In sweden, santa during christmas doesn't really have anything to do with religion. It comes from old beliefs that every farm and house has a Tomte/santa who took care of all the cattle and chores. We've believed in this little "santa" for hundred of hundreds of years. Tomten belonged to the same kind as gnomes, goblins and elves which is called väsen or oknytt.
And people were very superstitious, it was said that if you didn't treat him well with gratitude he could get very offended and stop helping out at the farm. And even cause misfortune and bad luck. And he did not like to be joked with or being treated without respect. I guess for you guys our santa would be more like a Gnome to you? Well, anyway... He was very fair. Both to humans and animals. Overworking an animal or a farmworker could also bring you bad luck cause he would not take kindly to people who mistreated their workers and animals ya know? Apparently his favorite animal was the Horse and the ram. Which is also why sweden has christmas rams made out of wheat and red ribbons on it. And later on gingerbread pigs was highly appreciated by him :)
So therefor people always made sure to leave some food for him outside. Especially during christmas cause he'd walk through the snow with his christmas ram and work very hard. But in those days it was the people who gave HIM gifts as thanks for him working so hard. And people who saw him said that he was a very small being, like the height of a child with an old mans face, and very long grey beard (sometimes white) And he'd wear a red, grey or a green suit and often a red woolen cap (Or a pixie cap if you prefer that)
Well, since everyone wanted to show gratitude for him being the hard worker as he was they'd
leave out a plate of warm rice pudding (Actually it's more like Rice grain porridge) with cinnamon and sugar on top and milk for him to eat on christmas eve's morning (we celebrate christmas on the 24th) And back in the old ages it was rice grain porridge with a bit of butter on it. And to eat it with they'd leave out a spoon made out of wood since Tomten hated metals. Hence, we eat Tomegröt (santariceporridge) during christmas in sweden.
See, my family left out a plate of porridge for him as well when I was a kid. It was always such fun! Cause my aunt and mother would always take time at making the porridge and then the entire family would sit down at the table and eat. And it's also custom to leave a penny, an almond and a piece of apple in the porridge for luck, fortune and love, but that's another story. I guess leaving a plate out in the snow is something a family with young kids do so kids can see that santa was there in the morning to eat the rice. We were always so excited to see that santa ate all of it :D
Anyway, moving on.
Our santa looks a bit different from the "american" santa indeed.
And he changed his looks during the early 1700 century (1800 in swedish counting) when a lady called Jenny Nyström painted him. Her painting became famous and we often have her paintings as christmas cards even now. He was a bit more modern and looked like a mixture between our homestead gnome and Saint Nicholaus (The german saint) And that's how our santa is even today.
The american santa was actually created by Coca Cola company believe it our not. Pretty cool huh?
Oh and one more thing, in sweden...we don't believe that santa has little elfs like you see in many movies and so on. In swedish folklores he just has those little helpers. Miniature santas :D
Here's some pics of swedish Tomtar :D
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