Not sure if this is a GQ question or a CS one. Really it is about folklore, but the question arises from a song.
The old (and possibly quite obscure) song “Kris Kingle” (also known as “The Christmas Tree”) seems to depict Kris Kringle as Santa Claus’s helper:
A later verse has the line,
The song dates back to at least 1877 century, here it is in a newspaper:
I am somewhat familiar with the origins of “Kris Kringle” in the German “Christkindl,” but I understand that to have been a figure that was created as sort of a Christian alternative to Santa and would not appear in the same mythology as Santa and certainly would not be subordinate to Santa.
If anyone can provide some insight here it would be most helpful! I have not found it an easy subject to google.
As an aside, I am also intrigued by the notion in this song that Kris Kringle is bring the Christmas tree itself along with the gifts to go under it. I have no idea if this was ever a popular concept.
It has been a while since I started a thread here and I forgot about the edit window. Can the thread title be changed to, “Christmas Folklore Question: Kris Kringle as Santa Claus’s Man?”
Certainly that is my understanding of the modern folklore as well. My curiosity is about what beliefs were in place in the 19th century when this song was written.
Based on the name, and as confirmed by the Wikipedia page, Christkindl is basically Jesus. So it would make sense that Santa would be subordinate to him.
The newspaper that you quote from was based out of Rockland County, which had a fairly large Dutch population (supposedly), which explains the Christkindl connection.
So, my guess - should no one else have better information - is that the American Dutch and American English ended up both bringing their Holiday characters into the American whole and those got merged together over time. In the song, we’re seeing a point where they are still apart but have been brought together into a single universe. But, since one is Jesus, clearly he takes a higher position.
I was talking to my mom about the song and she says that her grandparents, who were of German/Dutch descent, had a tradition of putting up the Christmas tree while the children were sleeping Christmas Eve night. They also only called Santa Kris Kringle.
So maybe that is some insight into the “coming with a Christmas tree” part.
I take it the Kris Kringle and St Nickolas and Father Christmas were competing memes.
My guess is that when the idea of St N’s servant (Black Peter etc) entered the field around the middle of the 19th century, this was one way of bringing the competing ideas together. As in “I know who Santa Claus is, who is this Kris Kringle bringing presents that I keep hearing about?”
My family tradition was that the Christmas Tree appeared on Christmas Day, but I was never told that it was anything other than just the way Dad did it.
I have been doing research on old traditions and found that most of the holidays we have today are changed versions of Germanic and Nordic holidays. The Nords would get a log and decorate it with symbols of things they wanted to be blessed with throughout the next year. When Christians were converting them over they didn’t want to completely take their holidays away so they just changed them little by little over time. I also knew a girl from Holland. Their tradition was they put up stockings Christmas Eve and “Santa” filled their stockings at night. If you look into Norse mythology, you may find more answers.
