North Pole part of Santa story might have to change after ice cap melts
Across the world on Wednesday, millions of people will drink and eat far too much, and have spent ridiculous amounts of money on presents to celebrate somebody else’s birthday.
Somebody that not all of us believe to have existed. And if he did exist, December 25 was almost certainly not his birthday.
The majority of people in this country are not practising Christians. But we have all heard of Jesus Christ, even if most of us don’t know what the “H” stands for. Many of us accept that he lived but that he was merely a prophet, and not the son of God. To others, he was just some guy in a story, who did a bit of magic, a bit like an earlier Harry Potter.
Even the most devout believers tend to be sceptical about aspects of the Christmas story. A virgin is told by an angel that she is carrying the child of God. She travels to Bethlehem where the baby is born in a stable because his mother could not find room in any inn in the town. Some days later, kings arrive bearing gifts for the kid.
To an agnostic like myself, it’s all a bit far-fetched. However, it has relevance today, when a hotel room in Edinburgh on Christmas Eve is not going to be cheap, if you can find one. Sadly, this winter children will be born to homeless single parents. Rich men bearing gifts? Sounds like some tax-avoidance or money-laundering scam.
This is not the only Christmas story, of course. We also have the myth of Santa Claus. While we warn our children about stranger danger for the rest of year, we tell them that an old man comes down the chimney on Christmas Eve, to leave presents at their bedside.
Presents made by his army of elves at the North Pole. That last bit may have to change in the next twenty years once the Polar Ice Cap melts.
But, come on, it’s Panto season so we all suspend our disbelief. Most kids know those gifts in their stockings were put there by Mum and Dad. Ironically, many of the toys children receive will have been made by child labour in a far-off land. That is the one sad truth in the Christmas story.