{"id":20357,"date":"2020-12-23T18:30:20","date_gmt":"2020-12-23T18:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=20357"},"modified":"2020-12-23T18:30:22","modified_gmt":"2020-12-23T18:30:22","slug":"chimney-john","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=20357","title":{"rendered":"Chimney John"},"content":{"rendered":"

At this time of year various gift givers are preparing to deliver presents. They have different names in different countries and languages. Let’s look at a couple:<\/p>\n

In England presents are traditionally delivered by Father Christmas<\/strong>, who has been around in various guises since at least the 17th century. Originally he wasn’t a present giver but rather the spirit of good cheer, and bringing of peace, joy, good food and wine and revelry. He was depicted as a large man wearing green or red fur-lined robes. The first mention of a personification of Christmas in English appears in Ben Jonson’s 1616 play, Christmas his Masque<\/em>, in which he is known simply as ‘Christmas’. He also went by ‘Sir Christmas’, ‘Lord Christmas’ or ‘Old Father Christmas’ [source<\/a>].<\/p>\n

After the English Civil War, when the Christmas was banned by the Puritan government, the Royalists adopted Father Christmas as a symbol of the ‘good old days’. During the 19th century he became more associated with children, presents, chimneys and so on as the Victorians adopted more child-centric Christmas traditions [source<\/a>].<\/p>\n

During the 19th century Santa Claus<\/strong>, based on the Dutch Sinterklaas<\/strong> (Saint Nicolas), came to the UK from the USA and Canada. Eventually Father Christmas and Santa Claus became synonomous and the names are now used interchangebly.<\/p>\n

Other names for Father Christmas in the UK include Father Chrimbo<\/strong>, Daddy Chrimbo<\/strong>, and according to this site<\/a>, Tabitha the Christmas Hedgehog<\/strong> (in Cumbria), Odin<\/strong> (in Yorkshire), Big Johny Winter<\/strong> (in Northumbria), Joel Noel<\/strong> (in Devon) and Gef the Talking Mongoose<\/strong> (in the Isle of Man).<\/p>\n

Meanwhile in Wales presents are delivered by Si\u00f4n Corn<\/strong> [\u0283o\u02d0\u014b k\u0254rn] or “John of the chimney”. I can’t find information about the origins of this name. Does anybody know?<\/p>\n

\"Sion<\/a>