:56.240
lights all reinterpreted with Christian symbolism of light and new life.

37
00:02:56.360 --> 00:03:01.120
Around the December twenty fifth date, Christian mission placed Christmas

38
00:03:02.199 --> 00:03:05.960
on December twenty fifth, although that of course has been

39
00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:09.159
speculated that that wasn't even close to Jesus' birthday, but

40
00:03:09.199 --> 00:03:12.800
they repurposed it to the twenty fifth to coincide with

41
00:03:12.840 --> 00:03:17.719
Fuele and making conversation or I'm sorry conversion easier to

42
00:03:17.759 --> 00:03:25.879
blending festivals. Now the different symbols that were reinterpreted into Christmas.

43
00:03:25.919 --> 00:03:29.719
Like I mentioned earlier, the Yule log became the Christmas

44
00:03:29.800 --> 00:03:34.639
cake or the Christmas log, first representing Christ the light

45
00:03:34.759 --> 00:03:40.400
of the world. Evergreens, trees and wreaths symbolizes eternal life

46
00:03:40.599 --> 00:03:47.319
in Christ. Feasting gives I'm sorry feasting or gifts continued

47
00:03:48.080 --> 00:03:53.840
now tied to the biblical stories and charity. The Yule goat,

48
00:03:54.240 --> 00:03:57.840
which I don't know that we ever went over. They

49
00:03:57.840 --> 00:04:03.280
were made out of straw. Figures became a companion counterpart

50
00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:09.280
to Santa Maybe where the Reindeers came from, and Odin

51
00:04:09.400 --> 00:04:13.960
evolved into figures like Father Christmas and Santa Claus. Today's

52
00:04:14.039 --> 00:04:19.000
Christmas incorporates many of these Yule elements, allowing for a

53
00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:23.199
blend of Pagan and Christian traditions, from the festive tree

54
00:04:23.240 --> 00:04:26.720
to the Yule log cake, marking a deep historical continuity.

55
00:04:27.319 --> 00:04:33.079
In winter celebrations Winter Solstice as a time of fear,

56
00:04:33.319 --> 00:04:34.519
death and rebirth.

57
00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:39.439
But the winter soice is you know, obviously we've talked

58
00:04:39.439 --> 00:04:41.920
about this a couple of times over this past month,

59
00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:46.279
and the winter solstice is something that is very similarly.

60
00:04:45.920 --> 00:04:49.240
Tied to the autumn soe. Right.

61
00:04:49.560 --> 00:04:54.000
So back in Halloween we celebrate the same thayous idi

62
00:04:54.040 --> 00:04:56.480
of fair death of birth is when the sosif begins.

63
00:04:57.000 --> 00:04:58.360
But the winter so justice.

64
00:04:59.800 --> 00:05:04.360
He is a bit different because we're talking about a

65
00:05:04.399 --> 00:05:05.240
frozen time.

66
00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:08.319
You know, at least it's represented as the frozen time.

67
00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:12.879
It's when everything ice is over, everything dies, Everything that

68
00:05:12.920 --> 00:05:15.959
you consider beauty, right is now kind of luckily shedding

69
00:05:15.959 --> 00:05:17.800
its leaves and flowers and whatnot.

70
00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:21.120
Right. So, one thing I do want to mention though,

71
00:05:21.160 --> 00:05:23.959
before we go on here or before I continue on here,

72
00:05:27.199 --> 00:05:33.399
regarding Jesus' birthday on December twenty fifth, or right, it isn't.

73
00:05:33.720 --> 00:05:36.480
There is a lot of speculation that Jesus wasn't actually

74
00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:41.600
born around December, right. Instead, it's more likely that he

75
00:05:41.680 --> 00:05:45.839
is born around springtime. We're talking somewhere between March and May,

76
00:05:47.160 --> 00:05:50.240
often falling somewhere within April. Which as you know, is

77
00:05:50.319 --> 00:05:52.879
usually willing to celebrate Easter, and because of that we

78
00:05:52.920 --> 00:05:57.279
couldn't really Christianity couldn't really I actually has a Christianity

79
00:05:57.240 --> 00:06:00.240
about Christians didn't really want to coincide it to very

80
00:06:00.240 --> 00:06:03.439
important aspects of Christ in the same month is birth

81
00:06:03.519 --> 00:06:07.759
but also his death. So taking the opportunity to shift

82
00:06:07.800 --> 00:06:12.120
it back to December right around Mule time to help

83
00:06:12.279 --> 00:06:15.800
bridge the gap between the Christian faith and the faiths

84
00:06:15.800 --> 00:06:20.720
of all primarily Norse brief system, they were able to

85
00:06:20.839 --> 00:06:24.519
kind of connect with those people and help share the

86
00:06:24.720 --> 00:06:27.959
story of Christ through elements that they had already known

87
00:06:28.120 --> 00:06:31.279
and cherished, and were able to hance create what we

88
00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:36.959
know today as modern Christmas, which celebates Christ. But yeah,

89
00:06:37.000 --> 00:06:40.160
so there is a little gap between when Jesus's actual

90
00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:45.839
birth there was versus when where it currently is held

91
00:06:45.959 --> 00:06:53.399
as a as a holiday. Now regarding the Mule or

92
00:06:53.439 --> 00:06:57.439
the winter Solstice, the winter solstice is really the longest

93
00:06:57.759 --> 00:07:02.639
night of the year. Is symbolize fear, death and rebirth

94
00:07:03.120 --> 00:07:07.800
as the sun dies before its rebirth, representing a natural

95
00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:14.279
cycle of ending and new beginnings. Now a time for

96
00:07:14.439 --> 00:07:19.839
letting go of the old bitch is in this case fear, habits,

97
00:07:19.959 --> 00:07:23.639
or even grief, and to make way for growth, renewal

98
00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:28.199
and planting seeds for the future. It's seen across cultures

99
00:07:28.199 --> 00:07:33.439
in rituals like the yulogue or happy Soil ceremonies, reflecting

100
00:07:33.480 --> 00:07:37.439
a universal theme of transformation from darkness to light.

101
00:07:38.920 --> 00:07:41.120
Now, one thing that is really.

102
00:07:42.360 --> 00:07:45.560
Intriguing. This is why we consider this an important day

103
00:07:45.639 --> 00:07:48.439
in terms of a solism, because the socius being the

104
00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:51.199
longest night of the year, the very next day, the

105
00:07:51.279 --> 00:07:54.279
very next night actually ends up being shorter than the

106
00:07:54.360 --> 00:07:57.480
night prior, and so is the case every night going

107
00:07:57.480 --> 00:08:00.240
forward until the summer solstice. Right, so now we're geting

108
00:08:00.319 --> 00:08:04.600
more time, more light every single day until the summer solstice,

109
00:08:04.600 --> 00:08:07.959
which happens obviously in the summer. And so that's the

110
00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:14.279
idea of light being rebirthed, or the sun being rebirthed. Now,

111
00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:18.600
in terms of fear and darkness or the death phase, well,

112
00:08:18.600 --> 00:08:21.920
we'll little deeper into this. The sun's fading in particular,

113
00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:28.560
it's this deep darkness of the solstice which evokes prime fears,

114
00:08:28.600 --> 00:08:34.159
often mirroring narrowing ancient anxieties about the world ending or

115
00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:39.000
light disappearing forever, as once seen in Adam's Fear of

116
00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:42.279
the first sunset. Now what is Adam's fear of the

117
00:08:42.279 --> 00:08:45.639
first sunset? Well, the story of Adam's Fear states that

118
00:08:45.799 --> 00:08:49.559
upon the first setting of the sun, Adam thought the

119
00:08:49.559 --> 00:08:52.240
world was ending due to his sin of eating the

120
00:08:52.240 --> 00:08:55.039
fruit of tree of good and evil, which brought him

121
00:08:55.039 --> 00:08:58.240
anxiety and fear, and therefore led him into a knight,

122
00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:01.840
a fasting in prayer, upon which, as the sun rose

123
00:09:01.840 --> 00:09:05.159
the following day, Adam believed it was due to his repentance.

124
00:09:05.679 --> 00:09:09.960
But the story itself, however, isn't biblical, but instead is

125
00:09:10.039 --> 00:09:13.840
actually an idea formed through extra biblical traditions, in this

126
00:09:13.919 --> 00:09:17.879
case a rich theme from Jewish midrash, which is basically

127
00:09:17.919 --> 00:09:20.519
an interpretive story, and we see this a lot in

128
00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:25.759
many accounts throughout scriptures too, but in primarily we're talking

129
00:09:25.759 --> 00:09:29.000
about the Apocrapha. So these are stories that exist outside

130
00:09:29.039 --> 00:09:32.960
of the Bible itself and are deemed as being incredible,

131
00:09:33.480 --> 00:09:38.799
as being literal pieces of the Lord's word, and that

132
00:09:38.879 --> 00:09:41.679
there's all kinds of different nuances as to why those

133
00:09:41.679 --> 00:09:44.200
were children as apokrapha and not included in the Book

134
00:09:44.440 --> 00:09:46.159
of the Bible, which at one point some of these

135
00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:50.600
apocrapha were. The Catholic Bible in particular still hold some

136
00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:54.360
of these apocrypha, or most of them within the book itself,

137
00:09:54.679 --> 00:10:00.559
but they're still separated from the initial sixty sixth books. Now,

138
00:10:00.759 --> 00:10:04.519
another thing that we consider here is the mythological fears.

139
00:10:05.320 --> 00:10:09.759
Some traditions associate the solstice with chaos, like the sea

140
00:10:09.879 --> 00:10:12.960
monster Leviathan, which I'm sure many of you know of,

141
00:10:13.759 --> 00:10:18.039
or even spectral figures like Odin's Wild Hunt representing the

142
00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:22.080
forces of winter and the unknown. And then there's this

143
00:10:22.120 --> 00:10:25.360
idea of internal darkness. But afore pre speaking, of course,

144
00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:29.960
this is the time to face personal shadows, grief, doubts,

145
00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:34.919
and fears, acknowledging them as a necessary part of the cycle.

146
00:10:35.279 --> 00:10:39.279
And this is something that we start to see in mentalism, right,

147
00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:41.960
so we started to see this in psychology, of this

148
00:10:42.039 --> 00:10:46.039
idea of shadow work. Who look within ourselves and try

149
00:10:46.039 --> 00:10:57.919
to correlate our mistroubles are troubles with the seasons itself.

150
00:10:58.480 --> 00:11:00.879
So as we go through the water is we take

151
00:11:00.919 --> 00:11:03.200
the time to reflect on the things that are negative

152
00:11:03.320 --> 00:11:06.360
or dark about ourselves. And then as the light increases

153
00:11:06.480 --> 00:11:11.399
every day, we spend those days learning to rebirth from

154
00:11:11.639 --> 00:11:15.240
those difficulties or those troubles, thee the doubt that is,

155
00:11:15.279 --> 00:11:20.840
et cetera, and becomes stronger. Now on the flip side,

156
00:11:21.320 --> 00:11:24.919
there is rebirth and renewal, and this is where the

157
00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:27.759
return of light exists. And this is everything happens after

158
00:11:27.799 --> 00:11:32.159
the solstice. Now the sun's we turn. In particular is

159
00:11:32.200 --> 00:11:36.519
the saustice marks the turning point when the sun begins

160
00:11:36.559 --> 00:11:40.120
its return, symbolizing hope and the promise that light will

161
00:11:40.159 --> 00:11:42.879
always conquer darkness. Right, so we've seen for a law

162
00:11:42.960 --> 00:11:46.360
here that darkness was kind of kind of holding the sun,

163
00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:48.320
the light down. It was it was winding for a

164
00:11:48.360 --> 00:11:50.879
law there. But here we're seeing the sun come back

165
00:11:50.919 --> 00:11:54.679
and start to conquer conquer the dark. And typically the

166
00:11:54.759 --> 00:11:58.200
light stands against the dark much longer than the dark

167
00:11:58.440 --> 00:12:01.120
stands over the light. So when we talk about the

168
00:12:01.159 --> 00:12:03.240
seasons are parent where you live within the world, I

169
00:12:03.279 --> 00:12:06.159
suppose that's probably a little different if you're further north

170
00:12:06.240 --> 00:12:11.080
or south. And then there's a cycle of transformation, and

171
00:12:11.120 --> 00:12:15.200
it's a powerful reminder that endings like the death of

172
00:12:15.240 --> 00:12:18.879
the older year creates space for new life, such as

173
00:12:19.000 --> 00:12:22.679
rebirth of the new year. Much like seeds dormant in winter,

174
00:12:24.440 --> 00:12:26.159
and this is where we get the idea of New

175
00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:31.720
Year's resolutions, that idea to birth something new of ourselves.

176
00:12:33.159 --> 00:12:37.360
And then we have rituals of renewal and cultures. There

177
00:12:37.399 --> 00:12:40.159
are a number of cultures that perform ceremonies like lighting

178
00:12:40.240 --> 00:12:43.840
fires or singing or even feasting to welcome the new

179
00:12:43.879 --> 00:12:48.360
turning light and plant intensions for the coming year, focusing

180
00:12:48.399 --> 00:12:52.399
on spiritual rebirth and a new authentic name. So this

181
00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:58.639
is something that we strive to renew and then keep

182
00:12:58.679 --> 00:13:00.399
that right. We want to keep that in all authentic

183
00:13:00.440 --> 00:13:02.919
life with us, not just you know, wear it for

184
00:13:03.240 --> 00:13:05.039
a couple of weeks or a year or whatever and

185
00:13:05.080 --> 00:13:08.440
throw it away. No, we want to use this opportunity

186
00:13:08.600 --> 00:13:10.759
to build something with you and hold on to it.

187
00:13:10.759 --> 00:13:14.679
It's supposed to be a change for the better. Now,

188
00:13:14.720 --> 00:13:18.320
when it comes to connecting fear, death and rebirth is

189
00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:22.720
very simple and yet intricate. The first thing you want

190
00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:26.159
to do is embrace the whole. The Socice teaches us

191
00:13:26.200 --> 00:13:30.799
that darkness and light, death and rebirth are inseparable parts

192
00:13:30.799 --> 00:13:35.399
of a single sacred whole. We're talking about a balance, right,

193
00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:39.519
We're talking about the yin and the yang. On top

194
00:13:39.559 --> 00:13:42.799
of that, we honor sacrifice because this is a time

195
00:13:42.840 --> 00:13:46.559
in which we release burdens, old cells and things that

196
00:13:46.600 --> 00:13:51.200
no longer serve us, hence death and sacrifice to be

197
00:13:51.279 --> 00:13:55.799
reborn into a more authentic life. And then, of course

198
00:13:55.799 --> 00:14:01.080
there's nature's mirror, the natural world cycle of doormance and resurgence,

199
00:14:01.399 --> 00:14:06.399
which provides a blueprint for personal and spiritual renewal because

200
00:14:06.399 --> 00:14:12.120
we can literally see everything around us dying and reburthen

201
00:14:12.919 --> 00:14:14.080
season after season.

202
00:14:16.639 --> 00:14:19.399
Now, I mean I asked myself this. I'm sure you

203
00:14:19.399 --> 00:14:21.639
guys are probably asking, you know, why did darkness matter

204
00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:26.320
more than light back then? Because we do still cherish

205
00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:30.679
the light now, But back then there was a reason

206
00:14:30.759 --> 00:14:36.080
for these traditions. Darkness mattered more at the winter solstice

207
00:14:36.080 --> 00:14:40.039
because it represented the year's deep rest, a necessary period

208
00:14:40.120 --> 00:14:49.080
of reflection, revitalation, and nurturing new beginnings, making the eventual

209
00:14:49.120 --> 00:14:53.039
return of light a powerful symbol of rebirth, hope, and

210
00:14:53.159 --> 00:14:59.200
life's cyclical victory over dormancy, with ancient cultures seeing it

211
00:14:59.279 --> 00:15:04.240
as a second I'm for inner work, acknowledging for independence

212
00:15:04.279 --> 00:15:09.679
of light and shadow, and it does make sense why

213
00:15:09.759 --> 00:15:18.840
that Christ became the light during this time because we

214
00:15:18.840 --> 00:15:24.080
were already selling celebrating this type of thing going on

215
00:15:24.799 --> 00:15:25.799
in other cultures.

216
00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:36.679
Right, hope, I have a bunch of buttons and now,

217
00:15:36.759 --> 00:15:43.759
but you get messed up. I'm sorry. I just wanted

218
00:15:43.759 --> 00:15:47.639
to give a quick shout to the common historian. Thank

219
00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:54.360
you for being here and watching today. All right, please continue.

220
00:15:54.519 --> 00:15:56.600
Yeah, So now we're going to talk a little bit

221
00:15:56.600 --> 00:15:59.799
about the mule and winter deities. And this is something

222
00:15:59.879 --> 00:16:03.080
that we were back and forth about discussing this month,

223
00:16:03.399 --> 00:16:06.000
but we actually put it to a poll and had

224
00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:08.480
quite a few of you respond wanted to hear more

225
00:16:08.480 --> 00:16:11.399
about the winter deities this time around, so we figured

226
00:16:11.399 --> 00:16:15.399
one out for the Christmas episode. Right, So let's begin

227
00:16:15.480 --> 00:16:18.759
first and foremost with probably the most famous figure in

228
00:16:18.840 --> 00:16:24.039
Norse mythology. His name is, of course, odin the Norse Allfather.

229
00:16:26.120 --> 00:16:32.200
He basically heavily influenced Santa Clause, particularly through his midwinter

230
00:16:32.799 --> 00:16:38.480
role leading the chaotic wild hunt, observing mankind via his

231
00:16:38.799 --> 00:16:43.360
ravens much like Santa's elves or spies do, and even

232
00:16:43.440 --> 00:16:49.360
riding a horse known as Sleipner, who while also rewarding

233
00:16:49.360 --> 00:16:52.600
and punishing people with treats and abductions and being called

234
00:16:52.759 --> 00:16:56.039
the Yule Father. Now these ancient myths merged with Saint

235
00:16:56.120 --> 00:17:01.799
Nicholas traditions, softening Odin's fearsome hunt into Santa claus cheerful

236
00:17:01.879 --> 00:17:06.119
gift giving, creating the modern year known for winter journeys,

237
00:17:06.839 --> 00:17:10.400
a beard, and watching children. Now, for those of you

238
00:17:10.440 --> 00:17:17.559
who don't know, Saint Nicholas obviously isn't just a figurative

239
00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:22.519
word hearing his fictional character in the sense of Santa Claus,

240
00:17:22.559 --> 00:17:26.119
he is. But Saint Nicholas is actually or was actually

241
00:17:26.119 --> 00:17:32.799
a Christian, a bishop who often gifted children with a

242
00:17:32.839 --> 00:17:36.880
bunch of little gifts. So Christianity ended up bringing him

243
00:17:36.920 --> 00:17:42.160
into the mix to kind of trade off Odin. Now

244
00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:46.920
there's also frig which is the powerful Norse queen of

245
00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:50.519
the gods, wife of Odin, representing the heart of the

246
00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:57.519
home family and the motherhood, overseeing marriage, childbirth, and domestic harmony,

247
00:17:57.880 --> 00:18:03.279
while also embodying deep wisdom oresight because she knows fate

248
00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:07.559
but doesn't speak it, and protection, especially for children, linking

249
00:18:07.599 --> 00:18:11.799
her to the quiet strength of the heart, the winter, survival,

250
00:18:12.519 --> 00:18:17.440
and the weaving of destiny. Her essence is in nurturing,

251
00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:21.240
in her strength and the guiding fate through quiet influence,

252
00:18:21.519 --> 00:18:23.240
much like the steady wont of a heart.

253
00:18:28.680 --> 00:18:34.279
Now, there's a lot of other gods, but I love

254
00:18:34.359 --> 00:18:36.960
that it brought up Boulder because he was one of

255
00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:39.880
my favorite Norse gods when I learned about the Norse gods.

256
00:18:40.519 --> 00:18:45.799
Baldersmith centered on his death by mistletoe and eventual rebirth

257
00:18:46.359 --> 00:18:51.480
strongly mirrors Winter Solstice themes of death in other words,

258
00:18:51.559 --> 00:18:55.440
the darkest day and rebirth the return of light or

259
00:18:55.519 --> 00:18:58.880
the sun, linking him to Yule, the Norse festival of

260
00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:03.279
light and renewal, where bonfires and trees symbolized hope for

261
00:19:03.359 --> 00:19:08.000
the Sun's return and connecting Balder, god of light, to

262
00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:12.960
the year's cyclical death and rebirth much like a sun god.

263
00:19:13.319 --> 00:19:15.680
If I have to say cyclical one more time during this,

264
00:19:16.279 --> 00:19:21.319
I might get tongue tied. The holly King and oak

265
00:19:21.759 --> 00:19:26.160
King are symbolic figures in Pagan traditions, representing the eternal

266
00:19:26.200 --> 00:19:31.720
cycle of light and darkness, life and death ruling for

267
00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:36.160
half the year, each battling at the solstices for dominance

268
00:19:36.200 --> 00:19:41.480
and embodying nature's seasonal changes as the wheel turns. I

269
00:19:41.519 --> 00:19:49.079
was trying to remember there is a Christmas Claymation movie

270
00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:53.240
that came out when we were younger. Do you remember

271
00:19:53.279 --> 00:19:55.759
the name of it, but it had it. They weren't

272
00:19:55.799 --> 00:19:58.359
called the Holly King and the Oak King, but it

273
00:19:58.440 --> 00:20:05.400
was like mister Frost and yeah, that's what those were

274
00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:07.559
supposed to represent, was these two characters.

275
00:20:07.559 --> 00:20:11.079
Here you got the reddon drinking.

276
00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:15.640
Was it? I thought it was a separate I don't know.

277
00:20:15.720 --> 00:20:18.599
It was Rudolph Shiny New Year possibly, but either way

278
00:20:18.640 --> 00:20:19.640
it was a Rudolph.

279
00:20:19.759 --> 00:20:22.279
Okay, I thought it was a different one altogether.

280
00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:23.599
I don't believe so.

281
00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:31.480
But the Old King light Growth rains from winter solstice

282
00:20:31.559 --> 00:20:36.480
Yule to summer solstice Litha, where he's defeated by the

283
00:20:36.519 --> 00:20:40.480
returning Holly King, Dark and rest, who rules until You'll

284
00:20:40.720 --> 00:20:44.119
when the o King is reborn, ensuring the perpetual return

285
00:20:44.160 --> 00:20:51.440
of light and life after darkness. Now sacrifice offerings and

286
00:20:51.519 --> 00:20:55.839
fear versus comfort during this time. One thing that you

287
00:20:55.960 --> 00:20:59.200
really see this in is in a lot of the

288
00:20:59.519 --> 00:21:03.799
You'll got and traditions, And we'll talk about this when

289
00:21:03.799 --> 00:21:08.119
we get into crampus and perka and stuff. In this

290
00:21:08.200 --> 00:21:12.599
day and age, we don't see the at least the

291
00:21:12.640 --> 00:21:16.640
fear versus the comfort. We talked about this on cat

292
00:21:16.720 --> 00:21:19.880
show that you know, in today's day and age, they're

293
00:21:19.920 --> 00:21:24.680
actually really trying to eliminate Santa altogether because it's lying

294
00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:30.319
to your children, right. And on top of that, Santa

295
00:21:31.319 --> 00:21:34.039
used to I don't know if those that still use

296
00:21:34.200 --> 00:21:38.359
Santa say that, oh, you're gonna get colon your stocking

297
00:21:39.480 --> 00:21:42.440
instead of presence, which would have been a punishment or

298
00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:47.880
fear of punishment at the time. Now, how do you

299
00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:52.119
think the gods became more symbolic instead of worship the

300
00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:54.000
old gods specifically?

301
00:21:54.119 --> 00:21:56.240
I mean, I think it's just, you know, a change

302
00:21:56.279 --> 00:21:59.319
of culture, you know, like we said earlier in the show,

303
00:21:59.519 --> 00:22:02.400
as I mean, starting first and foremost when we talk

304
00:22:02.440 --> 00:22:05.000
about religion, right, we had the Christian faith kind of

305
00:22:05.039 --> 00:22:07.839
move in and start to mend some of its beliefs

306
00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:12.640
along with Norse beliefs to create the Christmas story in

307
00:22:12.680 --> 00:22:14.880
this case, or at least to help adapt to the

308
00:22:14.920 --> 00:22:21.920
Christmas story. Right. So again, Christianity at the time was

309
00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:25.960
trying to build a bridge to the Norse people, those

310
00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:28.519
who believed in the Norse gods, and they did that

311
00:22:28.720 --> 00:22:30.839
through the birth of Jesus because there were a lot

312
00:22:30.880 --> 00:22:34.200
of similarities in terms of the elements that were used

313
00:22:34.880 --> 00:22:37.599
during this time, and so we see a lot of

314
00:22:37.599 --> 00:22:41.000
correlation between them, and it's what helped bridge that gap

315
00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:45.200
and bring people of the Norse belief system into the

316
00:22:45.279 --> 00:22:48.079
Christian faith. They helped them kind of shift into it

317
00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:52.079
a little easier, which made it more understandable, easier for

318
00:22:52.200 --> 00:22:55.279
them to swallow, if you will. And we see the

319
00:22:55.319 --> 00:22:58.319
same thing also during Saint Patti's day, right because Saint

320
00:22:58.400 --> 00:23:02.160
Patrick did something similar by using the poorly or the

321
00:23:02.200 --> 00:23:06.799
three V plover in Ireland to represent the Holy Trinity,

322
00:23:06.920 --> 00:23:09.559
and he also took the Celta Cross. He created the

323
00:23:09.599 --> 00:23:13.680
Culta Cross by combining the cross along with this symbol

324
00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:16.599
of their son God and placing it in the middle

325
00:23:16.599 --> 00:23:18.680
of the cross, and so we see a combination of

326
00:23:18.680 --> 00:23:21.920
to gods in the system, but it became a symbol

327
00:23:21.960 --> 00:23:24.519
of the Christian faith and that helped those people shift

328
00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:28.000
again from the belief system in Ireland into the Christian Faith.

329
00:23:28.440 --> 00:23:32.640
So we see that time time again throughout really all

330
00:23:32.960 --> 00:23:36.640
every every confident, every country, at least most of them.

331
00:23:36.640 --> 00:23:39.000
There are so many places that have yet to hear

332
00:23:39.079 --> 00:23:42.759
the story of Jesus at all, which is crazy, probably

333
00:23:42.759 --> 00:23:45.279
to most of us, since we hear it so often,

334
00:23:45.640 --> 00:23:50.680
probably or at least relativity know who he is. But

335
00:23:50.759 --> 00:23:53.240
I think with that, along with this idea of Santa

336
00:23:54.279 --> 00:23:57.079
the more that people started to dive into or dell

337
00:23:57.160 --> 00:24:01.440
into Santa Claus and the mythology Hi Christmas, some of

338
00:24:01.480 --> 00:24:04.480
these other characters just slowly started to fade away. As

339
00:24:04.480 --> 00:24:06.599
you're shifting from one faith to another, you kind of

340
00:24:06.680 --> 00:24:08.920
let go of the old carry on the knee, right,

341
00:24:08.960 --> 00:24:11.720
That's the whole theme of today's episode, really, And so

342
00:24:11.799 --> 00:24:14.960
the same thing was happening. These bridges that were one strong,

343
00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:18.880
immorose mythology became more of a ghost, a shadow of

344
00:24:18.920 --> 00:24:21.880
what once was, and started to take on new life

345
00:24:22.240 --> 00:24:26.640
in fictional stories and movies, right, Marvel Robes, it's a

346
00:24:26.640 --> 00:24:30.079
big one. And that's pretty much. It's just that that's

347
00:24:30.079 --> 00:24:33.359
how it happened. They became stories of ventures.

348
00:24:36.039 --> 00:24:40.079
And that makes a lot of sense. Now, you know,

349
00:24:40.720 --> 00:24:45.880
do these gods still exist today? Did they ever? That?

350
00:24:45.880 --> 00:24:50.720
That's the real question. But that is interesting that you

351
00:24:50.759 --> 00:24:53.920
don't hear much of them as much anymore since Christianity

352
00:24:53.960 --> 00:24:58.079
has kind of taken over. Right, So we're going to

353
00:24:58.160 --> 00:25:02.039
get into our favorite stuff for Christmas time, and that

354
00:25:02.200 --> 00:25:07.400
is Christmas creatures and spirits. We've talked about them several

355
00:25:07.440 --> 00:25:11.720
times over the however many years we've been doing this now,

356
00:25:11.799 --> 00:25:15.319
let's say nineteen or two thousand and nine to twenty

357
00:25:15.319 --> 00:25:24.359
twenty five, eighteen years, seventeen years somewhere in there. Crampis

358
00:25:24.920 --> 00:25:28.200
is a horned, half goat, half demon figure from Central

359
00:25:28.240 --> 00:25:33.599
European Alpine folklore who serves as the menacing companion to

360
00:25:33.640 --> 00:25:38.640
Saint Nicholas, punishing misbehaving children with birch branches or by

361
00:25:38.720 --> 00:25:44.920
dragging them to hell, contrasting with what Saint Nicholas did

362
00:25:45.039 --> 00:25:49.640
with gift giving for good kids. Now, like I mentioned earlier,

363
00:25:50.799 --> 00:25:54.519
cramp has gone away in a lot of cultures, and

364
00:25:54.720 --> 00:25:57.839
it's more Santa punishes the bad kids by giving them

365
00:25:57.880 --> 00:26:03.599
cools in their stockings. Now there's Perkda or she's also

366
00:26:03.640 --> 00:26:08.599
known as Frau Perkda is a figure from Alpine folklore,

367
00:26:09.119 --> 00:26:15.799
a goddess witch associated with winter spinning and the twelve

368
00:26:15.880 --> 00:26:20.240
days of Christmas December twenty fifth to January sixth, who

369
00:26:20.319 --> 00:26:26.920
judges household's behavior, rewarding the diligent with coins, but gruesomely

370
00:26:26.960 --> 00:26:30.839
punishing the lazy by slitting their bellies and stuffing them

371
00:26:31.000 --> 00:26:36.759
with straw and pebbles. She embodies a dual nature, appearing

372
00:26:37.519 --> 00:26:41.960
beautiful and bright or is frightening haglike creature often with

373
00:26:42.119 --> 00:26:51.839
a bird's with birds feet, and that getting stuffed with

374
00:26:51.920 --> 00:26:55.920
straw pebbles if you didn't do the right thing, sounds

375
00:26:55.960 --> 00:26:57.839
like a horrible punishment.

376
00:26:57.880 --> 00:27:02.039
At somebody's belly open. I don't know if there's much

377
00:27:02.160 --> 00:27:05.720
life left by the time you go, Yeah, I guess it.

378
00:27:05.799 --> 00:27:13.400
The friends. You got some brutal, scary characters. Everything's so horrifying.

379
00:27:14.319 --> 00:27:16.440
Do you like that I gave you your favorite?

380
00:27:16.599 --> 00:27:20.960
Of course I talk about naturally. Uh so. Of course,

381
00:27:20.960 --> 00:27:24.920
there's another very famous creature that actually is becoming more

382
00:27:24.920 --> 00:27:29.480
and more popular considering the the times we live in

383
00:27:29.640 --> 00:27:33.359
and the numerous amount of mings, videos, et cetera that

384
00:27:33.400 --> 00:27:39.039
we see on TV or on social media, and that

385
00:27:39.240 --> 00:27:44.440
is a character known as the yo the yo ba sorry, Yola.

386
00:27:45.200 --> 00:27:48.880
Yola is how you actually pronounce this lily long, kind

387
00:27:48.880 --> 00:27:53.680
of crazy name, and that is in English the yule cat. Right,

388
00:27:53.759 --> 00:27:55.640
we all love cats at these, some of us, some

389
00:27:55.759 --> 00:27:57.839
most of us are Maybe you don't love cats at all,

390
00:27:57.880 --> 00:28:00.599
but that's okay because this one, well, you for it

391
00:28:01.279 --> 00:28:04.880
because it is a dark Icelandic folk or tale about

392
00:28:04.920 --> 00:28:11.200
a giant, vicious cat that prowls the snowy countryside at Christmas,

393
00:28:11.200 --> 00:28:14.319
eating people who haven't received new clothes by Christmas Eve,

394
00:28:15.039 --> 00:28:18.920
serving as a cautionary tale to encourage hard work, especially

395
00:28:18.920 --> 00:28:23.680
in wool production, and become panion to the troll. Like eyuleads,

396
00:28:24.720 --> 00:28:27.680
it is also a tail spong to convinced children, in

397
00:28:27.720 --> 00:28:32.200
particular to spend their allowances on something useful like clothing,

398
00:28:32.480 --> 00:28:35.920
rather than spoiling the money on junk. The Yule cat

399
00:28:36.039 --> 00:28:40.319
checks windows for new garments, and if a person has none,

400
00:28:40.440 --> 00:28:45.839
it first devours their dinner, and then it devours the people.

401
00:28:47.839 --> 00:28:49.759
I don't know what happens if the ol cat, you know,

402
00:28:49.880 --> 00:28:52.319
gets there after they've eaten dinner. Is there any we'll

403
00:28:52.359 --> 00:28:53.359
have to eat? I don't know.

404
00:28:54.880 --> 00:28:57.880
Well, usually back then they were ringing the dinner bell,

405
00:28:58.079 --> 00:28:59.799
so the cat probably heard them.

406
00:29:00.039 --> 00:29:03.920
That's very possible. Next up on the list is the

407
00:29:04.039 --> 00:29:07.599
I think it's the Tampti, yeah, And then that's the

408
00:29:07.640 --> 00:29:10.200
Swedish name, And there's also the Nissi, which is a

409
00:29:10.200 --> 00:29:15.319
Norwegian or Danish name. They're both similar figures from also

410
00:29:15.559 --> 00:29:21.319
Nordic folklore basically small bearded gnome like guardians of the

411
00:29:21.359 --> 00:29:25.559
farm and household, typically wearing a red cap and gray clothes,

412
00:29:26.240 --> 00:29:29.400
who protect the home that can be mischievous if displeased,

413
00:29:29.759 --> 00:29:34.160
often demanding a bowl of rice porridge on Christians Eve

414
00:29:34.519 --> 00:29:37.920
or their good service. Now they are essentially the same

415
00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:42.839
creature with Tonte meaning homestead man from Pump and Missy

416
00:29:43.200 --> 00:29:48.519
leaked the name Mills or Nicholas, and you see.

417
00:29:48.359 --> 00:29:51.799
A lot of similarities there to what we see as

418
00:29:51.960 --> 00:29:56.319
Chris or Santa Claus today, and we know.

419
00:29:56.319 --> 00:29:59.599
That you know, early the early history of Santa Claus,

420
00:29:59.680 --> 00:30:05.279
or saying was has often been described as being an

421
00:30:05.359 --> 00:30:11.039
elf like being not typically short, but still elf airs,

422
00:30:11.200 --> 00:30:16.240
just elfish, i should say, or dwarfish, and he often

423
00:30:16.359 --> 00:30:21.160
wore green or blue uniforms or clothing. It wasn't until

424
00:30:21.400 --> 00:30:25.640
Coca Cola decided to make an ad also showing a

425
00:30:25.680 --> 00:30:28.839
picture of Santa Claus, but in that case they changed

426
00:30:28.880 --> 00:30:32.759
his colors from the typical green or blue colors to

427
00:30:32.880 --> 00:30:35.599
the Coca Cola colors, which is red and white. And

428
00:30:35.680 --> 00:30:38.599
because of the commercialization of Coca Cola, bex kind of

429
00:30:38.640 --> 00:30:42.079
stood at the test of time and has been red

430
00:30:42.079 --> 00:30:46.519
and white ever since. Now, there are a few things

431
00:30:46.559 --> 00:30:50.319
that we can kind of learn from these various characters, right,

432
00:30:50.359 --> 00:30:55.359
crampis Perkta or Frau Percta, the yule Cat Tante or Nissy.

433
00:30:55.759 --> 00:30:58.240
And the big thing here that you haven't noticed they're

434
00:30:58.240 --> 00:31:01.559
all kind of scary, is simply using fear as a

435
00:31:01.720 --> 00:31:06.279
teaching tool. Now, this is something obviously modern time, at

436
00:31:06.359 --> 00:31:11.640
least most people don't encourage, right, It's that often creates problems,

437
00:31:12.279 --> 00:31:17.400
very negative problems. But during the early days of the

438
00:31:17.440 --> 00:31:21.319
Eule Lord, fear was very important. I mean even growing

439
00:31:21.400 --> 00:31:25.039
up as a kid, I was often used, often had

440
00:31:25.720 --> 00:31:28.400
fear used to kind of oh we all.

441
00:31:28.240 --> 00:31:31.799
Did when you know, I mean our our generation and

442
00:31:31.839 --> 00:31:33.359
the generations before us.

443
00:31:34.359 --> 00:31:37.240
Yeah, one hundred percent. And now we're seeing that less

444
00:31:37.240 --> 00:31:40.920
and less nowadays. And I think to an extent it's

445
00:31:40.960 --> 00:31:44.880
a good thing. But I think it's also been I

446
00:31:44.880 --> 00:31:48.359
think they went a little too far with it because now.

447
00:31:48.839 --> 00:31:51.160
Well that's why it's kind of gotten to where it

448
00:31:51.240 --> 00:31:55.640
is today, where you know, raising a kid is more

449
00:31:55.720 --> 00:31:59.400
so trying to understand emotion and stuff like that, the

450
00:31:59.400 --> 00:32:03.400
ones that the kids are going through. Right, But there

451
00:32:03.440 --> 00:32:07.000
there is a very fine line, and unfortunately that meant

452
00:32:07.079 --> 00:32:09.440
there's been so many people that have crossed it that

453
00:32:09.519 --> 00:32:11.559
we have to kind of switch gears on how you

454
00:32:11.599 --> 00:32:14.960
treat kids. And the generations over the years have kind

455
00:32:14.960 --> 00:32:24.920
of changed. You know, I'm a what they call a ah,

456
00:32:25.279 --> 00:32:26.960
I'm a millennial, but there was a certain term for

457
00:32:27.000 --> 00:32:29.359
me because I I'm just on the cusp of gen

458
00:32:29.599 --> 00:32:34.759
X and millennial, geriatric, millennial, I think something like that.

459
00:32:35.440 --> 00:32:38.960
But I came around around the time that you know,

460
00:32:39.200 --> 00:32:41.319
things were changing just a little bit in how you

461
00:32:41.440 --> 00:32:44.920
raise your kids. And but I still remember the times

462
00:32:45.079 --> 00:32:47.920
of you know, fear being a punishment.

463
00:32:48.880 --> 00:32:50.039
Yeah.

464
00:32:50.920 --> 00:32:51.039
Uh.

465
00:32:51.759 --> 00:32:55.279
Now, another thing that we can consider here is that

466
00:32:55.960 --> 00:33:01.119
monsters were used to enforce morality. I can think of

467
00:33:01.160 --> 00:33:06.119
a number of reasons why that might be the case, Yeah,

468
00:33:06.200 --> 00:33:11.160
but I think the big one is primarily that people

469
00:33:11.400 --> 00:33:16.839
use the imagination to strike the fear and create this

470
00:33:17.640 --> 00:33:24.599
aspect of moral well being. Monsters are simply scary, right,

471
00:33:24.759 --> 00:33:28.160
I mean, anyone can say, oh, if you do this wrong,

472
00:33:28.440 --> 00:33:30.839
then your father's going to write or your mother's going

473
00:33:30.880 --> 00:33:33.519
to It becomes old after a while. But if you

474
00:33:34.279 --> 00:33:38.640
tell people about this monster, this creature that is beyond

475
00:33:39.319 --> 00:33:44.640
description discussing grotesque, angry, full of hate and violence, Who're

476
00:33:44.680 --> 00:33:48.799
just gonna eat and kill etclone? Now here is starting

477
00:33:48.839 --> 00:33:52.960
to really dig deep into the soul at this point

478
00:33:53.000 --> 00:33:56.000
and find that fear factor. Right, we're striking a cord.

479
00:33:56.240 --> 00:34:01.400
And so monsters are often used as a sense of

480
00:34:02.160 --> 00:34:04.519
a morality tool, and we even see it through a

481
00:34:04.559 --> 00:34:08.239
number of other cultures and belief systems of Christianity, even

482
00:34:08.320 --> 00:34:12.440
using Sphere in some paces throughout the Bible to represent

483
00:34:12.440 --> 00:34:14.960
some of these things. I think of the Viathan, even

484
00:34:14.960 --> 00:34:18.599
the Behemoth, your characters that were used to describe a

485
00:34:18.639 --> 00:34:27.000
monster in order to force some sort of morality. And

486
00:34:27.039 --> 00:34:32.920
then we have this idea of how Christianity softened or

487
00:34:33.280 --> 00:34:36.920
demonized some of these creatures, right, and just the belief

488
00:34:36.960 --> 00:34:44.760
system of the Mule of Youule. Now, Christianity softened pagan

489
00:34:44.800 --> 00:34:49.639
winter traditions by simply co opting them, giving them a

490
00:34:49.800 --> 00:34:53.800
new Christian meaning to ease conversion. Like I said earlier,

491
00:34:54.199 --> 00:34:57.639
down the linking of the solstice birth of light to

492
00:34:57.800 --> 00:35:00.920
Jesus as the light of the world and operating symbols

493
00:35:00.920 --> 00:35:07.000
like Holli, ebergreens, lulllogs to Christian decor and evolving figures,

494
00:35:07.039 --> 00:35:10.559
even like Odin into Santa Claus. We're often done to

495
00:35:10.679 --> 00:35:14.480
make the new faith more familiar and appealing to Pagan converts.

496
00:35:15.079 --> 00:35:20.719
The process called inculturation replace Pagan's significance with Christian ones,

497
00:35:21.000 --> 00:35:25.800
allowing familiar customs to continue but with a new focus.

498
00:35:26.599 --> 00:35:28.440
And this is very important when it comes to teaching

499
00:35:28.440 --> 00:35:32.880
anybody anything. Really, this is a concept that defies time

500
00:35:33.000 --> 00:35:36.840
at this point because it's some ancient it's an ancient thing.

501
00:35:38.199 --> 00:35:40.920
We often want to teach people new things, and we

502
00:35:41.000 --> 00:35:44.960
do that by showing them how to use their current

503
00:35:46.159 --> 00:35:49.440
skills to produce new style.

504
00:35:49.960 --> 00:35:50.159
Right.

505
00:35:51.519 --> 00:35:53.679
And so this has been done through time, over and

506
00:35:53.760 --> 00:35:58.039
over again, and particularly within belief systems, and not just Christianity,

507
00:35:58.639 --> 00:36:02.400
but basically recently reaches. Some authentive and faith of the

508
00:36:02.440 --> 00:36:04.480
religion has done this at some point or another.

509
00:36:05.400 --> 00:36:12.960
Mm hmm. Now, how these beings became Santa the that's

510
00:36:13.039 --> 00:36:16.239
the million dollar question, because the Santa that we know

511
00:36:16.320 --> 00:36:20.440
today is not Saint Nicholas, the Saint of Catholicism. He's

512
00:36:20.519 --> 00:36:26.119
also not the original teachings of what Santa Claus was.

513
00:36:27.239 --> 00:36:32.360
Santa is really a mashup of Odin Saint Nicholas spirits,

514
00:36:32.440 --> 00:36:40.679
and folklore. Santa Claus are blending of Saint Nick. You know,

515
00:36:40.800 --> 00:36:44.519
he gave gifts to children. Uh, he is the patriot

516
00:36:44.639 --> 00:36:51.360
saint of children, with Odin, who was the long beard

517
00:36:51.599 --> 00:36:57.360
sky travel judging good bad children on youle and other

518
00:36:57.440 --> 00:37:01.559
European spirits like Father Christmas, which is what we call

519
00:37:01.719 --> 00:37:07.880
Santa Claus now Ciner Klaus and the gnome like Nissy,

520
00:37:07.880 --> 00:37:12.639
creating the modern jolly gift bringing with Ain with his reindeer,

521
00:37:13.159 --> 00:37:21.760
a softer version of Odin's magical horse slipe near and elves.

522
00:37:21.800 --> 00:37:25.199
Such a fascinating thing to me because you know, we

523
00:37:25.840 --> 00:37:30.559
as children, I should say, we never were taught any

524
00:37:30.599 --> 00:37:32.440
of that. You know, we just grew up on the

525
00:37:32.760 --> 00:37:36.000
Christian Santa Claus or Saint Nicholaus tradition.

526
00:37:36.280 --> 00:37:40.599
So sure, yeah, I got one hundred percent. That's again,

527
00:37:40.760 --> 00:37:42.960
that's something most people don't know, and you learn that

528
00:37:43.039 --> 00:37:46.119
through channels like this, right, we didn't learn about until

529
00:37:46.119 --> 00:37:48.440
we started doing the podcast and having to do research

530
00:37:48.440 --> 00:37:51.880
and whatnot and listening to other podcasts right at this stuff.

531
00:37:52.400 --> 00:37:58.280
But you know, seeing such a diverse change from prior

532
00:37:58.320 --> 00:38:01.960
to Santa Claus obviously with the Odid to this modern

533
00:38:02.079 --> 00:38:06.199
day Santa Claus is drastic because back then, even even

534
00:38:06.239 --> 00:38:08.639
when we're going up, there's this idea that Santa's can

535
00:38:08.719 --> 00:38:11.840
be not do good and bad, but he can do

536
00:38:11.960 --> 00:38:15.039
good but also punished, right, and the punishment is typically

537
00:38:15.119 --> 00:38:18.400
even coal. But even today that has changed already in

538
00:38:18.440 --> 00:38:21.559
our adulthood, right, because now we no longer have Santa

539
00:38:21.559 --> 00:38:25.719
Claus living coal. Instead we have we have the Kronplass

540
00:38:26.079 --> 00:38:29.000
showing up for Toby who are bad and carrying them

541
00:38:29.039 --> 00:38:31.639
away in his bag, or the Yule cat. He's going

542
00:38:31.719 --> 00:38:35.840
to come eat them, so they've we've basically created a

543
00:38:36.000 --> 00:38:39.840
new version of Santa, an evolved version, which is nothing

544
00:38:39.840 --> 00:38:43.039
but good all the time, and for those that are bad,

545
00:38:43.119 --> 00:38:45.079
the people that are bad, he just simply does some

546
00:38:45.159 --> 00:38:51.199
other words rather than punish it. So there's like a

547
00:38:51.199 --> 00:38:55.960
big loss of fear between the early days of Eule

548
00:38:56.239 --> 00:39:02.840
and re course. Commercialization of Santa himself. Commercialization of Christmas

549
00:39:02.920 --> 00:39:08.119
is obviously one of the biggest draws to the holiday nowadays,

550
00:39:08.119 --> 00:39:10.559
because it's no longer about the traditions. It's no longer

551
00:39:10.599 --> 00:39:13.920
really about the ancient traditions or even the modern ones.

552
00:39:13.960 --> 00:39:16.199
It's all about money, money, money, It's how much can

553
00:39:16.239 --> 00:39:18.599
you spend to get the big gifts? How much companies

554
00:39:18.639 --> 00:39:22.519
can make by selling you big gifts? And we see

555
00:39:22.519 --> 00:39:24.679
that over an over again. We see how much earlier

556
00:39:24.760 --> 00:39:27.280
Christmas starts every single year. I mean, this year, I

557
00:39:27.320 --> 00:39:30.719
was seeing Christmas stuff in August, which is asinine. I

558
00:39:30.760 --> 00:39:33.079
should not be seeing Christmas stuff in stores in August,

559
00:39:34.119 --> 00:39:37.599
But every single year they moved, and these commercial companies

560
00:39:37.679 --> 00:39:41.559
try to move the holiday up to earn more money

561
00:39:41.679 --> 00:39:48.800
earlier on in the season and basically pinched the penny. Now,

562
00:39:49.960 --> 00:39:56.239
as both the society and culture, we became less afraid

563
00:39:56.280 --> 00:40:00.920
of poverty, the unknown or strict religious dogma, and instead

564
00:40:01.000 --> 00:40:06.079
shifted our focus from survival and spiritual awe to material consumption,

565
00:40:06.440 --> 00:40:10.320
allowing business businesses to turn Christmas into a massifre similar

566
00:40:10.320 --> 00:40:14.199
event riven by the gift giving sales and cecular symbolisms

567
00:40:14.199 --> 00:40:17.800
like Santa the trees, rather than just it's traditional religious meaning,

568
00:40:17.840 --> 00:40:20.320
creating a cycle of stress and over spending, which, if

569
00:40:20.360 --> 00:40:23.199
you know, most of us are probably pretty stressed right

570
00:40:23.239 --> 00:40:25.840
now Tomorrow's Christmas seed and probably don't even have all

571
00:40:25.920 --> 00:40:28.559
the gifts that we need to buy. And I think

572
00:40:28.599 --> 00:40:30.800
the key where there is need to buy because I

573
00:40:30.800 --> 00:40:32.599
think we all feel a need to to have to

574
00:40:32.599 --> 00:40:33.119
buy spouts.

575
00:40:34.320 --> 00:40:39.239
Yeah. Well, and with the commercialism, we feel we have

576
00:40:39.320 --> 00:40:45.079
to give gifts when and I guess back when it

577
00:40:45.159 --> 00:40:48.920
wasn't as commercialized, the gifts were still you felt you

578
00:40:49.159 --> 00:40:54.599
needed to give gifts just to represent the gifts that

579
00:40:54.639 --> 00:41:01.039
were given to Christ. But it kind of went from

580
00:41:01.239 --> 00:41:04.599
giving the gifts as an offering to giving them to

581
00:41:05.039 --> 00:41:09.719
other people even though it's not a representation of their

582
00:41:09.760 --> 00:41:16.920
birthday but of Christ's birthday. But yeah, so now the

583
00:41:17.000 --> 00:41:20.800
real question is when it comes to these old traditions,

584
00:41:22.480 --> 00:41:28.519
are we safer or are we just less aware? And

585
00:41:28.599 --> 00:41:33.000
I think I truly believe that as a society we're

586
00:41:33.039 --> 00:41:36.079
just less aware. But I would love to hear your

587
00:41:36.119 --> 00:41:38.760
guy's comments or answers if you want to put them

588
00:41:38.800 --> 00:41:44.719
in the comments or in the chat right now. Yeah,

589
00:41:45.199 --> 00:41:47.760
it's one of those things that I don't think that

590
00:41:47.840 --> 00:41:53.760
we are safer from these old gods. It's just we're

591
00:41:53.800 --> 00:41:59.679
so ingrained into electronics now that we've kind of lost

592
00:41:59.719 --> 00:42:00.199
a lot of that.

593
00:42:00.800 --> 00:42:05.199
Yeah, the new gods. Yeah.

594
00:42:05.599 --> 00:42:10.159
Now, instead of final thoughts as I always do, I thought,

595
00:42:10.719 --> 00:42:12.760
you know what, it would be fun for us to

596
00:42:13.039 --> 00:42:16.320
think about our favorite things about Christmas and memories from

597
00:42:16.679 --> 00:42:19.119
Christmas past. I know we've done this in the past,

598
00:42:19.159 --> 00:42:21.440
but it's always fun to kind of reminisce a little.

599
00:42:22.800 --> 00:42:28.320
So what are some of your favorite things about Christmas?

600
00:42:29.079 --> 00:42:32.400
I mean Christmas music. There's not too many people who

601
00:42:32.480 --> 00:42:36.159
love christiply anymore, but I still do. I enjoy it.

602
00:42:36.159 --> 00:42:38.119
It's funny how many people I meet you just hate

603
00:42:38.119 --> 00:42:41.519
when I turned away this Christmas. It's sad. It's really sad.

604
00:42:42.360 --> 00:42:44.320
But yeah, so Christmas music is a big thing, and

605
00:42:44.360 --> 00:42:48.559
it's a short time usually from Thanksgiving until well the

606
00:42:48.679 --> 00:42:52.519
day after Christmas, so about a month. And then on

607
00:42:52.599 --> 00:42:55.280
top of that, I would say, it's just the the

608
00:42:55.320 --> 00:42:59.480
feeling of like they call it, like the Christmas spirit

609
00:43:00.239 --> 00:43:03.840
in the air. You know, it's this light heartedness that's

610
00:43:03.960 --> 00:43:07.119
just a kind of kind of playfulness, if you will.

611
00:43:07.960 --> 00:43:12.159
That I feel like is often overshadowing everything. It's just

612
00:43:12.239 --> 00:43:15.400
kind of bear hovering. At least for me it is

613
00:43:15.679 --> 00:43:16.559
in most cases.

614
00:43:17.599 --> 00:43:21.519
And that includes obviously the like the TV shows that

615
00:43:21.599 --> 00:43:25.159
we tend to cook, the shows, the Christmas movies, along

616
00:43:25.159 --> 00:43:29.000
with the Christmas music and all the holiday traditions.

617
00:43:29.639 --> 00:43:34.039
Eggnob and howadays peppermint mocha stuff.

618
00:43:34.199 --> 00:43:38.559
Right, Like, there's all parts that I personally enjoyed cookies,

619
00:43:38.639 --> 00:43:42.199
fresh baked cookies in the oven and cold milk, and

620
00:43:42.400 --> 00:43:45.880
those are things that I could don't don't enjoy.

621
00:43:45.760 --> 00:43:47.199
Much of throughout the rest of the year.

622
00:43:49.159 --> 00:43:54.559
What about you, Well, I do love listening to Christmas music.

623
00:43:55.599 --> 00:44:00.199
I just wish that radio stations would at least give

624
00:44:00.239 --> 00:44:06.519
it until December first before they start playing them. But

625
00:44:06.719 --> 00:44:11.880
like you mentioned, two stories are pushing it well before

626
00:44:11.960 --> 00:44:18.480
that already too so. But really just the coming together

627
00:44:21.079 --> 00:44:27.239
and it's very rare these days, mostly because of lives

628
00:44:27.239 --> 00:44:32.760
have gotten busier, and I think that's all the more

629
00:44:32.800 --> 00:44:38.519
reason to embrace that time during Christmas is to really

630
00:44:38.519 --> 00:44:41.320
be thankful that you get that time with your family.

631
00:44:44.320 --> 00:44:55.039
I of course love the sweet treats and the food. Yeah,

632
00:44:55.199 --> 00:44:58.360
it used to be, you know, getting presents, but at

633
00:44:58.360 --> 00:45:01.920
this point in my life, I asked, don't care if

634
00:45:01.960 --> 00:45:05.679
I get Christmas presents or not. If I do, great

635
00:45:05.880 --> 00:45:10.280
if not, you know it, it was one of those

636
00:45:10.280 --> 00:45:15.880
things that kind of died away from me as an adult.

637
00:45:16.199 --> 00:45:18.639
It's something that probably dies away for a lot of

638
00:45:18.719 --> 00:45:22.199
us because there's not that childlike joy anymore.

639
00:45:22.239 --> 00:45:25.480
You know, like I don't stay awake at night anticipating

640
00:45:25.559 --> 00:45:28.880
Christmas morning anymore, you know, no, something it just doesn't exist.

641
00:45:29.519 --> 00:45:32.719
Same with waiting trying my hardest to fall asleep so

642
00:45:32.800 --> 00:45:35.559
Santa will show up, right, not waiting for Santa, no boy,

643
00:45:36.920 --> 00:45:37.519
but maybe.

644
00:45:37.360 --> 00:45:39.400
Also the time I can't fall asleep because my brain

645
00:45:39.480 --> 00:45:41.000
is just going on er myles a minute.

646
00:45:41.119 --> 00:45:43.159
I mean, yeah, I mean that's the thing that happens

647
00:45:43.159 --> 00:45:46.840
with adulthood and just goick love. But yeah, no, I

648
00:45:46.920 --> 00:45:48.360
you know, I agree to her. There are obviously some

649
00:45:48.400 --> 00:45:52.960
things I think just naturally fade away. But I will admit,

650
00:45:53.039 --> 00:45:58.760
like seeing that joy on my nieces, for example, you

651
00:45:58.800 --> 00:46:03.000
know that kind of takes me a Yeah, I remember

652
00:46:03.119 --> 00:46:06.599
when back then, seeing that how happy they are living

653
00:46:06.880 --> 00:46:10.320
vicariously through them their childhood. You know, I'm thinking, like

654
00:46:10.519 --> 00:46:13.159
they're waiting for Santa. Let's you know, they're they're waiting.

655
00:46:13.199 --> 00:46:15.119
They can hear bells, or they can see Rudolph in

656
00:46:15.159 --> 00:46:17.440
the sky, or you know, all these different things that

657
00:46:17.519 --> 00:46:21.519
it's like, I I thankfully, I still am very imaginative,

658
00:46:21.599 --> 00:46:25.840
and I still can think of those things and cherish them.

659
00:46:26.079 --> 00:46:30.280
But it's not the same. It'll never be the same. Yeah.

660
00:46:31.360 --> 00:46:35.320
Oh, and I mean it's been talked about a lot that,

661
00:46:35.599 --> 00:46:40.440
you know, as we grow older, just like we talk

662
00:46:40.480 --> 00:46:45.920
a lot about psychic or medium type gifts, the magic

663
00:46:46.039 --> 00:46:50.960
dies as an adult. It's it's kind of sad, really,

664
00:46:51.440 --> 00:46:55.440
but it's just a natural part of life. I guess.

665
00:46:55.920 --> 00:46:58.639
Well, I think it's more not more so, but I

666
00:46:58.639 --> 00:47:00.800
think in part is because of me influence that the

667
00:47:00.840 --> 00:47:03.199
book has on us as a broader Yeah, and then

668
00:47:03.199 --> 00:47:05.159
we start to see some of the hard times, we

669
00:47:05.159 --> 00:47:09.760
start to witness them ourselves personally, and so yeah, you know, back,

670
00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:13.079
at least for many of us, when your children, you

671
00:47:13.119 --> 00:47:15.280
don't have much to think about or care about other

672
00:47:15.360 --> 00:47:18.440
than Santha and Christmas Morning and all the imagine they

673
00:47:18.679 --> 00:47:21.880
imagine that tip things you can think of. But nowadays

674
00:47:21.960 --> 00:47:26.159
there's reality to you that crickson, right, And you know

675
00:47:26.199 --> 00:47:28.280
the thought of paying deals, sometimes having enough money for

676
00:47:28.280 --> 00:47:30.440
the crystal presence, and if you do have enough money,

677
00:47:30.480 --> 00:47:31.800
how much debt is he going to put you in

678
00:47:31.800 --> 00:47:32.519
for the next month?

679
00:47:32.960 --> 00:47:33.159
Right?

680
00:47:33.400 --> 00:47:35.320
Make up for you know, you use your credit card

681
00:47:35.320 --> 00:47:37.320
to never card to cash. You know, these are all

682
00:47:37.400 --> 00:47:42.280
things obviously that take away from the the the simple

683
00:47:42.400 --> 00:47:45.920
joy of the holiday, and I am one willing to

684
00:47:45.960 --> 00:47:48.079
confess it. I am. I am one of those that

685
00:47:48.119 --> 00:47:50.760
struggle with it, Like today buying presents. I have the

686
00:47:50.800 --> 00:47:52.280
money to do it, but I was so hesitant I'm

687
00:47:52.280 --> 00:47:54.519
putting the card in, like why, well, I wanted to.

688
00:47:54.920 --> 00:48:01.119
I want, you know, and thankfully you know, I've been

689
00:48:01.159 --> 00:48:03.239
blessed this year to have the cash to do that,

690
00:48:03.320 --> 00:48:05.960
but last year I did not. The year prior I

691
00:48:06.000 --> 00:48:08.800
did not. So it's one of those things that you

692
00:48:09.320 --> 00:48:13.440
I think for many of us, it's remembering what the

693
00:48:13.480 --> 00:48:16.760
holiday really means and what it meant to you, rather

694
00:48:16.840 --> 00:48:19.280
than what it means to you currently. I mean, if

695
00:48:19.280 --> 00:48:23.360
it means something fantastic, like something good and positive, that's fantastic.

696
00:48:23.599 --> 00:48:26.000
But if it's something negative nowadays, I think you have

697
00:48:26.039 --> 00:48:28.280
to kind of liminess on what it was to try

698
00:48:28.320 --> 00:48:31.920
to find that childhood or that child like wander again,

699
00:48:32.039 --> 00:48:34.639
because that's going to help fill those gaps that you

700
00:48:34.760 --> 00:48:39.639
miss today. Now.

701
00:48:40.880 --> 00:48:44.159
Memories from Christmas past.

702
00:48:45.039 --> 00:48:48.639
Just big family parties at grandma and Grandpa's, you know,

703
00:48:48.880 --> 00:48:52.440
going getting there, having all the food ready, the pizza,

704
00:48:52.599 --> 00:48:54.960
the pizza, the pizza with the anchovies that Grandpa would

705
00:48:54.960 --> 00:48:56.719
always get. I would not eat those, but you know

706
00:48:56.760 --> 00:48:59.960
he would always have those, the fried chicken, the hand

707
00:49:00.559 --> 00:49:02.960
you gave me Caverthon was there. And of course sitting

708
00:49:03.000 --> 00:49:08.960
around the Grandma's Christmas tree, yeah, with the snow on it,

709
00:49:09.159 --> 00:49:12.360
and passing up the presents because the Thanksgiving that you know,

710
00:49:12.400 --> 00:49:14.320
a few weeks prior, we all would pick names out

711
00:49:14.320 --> 00:49:16.440
of a hat or something. It would all you know,

712
00:49:16.559 --> 00:49:19.719
have a single cousin or family member to buy presents for.

713
00:49:20.480 --> 00:49:23.239
So that was always a fun time, always enjoyed it.

714
00:49:23.480 --> 00:49:26.559
Always afford to get home knowing that's getting Christmas pajamas

715
00:49:27.239 --> 00:49:28.679
and I was gonna be set up in my room

716
00:49:28.719 --> 00:49:31.039
and try to foss with some sort of Christmas movie

717
00:49:31.079 --> 00:49:34.159
while way you present at the show run. It is

718
00:49:34.199 --> 00:49:37.199
like that every year pretty much. It's just you know,

719
00:49:37.599 --> 00:49:38.599
minus a free thinks.

720
00:49:38.880 --> 00:49:44.719
Yeah, well, and I just had the conversation with a

721
00:49:44.800 --> 00:49:48.360
friend about you know, we were talking about you know,

722
00:49:48.480 --> 00:49:53.039
secret Sannah, and uh, I'm like, yeah, I mean we

723
00:49:53.079 --> 00:49:56.039
did do that as kids, but we would get so

724
00:49:56.079 --> 00:49:58.599
excited we would splurt out who we had most of

725
00:49:58.639 --> 00:50:01.599
the time, so everybody knew who they were getting in

726
00:50:01.599 --> 00:50:08.880
the present from. But yeah, that you know, the shrimp

727
00:50:08.920 --> 00:50:13.760
cocktail which was both Christmas and New Year's for for Grandpa. Uh,

728
00:50:15.159 --> 00:50:22.559
the the anchovy pizza. I still remember, gosh, going to

729
00:50:22.679 --> 00:50:27.760
both both grandma's houses, one for Christmas Eve, one for

730
00:50:27.840 --> 00:50:36.199
Christmas Day, and just the again, the warmth that we

731
00:50:36.239 --> 00:50:40.599
would feel during that time of year, not from a

732
00:50:40.679 --> 00:50:48.760
fire but from family. But yeah, the and the the

733
00:50:48.760 --> 00:50:52.199
fake fireplace going at Grandma and Grandpa Cancelarry's house. I

734
00:50:52.239 --> 00:50:58.800
remember that you still have it, I believe, gosh, what

735
00:50:58.880 --> 00:51:08.480
else honestly waking up Christmas morning and uh, just trying

736
00:51:08.559 --> 00:51:12.679
to just actually even Christmas night, I remember waking up

737
00:51:13.000 --> 00:51:16.440
like well before the sun was out. I'd wake up

738
00:51:16.480 --> 00:51:20.000
at midnight one two o'clock in the morning sometimes and

739
00:51:20.119 --> 00:51:22.639
run down to see or out to see if Santa

740
00:51:22.679 --> 00:51:28.079
had come yet. And sometimes my brother would wake up

741
00:51:28.119 --> 00:51:31.440
and we would both kind of just look around, grab

742
00:51:31.480 --> 00:51:33.559
gifts and shake them a little bit. But I'd have

743
00:51:33.599 --> 00:51:35.400
to be like, no, no, no, don't do too loud.

744
00:51:35.519 --> 00:51:37.239
They're gonna mom, Dan are gonna hear.

745
00:51:41.920 --> 00:51:42.519
Yeah.

746
00:51:42.880 --> 00:51:47.320
And I think, you know, looking back at all of

747
00:51:47.360 --> 00:51:53.599
the guests as we got as kids, the one that

748
00:51:53.719 --> 00:51:57.800
still I remember loving the most is my pet Monster

749
00:52:00.480 --> 00:52:04.559
and Teddy Rexman and Grubb were the the other ones

750
00:52:04.599 --> 00:52:08.119
that were really big ones as a kid, do you

751
00:52:08.159 --> 00:52:11.119
remember any that were like significant to you?

752
00:52:11.199 --> 00:52:16.559
Forget three of them actually off hand. One is a

753
00:52:16.599 --> 00:52:19.599
little Jurassic Park original Jurassic Park philosoph Aptor, which is

754
00:52:19.639 --> 00:52:23.719
actually sitting behind me on a bookshelf I still have.

755
00:52:24.199 --> 00:52:27.559
I don't remember how old I Wasn't it was before

756
00:52:27.599 --> 00:52:30.480
third grade? Second dird writers when it was when I

757
00:52:30.519 --> 00:52:34.119
got that. And then another is another Jurassic Park toy,

758
00:52:34.639 --> 00:52:39.719
a little Tyrannosaurus Rex, which was probably about a tall

759
00:52:40.079 --> 00:52:41.920
Covin was taller, So I used to carry that thing

760
00:52:41.960 --> 00:52:43.679
around because the baby tea reps for me, and I

761
00:52:43.760 --> 00:52:47.440
was pretend it was a baby t Rex. I still

762
00:52:47.480 --> 00:52:50.480
have him around here somewhere too. And then the other

763
00:52:51.519 --> 00:52:53.800
was called creepy Crawlers.

764
00:52:54.440 --> 00:52:58.199
Oh yeah, creeper crawlers. Awesome, Yeah, creepy collar crawlers.

765
00:52:58.239 --> 00:53:01.519
And I have a fourth wasn't mine as my sister's,

766
00:53:01.599 --> 00:53:05.159
but I enjoyed it nonetheless, was easy, big of it.

767
00:53:05.199 --> 00:53:08.360
So we all make brownies and stuff with that.

768
00:53:09.719 --> 00:53:13.559
Oh I had a boy's version of that where you

769
00:53:13.639 --> 00:53:17.719
mixed like stuff into a monster head and got monster brains.

770
00:53:17.800 --> 00:53:21.639
Oh yeah, I had that thing too. I got about that.

771
00:53:22.519 --> 00:53:25.760
I can't remember the name of it, but yeah, creepy crawlers.

772
00:53:25.760 --> 00:53:28.639
And then hearing my mom say, oh yeah, we had

773
00:53:28.679 --> 00:53:31.559
those when we were kids, and it's like what they

774
00:53:31.639 --> 00:53:34.280
just basically recycled and brown back out for the new

775
00:53:34.320 --> 00:53:35.519
generation cool.

776
00:53:35.559 --> 00:53:38.199
I love the smell of the burnt plastic you would

777
00:53:38.239 --> 00:53:40.199
get you're cooking those things on steel play.

778
00:53:40.320 --> 00:53:43.039
It was almost it was more like glue because.

779
00:53:42.840 --> 00:53:46.039
Not see that age knew that is not a thing.

780
00:53:46.480 --> 00:53:46.800
That thing.

781
00:53:46.840 --> 00:53:51.039
We didn't care about cancer, I mean to some degree,

782
00:53:51.079 --> 00:53:52.239
A lot of people don't today.

783
00:53:52.480 --> 00:53:54.519
Well yeah, but you know it's like you're not giving

784
00:53:54.559 --> 00:53:57.800
the you know, an eight year old some plastic.

785
00:53:57.599 --> 00:54:01.239
Oh for children, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. A lot

786
00:54:01.280 --> 00:54:04.159
of the stuff that when we were kids is not

787
00:54:04.599 --> 00:54:08.360
really safe anymore. And even when our parents were kids

788
00:54:08.400 --> 00:54:11.719
and their parents were kids, like the stuff that was

789
00:54:11.760 --> 00:54:17.559
given his gifts was much more dangerous in the past, which.

790
00:54:17.400 --> 00:54:21.480
Sack because of my I still had that creepy crawler machine,

791
00:54:22.360 --> 00:54:24.360
but I yet to find a proper light bulb.

792
00:54:24.119 --> 00:54:28.239
That will cook, probably because they don't really make them anymore.

793
00:54:30.079 --> 00:54:32.840
But just like you know in a Christmas story where

794
00:54:32.880 --> 00:54:35.840
he gets the beaby gun and then his mother was like,

795
00:54:36.039 --> 00:54:37.159
don't shoot your eye out.

796
00:54:37.440 --> 00:54:40.039
Yep, that's another one. I mean, I you know, I

797
00:54:40.199 --> 00:54:43.719
every Christmas Eve, me and your brother watch it every

798
00:54:43.800 --> 00:54:46.360
Christmas Eve. Who watched Your Christmas Story? We've been watching

799
00:54:46.360 --> 00:54:49.760
that since we're little kids. I've seen it way too

800
00:54:49.800 --> 00:54:55.000
many times, like literally countless. I gave a whole movie myself.

801
00:54:55.480 --> 00:54:59.480
Well and Jason Hewlett. So Jason that brought it up

802
00:54:59.519 --> 00:55:03.800
that maybe it wasn't him. Somebody brought up that, oh

803
00:55:03.880 --> 00:55:06.599
yeah I was shot in Canada. Well yes, and no,

804
00:55:06.679 --> 00:55:10.360
it was partly shot in Canada, partly shot in Cleveland, Ohio.

805
00:55:10.639 --> 00:55:13.400
So that's why I love it is because we have

806
00:55:13.679 --> 00:55:18.960
the house in Cleveland, and it's just a good movie too.

807
00:55:19.119 --> 00:55:23.960
But all right, So something I did want to bring

808
00:55:24.039 --> 00:55:27.960
up is if you are a Paratruther, you love the show,

809
00:55:28.159 --> 00:55:31.400
you love interacting with us, you love being a part

810
00:55:31.559 --> 00:55:35.239
of what we talked about. I highly suggest getting into

811
00:55:35.519 --> 00:55:41.639
the Facebook group that we created Paratruthers Facebook group. I

812
00:55:41.719 --> 00:55:48.039
did start releasing some low cards that are only going

813
00:55:48.119 --> 00:55:51.239
to be released to our Paratruthers. So if you want

814
00:55:51.280 --> 00:55:53.559
specific content that you're not going to see on our

815
00:55:53.599 --> 00:55:57.119
other social media's get in there, and all you got

816
00:55:57.119 --> 00:55:59.440
to do is just join the group. It's free to join,

817
00:56:00.679 --> 00:56:03.159
and you know, there's no weird questions or anything. We

818
00:56:03.320 --> 00:56:09.239
just asked that you be respectful and post stuff that

819
00:56:09.440 --> 00:56:14.119
is relevant to the paranormal. Don't be posting a link

820
00:56:14.239 --> 00:56:17.320
for a show that's about politics or something like that.

821
00:56:19.199 --> 00:56:23.320
Not something right that too.

822
00:56:25.199 --> 00:56:28.480
But that is all we've got for our Christmas episode.

823
00:56:28.840 --> 00:56:33.000
I hope you guys have enjoyed it. I do have

824
00:56:33.079 --> 00:56:35.599
to say that I hope you all have a very

825
00:56:36.239 --> 00:56:39.960
safe and happy New Year. I'm sorry Christmas. We'll have

826
00:56:40.039 --> 00:56:45.679
New Year next week. Yeah and uh yeah, be safe

827
00:56:45.719 --> 00:56:55.760
out there and Merry Christmas everybody. Any last comments, no, okay.

828
00:56:57.239 --> 00:56:59.519
As we said at the beginning here, this has been

829
00:56:59.559 --> 00:57:01.920
a live show on one O seven point seven FM,

830
00:57:01.960 --> 00:57:05.039
New Orleans, one oh five point three FM on the

831
00:57:05.039 --> 00:57:09.960
Gulf Coast and United Public Radio Network until next week,

832
00:57:10.320 --> 00:57:13.519
where you will find this same time, same channel.

833
00:57:13.559 --> 00:57:16.239
My name is Justin and I'm Eric Peace