CHRISTMAS 2021 ADVENT DAY 17 BLOG POST
CHRISTMAS 2021 ADVENT DAY 17 BLOG POST
jeanniejeanniejeannie.co.uk BLOG Friday 17th December 2021
ADVENT DOOR 17 – 24 DAY COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS DAY!
8 SLEEPS UNTIL CHRISTMAS DAY
- A CHRISTMAS CARD.
- THOUGHT FOR CHRISTMAS.
Why Does Santa Claus Give Coal To Bad Kids?
“If you don’t behave, Santa won’t give you any presents for Christmas – just a big lump of coal.”
Now I can tell you that is a sentence I would hear as a kid at least once a year (and usually more often) in the run-up to Christmas.
The mere prospect of unwanted fossil fuels in lieu of toys and chocolate was enough to send me running off in a fearful fit of tears, promising to amend my tantrum-ing ways!
But where exactly does this notion come from? It can’t have been unique, because my childhood best-friend said his mom had said that to him too.
So let’s do a little digging and go on a journey of festive discovery together.
In the early days of Santa, he was known for only delivering presents to the good kids and punishing the bad ones.
Even back in the early 1800s, literature about Santa didn’t have him punishing bad kids with lumps of coal, but rather “a long, black, birched rod” as a lash for dealing out physical punishment.
That said, though, coal was still a relatively new thing on a domestic level in the early 1800s, so it’s fair to assess coal wouldn’t be commonplace back then and as such wouldn’t have really made it into common folklore.
So instead of coal, naughty kids got stones, ashes, cold potatoes, or – the most sinister of them all – a bit of a light whipping or a beating from the jolly red fellow.
Or was he green back then? Or is green Santa a myth? I can never remember why Santa is really red.
But what about the coal?
Santa in the dark with lumps of coal
Well, truth be told, the coal is quite a hard thing to pin down.
In fact, it might pre-date the earliest of early Santa himself, but the snows are very muddied on this one I’m afraid!
So, whilst it’s a staple that Santa has always punished the naughty kids, the coal seems to come from a whole bunch of different places.
In Italian folklore, kids were visited by a witch on her flying broomstick who dished out gifts and candy to the good kids, and coal to the bad kids.
Some people think that the idea of bad kids getting coal came from 16th Century Holland.
Children would put their clogs by the fireplace on Christmas Eve and the good kids would get them filled with candy or small toys but the bad kids would have their clogs filled with coal.
In Victorian England, Santa would only give coal to poor kids as a form of punishment for the bad deeds that made their family poor.
However, this would prove beneficial to the poor families as they could burn the coal, something which they couldn’t usually afford.
So why coal?
Simple answer: we just don’t know!
All we can really do is speculate on why he delivers the coal. One thing a lot of people suspect is that it all links to the chimney and the fireplace.
Santa and his various helpers within the different folklore versions around the world often enter a house from the chimney, delivering gifts that are by the fireplace.
Therefore it would make sense that coal, a marker of bad kids, is something related to the fireplace.
This links into the Germanic version of ye olde Santa, where he would deliver bags of ashes to naughty kids rather than a lump of coal.
So, whilst we might not know why Santa gives coal to bad kids, we do know that you better watch out, you better not shout, you better not pout – unless you want a big lump of coal in your stocking.
Written by: Jack De Graaf
- A Christmas Track.
- 24 When Santa Got Stuck Up The Chimney
- A CHRISTMAS ALBUM.
- AN ANNUAL.
- A CHRISTMAS THEMED GAME.
- CHRISTMAS FILMS.
- CHRISTMAS CHOCOLATESELECTION BOX.
- A CHRISTMAS THEMED JIGSAW.
- A CHILDREN’S CHRISTMAS BOOK.
- DRIVING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS.
- ADULT CHRISTMAS BOOK.
- A CHRISTMAS TREE.
- CHRISTMAS JUMPERS.
- CHRISTMAS TV TIMES.
- CHRISTMAS RADIO TIMES.
- A PANTOMIME.
BLACKPOOL
Venue: The Grand Theatre
Title: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Production company: UK Productions
Dates: 3rd December 2021 – 2nd January 2022
Cast: Vicky Entwistle, Steve Royle, Jamie Steen, Chris Warner Drake, Ellie Green,
- ELF ON THE SHELF.
- CHRISTMAS TOP FORTY.
Radio London BIG L Fab ‘Forty’ for Sunday 25th December 1966
Broadcast from the Offshore Pirate Radio Ship MV Galaxy
This was the highlight of my Christmas Day 1966. A brilliant year for music and I loved the Offshore Pirate Radio Stations. I loved them
Field’s Festive Fab ‘Forty’ for Sunday 25th December 1966
‘Twas Christmas Day and the Fab was still fat – containing forty-six entries! Presented by Ed Stewart
Last This
Week Week
5 1 Happy Jack Who
7 2 Any Way That You Want Me Troggs
3 3 Save Me Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick & Tich
12 4 In The Country Cliff Richard & the Shadows
13 5 (I Know) I’m Losing You Temptations
1 6 Sunshine Superman Donovan
10 7 Mustang Sally Wilson Pickett
8 8 Deadlier Than The Male Walker Brothers
18 9 My Girl, The Month Of May Dion & the Belmonts
16 10 Night Of Fear Move
17 11 Under New Management Barron Knights
2 12 Morningtown Ride Seekers
26 13 Too Many Fish In The Sea Young Rascals
11 14 Hang On To A Dream Tim Hardin
33 15 Baby Do The Philly Dog Olympics
22 16 Going Nowhere Los Bravos
37 17 Single Girl Sandy Posey
34 18 Hey Joe Jimi Hendrix Experience
4 19 If Every Day Was Like Christmas Elvis Presley
15 20 I Feel Free Cream
30 21 Progress Pretty Things
31 22 I See The Light Simon Dupree & the Big Sound
23 23 When Will The Good Apples Fall Ronnie Hilton
9 24 Pamela Pamela Wayne Fontana
25 25 Listen To My Heart Bats
– 26 Nashville Cats Lovin’ Spoonful
6 27 Dead End Street Kinks
14 28 Walk With Faith In Your Heart Bachelors
34 29 Sugar Town Nancy Sinatra
– 30 (Come ‘Round Here) I’m The One You Need Miracles
_–__ 31 The Eggplant That Ate Chicago Dr West’s Medicine Show & Junk Band
– 32 I’m A Believer Monkees
29 33 The Star Of The Show (The La La Song) Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band
– 33 Call Her Your Sweetheart Frank Ifield
30 34 Listen To The River Roll Along Wee Willie Harris
28 34 Oh What A Fool Peter Lee Stirling
– 35 From Head To Toe Escorts
31 35 Green Green Grass Of Home Tom Jones
40 36 Baby Tomorrow Paul Jones
– 37 Run To The Door Clinton Ford
36 37 Make Believe Jason Deane
38 38 Gotta Get Out The Mess I’m In Young Idea
39 38 Something Inside Of Me Died Gene Latter
20 39 Yes Virginia There Is A Santa Claus Neil Spence
– 40 I’m Not Your Stepping Stone Flies
- 40 One Night Stand Incas
- SCROOGE.
- SANTA & RUDOLF.
- A CHRISTMAS FACT OR TWO OR THREE OR FOUR.
- The idea of a white Christmas comes from Dickens’ works. Dickens lived during a mini ice age which meant every Christmas it snowed for 8 years straight.
- The very first string of electric Christmas tree lights was created in 1882.
Up until the 20th Century it was common for Christmas trees to be lit up by candles, something which was understandably quite dangerous!
- The first electric Christmas tree lights were created by Thomas Edison’s business partner and friend, Edward H. Johnson, in 1882. The cost involved in creating the lights and installing them was so high that they weren’t affordable to the general public until a few decades later. That being said, Johnson’s Christmas tree was declared to be “the handsomest Christmas Tree in the United States”.
4.Different names of SANTA CLAUS around the world include: Kriss Kringle in Germany, Le Befana in Italy, Pere Noel in France and Deushka Moroz (Grandfather Frost) in Russia.
- A CHRISTMAS CRACKER JOKE.
How does Santa keep track of all the fireplaces he’s visited?
He keeps a logbook.
- CHRISTMAS GINGERBREAD HOUSE.
©2021 Phil M Robinson