# Is Santa also Satan? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 10, 2000, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-santa-also-satan/32656 "2000-09-10T05:37:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PerfectDark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@PerfectDark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PerfectDark)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2000, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-santa-also-satan/32656/1 "2000-09-10T05:37:55Z")
Santa, Satan, Santa, Satan??? Ever wondered why they are never in the same photo? Perhaps Satan is Santa?? They have all the same letters and if you re-arrange them… SANTA = SATAN (the T,N,A moves around). Why does Santa wear red? Why is Satan red?? Santa fuels the commercialisation of Christmas, which originally never had the giving of presents just the celebration of the Birth of Christ!! Isn’t this commercialisation and the drawing away from the traditional religious values of the holiday EVIL?? Isn’t Satan pure EVIL?? What does he really do with those raindeer? Maybe we have all been fooled too long (or maybe I have been drinking too much coffee), PerfectDark ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2000, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-santa-also-satan/32656/2 "2000-09-10T05:59:42Z")
I suggest you go ask Satan yourself. He’s around here somewhere… ---
**Author:** ![Freyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freyr/32/5763_2.png) [@Freyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freyr)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2000, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-santa-also-satan/32656/3 "2000-09-10T14:58:29Z")
\*\*PerfectDark wrote: Why does Santa wear red? Why is Satan red??\*\* Santa wears red because of the Coca-Cola company. They put on ad campaign in the early part of this century associating Santa with their product, especially the bright red can. Sorry, don’t have any cites immediately available. I gotta go dig for them. Apologies. Where is it _ **EVER** _ said or documented that Satan is red? The traditional image of Satan as the horned, hooved being is drawn from the late Antique to early Christian period. After the conversion of the Roman Empire, church theologians hypothesized that the Pagan dieties were the fallen angels of Judeo/Christian mythology. Check out chapter 6 of _Athene; image and energy_ for a better explaination. IIRC, while Satan is discussed in the Bible, he’s never described. He only appears in the story of Job, to tempt Jesus and finally in Revelations. I _think_ Revelations gives a description, but it’s so couched in metaphorical language, you can’t be sure what’s being discribed. I think you need to lay off the coffee. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2000, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-santa-also-satan/32656/4 "2000-09-10T15:24:43Z")
The red santa / coke thing is false. At least according to Snopes [http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/santa.htm](http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/santa.htm) . Not to say that Coke wasn’t invented by Beelzeebub. ---
**Author:** ![Omniman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bcef8e/32.png) [@Omniman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniman)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2000, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-santa-also-satan/32656/5 "2000-09-10T21:46:00Z")
Satan was invented by the CocaCola company. Or was it the reverse:confused: ---
**Author:** ![Freyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freyr/32/5763_2.png) [@Freyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freyr)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2000, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-santa-also-satan/32656/6 "2000-09-11T16:16:23Z")
\*\*Colin Wilkinson wrote: The red santa / coke thing is false. At least according to Snopes [http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/santa.htm](http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/santa.htm). Not to say that Coke wasn’t invented by Beelzeebub.\*\* Colin, thanks for catching that. I can’t recall for the life of me where I read the article about Coke ad = Santa. Thanks for setting me right on that. And I’d still like to hear what **PerfectDark** has to say about the other points I raised. ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-santa-also-satan/32656/7 "2000-09-12T22:01:53Z")
Who you callin’ a Ho? * * * Yer pal, Satan - Commissioner, [The Teeming Minions](http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/full/show?lid=39428&page=leaguehome) \*I HAVE BEEN SMOKE-FREE FOR: Five months, three days, 20 hours, 0 minutes and 49 seconds. 6273 cigarettes not smoked, saving $784.17. Extra life with Drain Bead: 3 weeks, 18 hours, 45 minutes. \***“I’m a big Genesis fan.”-David B. _(Amen, brother!)_** \*\* ---
**Author:** ![CollegeStudent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CollegeStudent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CollegeStudent)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-santa-also-satan/32656/8 "2000-09-12T22:21:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Freyr \* > \*\*\*\*PerfectDark wrote: > > Why does Santa wear red? Why is Satan red??\*\* > > Santa wears red because of the Coca-Cola company. They put on ad campaign in the early part of this century associating Santa with their product, especially the bright red can. Sorry, don’t have any cites immediately available. I gotta go dig for them. Apologies. > > Where is it _ **EVER** _ said or documented that Satan is red? The traditional image of Satan as the horned, hooved being is drawn from the late Antique to early Christian period. After the conversion of the Roman Empire, church theologians hypothesized that the Pagan dieties were the fallen angels of Judeo/Christian mythology. Check out chapter 6 of _Athene; image and energy_ for a better explaination. > > IIRC, while Satan is discussed in the Bible, he’s never described. He only appears in the story of Job, to tempt Jesus and finally in Revelations. I _think_ Revelations gives a description, but it’s so couched in metaphorical language, you can’t be sure what’s being discribed. > > I think you need to lay off the coffee. \*\* Revelation refers to Satan in that it calls him the Dragon. And IMHO Santa is Satan :D. I don’t know though honestly ---
**Author:** ![Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-santa-also-satan/32656/9 "2000-09-13T00:08:19Z")
From what I understand, the whole concept of Santa Claus comes from the pagan holiday celebrating the Winter Solstice. The Saturnalia. If memory serves me right, Santa, as a fictional figure, is analagous to the Horned God who impregnates the Earth with his semen to bring about new the birth of new life in the spring. Of course–I’m reciting all of this from the top of my head, so I could be mistaken. As for Satan–The actual Devil (“Lucifer”–Satan is just a jewish word meaning ‘opposer’ which grew to represent Lucifer…much in the same way ‘Fuhrer’, the German word for ‘leader’ symbolizes Hitler) Lucifer is described in the bible as being a creature of ‘supreme beauty’, as he was supposedly God’s most perfect creation. The depiction of Satan as a twisted, horned demon probably comes from the Christians trying to villify other religions–I’ve heard it mentioned before that it might be a take-off on the description of Pan, the Greek lecher-God. I actually have a really old book of Grimm’s Fairy Tales that has a picture of the Devil in it–he looks like a tired old freak with a really bad haircut. 😛 I’ll scan a picture sometime. -Ashley ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-santa-also-satan/32656/10 "2000-09-13T01:29:44Z")
Hel-_lo-oo!_ “Santa” is Latin for “saint”. As in Saint Nicholas? (By way of the Dutch _"Sinterklaas’_) ---
**Author:** ![ren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@ren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ren)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-santa-also-satan/32656/11 "2000-09-13T02:04:03Z")
OK, but is Santana Satan or Santa? ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-santa-also-satan/32656/12 "2000-09-13T08:26:47Z")
Actually, a friend of mine once said (jokingly, of course) that Britney Spears was Satan… I don’t believe it. I don’t think Drain Bead would have anything to do with him if it were true. Personally, I think Santa is just a big red suit full of ducks. ---
**Author:** ![Navigator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4af34b/32.png) [@Navigator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Navigator)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-santa-also-satan/32656/13 "2000-09-13T11:53:02Z")
::scratches head:: I thought Satan was Stan A… or wuz it Stan A was Santa… oh… man… now I’m all confused! ---
**Author:** ![Santa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@Santa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santa)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-santa-also-satan/32656/14 "2000-09-13T13:09:05Z")
> [@](#): > > What does he really do with those raindeer? Just remember- reindeer lie. They tell horrible, horrible lies! > [@](#): > > Why does Santa wear red? Red is very slimming, you know! > [@](#): > > Satan was invented by the CocaCola company. Coke sucks! Pepsi rules! > [@](#): > > Personally, I think Santa is just a big red suit full of ducks. You’re getting close! Santa (contrary to popular belief, I am NOT a ho,ho,ho) ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-santa-also-satan/32656/15 "2000-09-13T13:28:10Z")
Hm. I never thought about it before. It’s true, they’re names are anagrams. And they both like red. And they’re never seen together. Also, Santa lives at the coldest point in the world, while Satan lives at the hottest point. Reindeer have horns and hoofs, as do Satan’s little helpers. Santa shovels coal into the stockings of bad children, and Satan’s minions shovel coal into flaming hellfires. Santa knows if you’ve been bad or good, and so does Satan. People send Santa a list of what they want, and people call out to Satan what they want (as in, “I’d sell my soul if I could see the Senators win the pennant!” is the cue for Satan, aka Applegate, to appear.) Santa comes down the chimney and Satan is associated with fire. And if you take off Santa’s beard (patently false) and hat(so you can see the horns)… why, it’s like taking off Clark Kent’s glasses! You can see the resemblance! ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-santa-also-satan/32656/16 "2000-09-13T17:33:47Z")
Now people are going to demand a simulpost from Santa and myself so they won’t think we’re sock puppets… * * * Yer pal, Satan - Commissioner, [The Teeming Minions](http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/full/show?lid=39428&page=leaguehome) \*I HAVE BEEN SMOKE-FREE FOR: Five months, four days, 15 hours, 36 minutes and 56 seconds. 6306 cigarettes not smoked, saving $788.25. Extra life with Drain Bead: 3 weeks, 21 hours, 30 minutes. \***“I’m a big Genesis fan.”-David B. _(Amen, brother!)_** \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Wildest\_Bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Wildest\_Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wildest_Bill)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2000, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-santa-also-satan/32656/17 "2000-09-13T17:45:03Z")
\*Originally posted by CKDextHavn \* > [@](#): > > while Satan lives at the hottest point. This is acually a misconception. Satan(the real bad dude not Brian btw brian why did you pick Satan as your user name?) is not in Hell now according to the Bible. He is on the earth. Seems like his favorite dwelling place(since he is not omnipresent like God) is around the Babylon area(although I “bet” he goes to Vegas alot) according to things I have heard. He will not be in the “hot” place until the end of the 1000 reign of Christ on earth. I just thought I should throw that in. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-santa-also-satan/32656/18 "2000-09-14T02:23:17Z")
Wildest Bill… > [@](#): > > He is on the earth. Seems like his favorite dwelling place(since he is not omnipresent like God) is around the Babylon area(although I “bet” he goes to Vegas alot) according to things I have heard. According to a Drew Carrey episode, he lives in New Jersey. Well, at least his ID is registered there. CKDextHavn… > [@](#): > > Santa knows if you’ve been bad or good, and so does Satan. Santa wants you to be bad, Satan wants you to be good. If you’re bad, Satan gives you donuts and Santa gives you underwear. If you’re good, Santa gives you toys and Satan gives you Mormons. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-santa-also-satan/32656/19 "2000-09-14T02:24:46Z")
Oops, transpose “Santa” and “Satan” in that first sentence in response to CK’s post. Damn these similarly-spelled words!!! My fevered brain can’t compute!!! ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-santa-also-satan/32656/20 "2000-09-14T07:30:07Z")
It’s like the easter bunny. They’re your parents.