Generally
'In 1821, the book A New-year's present, to the little ones from five to twelve was published in New York. It contained "Old Santeclaus", an anonymous poem describing an old man on a reindeer sleigh, bringing presents to children.
'Many of Santa Claus's modern attributes are established in the 1823 poem "A Visit From St. Nicholas" (better known today as "The Night Before Christmas"), such as riding in a sleigh that lands on the roof, entering through the chimney, and having a bag full of toys. St. Nick is described as being "chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf" with "a little round belly", that "shook when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly", in spite of which the "miniature sleigh" and "tiny reindeer" still indicate that he is physically diminutive.
'As the years passed, Santa Claus evolved in popular culture into a large, heavyset person. One of the first artists to define Santa Claus's modern image was American cartoonist Thomas Nast, an American cartoonist who immortalized Santa Claus with an 1863 illustration for Harper's Weekly in which Santa is shown dressed in an American flag, and has a puppet with the name "Jeff" written on it.
The story that Santa Claus lives at the North Pole may also have been a Nast creation. His Christmas image in the Harper’s December, 1866 issue included the caption "Santa Claussville, N.P." In 1869, a poem appeared in Harper's titled "Santa Claus and His Works" by George P. Webster, which stated that Santa Claus’s home was "near the North Pole, in the ice and snow". The tale had become well known by the 1870s.
'The popular conception of Santa Claus's home traditionally includes a residence and a workshop where he creates — often with the aid of elves or other supernatural beings — the gifts he delivers to good children at Christmas. Some stories and legends include a village, inhabited by his helpers, surrounding his home and shop.
'By the end of the 20th century, the reality of mass mechanized production became more fully accepted by the Western public. That shift was reflected in the modern depiction of Santa's residence—now often portrayed as a fully mechanized production and distribution facility, equipped with the latest manufacturing technology, and overseen by the elves with Santa and Mrs. Claus as executives and/or managers.'-- collaged
Architecturally
'There's an old riddle that challenges children to draw a diagram of a house without lifting their pencil or repeating a line. The basic shape is composed of a square with diagonals running from corner to corner, topped with a triangular roof. In Germany, kids are taught to speak one syllable of the phrase, 'Das ist das Haus des Nikolaus,' for each line they draw. The game is known as 'The House of Santa Claus.' This simple line drawing represents some of the architectural imagery that forms the setting of the Santa Claus myth. His home, village and workshop, have transformed through the centuries in step with the evolution of the man himself.
'Scandinavian influence on the St. Nicholas myth formed the basis of the Santa Claus story and would be the first point of reference for his architectural traditions. Now living at the North Pole, his house was believed to be a traditional earth hut of northern Lapland. These circular homes were constructed of curving pine rafters that formed a dome shape, supported with sod and covered with reindeer skins. A hearth was placed at the centre of the room, vented through a smoke hole at the top of the structure. Village shaman would traditionally enter through these holes, thought to be the origin of Santa's ritual chimney descent. Children in Denmark and Greenland today believe that Santa Claus lives in one of these huts on the island of Uummannaq in western Greenland.
'As the legend of St. Nicholas continued to evolve, his home became associated with traditional Scandinavian log structures that combined the artistic skill and woodworking techniques of Viking ship building. Known as stave construction, unpainted vertical pine logs were set within a post and beam frame that supported a high pitch, wood shingle, pagoda style roof. Gables, doorways and structural supports were decorated with ornate wood carvings similar to the prow of a Viking ship. This timber frame, alpine image has prevailed through the centuries as a common representation of Santa's home in popular culture.
'Popular associations with the architecture that surrounded Santa changed in the late 1800s into the traditional half-timber buildings common in northern Europe. This construction style uses large oak timbers to create a structural frame that is filled with light coloured brick and plaster. The contrasting dark wood columns and angled bracing form a distinctive pattern that is expressed on the building's exterior. This construction method was widespread across northern Europe and has become the predominant architectural imagery related to Santa Claus, found in snow-globes, children's books and on Christmas decorations.
'The 20th Century did see periodic diversions from this traditional imagery. In England, the characterization of Santa as a "right jolly old elf" resulted in his home being represented at shopping malls and department stores as a grotto or magical cave, the mythical home of Scandinavian elves. Popular children's holiday cartoons such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Santa Claus is Coming to Town, portrayed Santa living in a Romanesque style, Bavarian castle with towers, gables and ornamental turrets.
'Modern interpretations have generally returned to the image of European half-timber buildings, but with the introduction of Santa's workshop, the architecture of the North Pole has taken on a grander scale. Modern Hollywood movies describe Santa's home as a bustling European style, medieval village surrounding a monumental production and distribution facility, equipped with modern manufacturing technology, staffed by teams of tireless elves.
'As the depiction of Santa Claus has evolved through the centuries, so, too, has the architecture that provides a context to his myth. Santa's timeless image will likely remain consistent in the future, but his architecture will continue to evolve.'-- Brent Bellamy, Number Ten Architectural Group
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Interview
Do you have visitors at the North Pole?
Well it is a little difficult to give direction, because the North Pole is not stationary, the water above which is thick ice is constantly moving because of the ocean currents. If I were to give you directions on where we were by the time you got here we wouldn’t be here. If it were not for my reindeer’s keen sense of direction I might get lost too.
Do you live at your North Pole Village?
The North Pole is my permanent residence and the place I love the most. But, throughout the year I visit many cities and countries, where I stop and stay for a few days. Many of my favorite places to visit are a secret known only to Mrs. Claus and me.
What do you do when you're not making toys?
Santa relaxes by walking in our forest just outside North Pole Village and listening to the voices of the wilderness. I also spend time preparing for next Christmas delivery by reading children’s letter. You know children write me all year long and I so do look forward to hearing from each of them. My favorite pastime is reading books and listening to music.
Do you understand animal language?
Why yes, I understand a little animal language. But actually the animals are very smart and they totally understand everything that I say. Have you found that you do not always understand one of your pets, but they understand things that you say or tell them. It’s really remarkable.
Are all the gifts made at Santa’s North Pole Village?
Not all of them. Some are made at home, and they are especially precious. You’ve surely heard of homemade jelly or mustard or hand knit wool socks. In some places there are little workshops that also help Santa by making gifts.
How many elves are there living at North Pole Village?
That’s something no one knows exactly. Elves are such fast little people, and they are rarely ever all in the same place at the same time. But when the sun sets in the North Pole, there are probably as many little elf toes under the blankets as there are stars in the night sky, if not more.
Do you have swimming trunks?
Indeed I do, and I use them regularly. I like to swim best in the summer but I am known to jump into the icy cold water and play with Polar Bears, but I always make sure the Elf lifeguards are on duty.
What does your house look like?
That's a good question.
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65 educated guesses
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p.s. Hey. ** Josh feola, Hi! Wow, Sintronics is a sweet discovery. I had no idea about it, so thank you for the alert. Incredible resource, and very welcome. I knew SmartBeijing just a little from my searches for post stuff, but I somehow hadn't focused on you being the music editor. Well, turbulent or not, it seems like you've had a momentous year. I would love to get clued in on your poetry book and music project when the time is apt. Great, Josh, take care! ** Scunnard, Normally I would say comfy is a dangerous thing, but if we're talking about a rock, there's a saving discrepancy there. ** les mots dans le nom, Hi. Oh, no problem on the novels thing. I just like them and seem to be into making no bones about that here. 'Force fed', yeah, I get that. Most fiction, or at least fiction that comes with a standard approach and agenda for the reader, makes me feel that way. The stuff I like is more or almost like epic paragraphic poetry or something. Or that idea of it is my way in. ** MANCY, I had to fact check the date-related facts a bunch of times when making that list, so, yeah. Would be very cool to get that Part Wolf demo, if there's a way. And I'll go check out the Lié EP very, very shortly. Thanks a whole lot, S! ** David Ehrenstein, Morning. ** Steevee, Me too, about Carax. How long it will take him to get what he's planning to make actually made is the question, I guess. Ha ha, I'd like to hear Franzen's answers too, but I don't know if it would be worth giving that inflated mediocrity the additional column inches. ** Bill, Yeah, I know, early signage of a new Carax is delicious news indeed. I like crunchy abstraction. I really do. So your recs could end up being my recs a week or month or whenever from now so easily. Thanks, Bill. ** Tosh Berman, I don't think the Jarmusch has been released anywhere yet. It's on the festival circuit, or it was until recently. I just got an early look thanks to the generosity of someone in-the-know. Yes, Gisele tells me that Carax is an absolutely massive Sparks fan. Makes total sense somehow, doesn't it? ** Stopreading, Hi, Stopreading. Welcome to the blog. Thank you for being here. I started reading the interviews on your blog, and they are most interesting, and I will return there and proceed at the soonest opportunity. Please consider here a place to hang out if you like. ** The Man Who Couldn't Blog, Banish your self-doubt to some dark realm containing some kind of reverse magnetic energy or something that does a kyptonite-type number on your self doubt, I say. Cool, look forward both to your linked HTMLG posts and the opportunity to get far, far, far away from the kerfuffle. I have looking at the paintings on my today's agenda, and I'm sure I'll enjoy the time. Yeah, thank you, great Matthew! ** Dom Lyne, Saw the email as I was half-asleep this morning, and I'll open it when I'm fully awake, which feels like a state that's in the offing. Nice about the family Xmas, and, of course, that the meds thing got sorted without the veritable hitch. 2014 is going to the best year yet. I can feel it in my bones. ** Brendan, That's very true, i.e. the new Melt Banana is very wonderful. Hm, existential crisis, yeah, I see. How about ... okay, if I were you, or if I were myself with only very slight differences, maybe I would start building some sort of totally 'insane''outsider art'-like thing that presents your most unaltered and uncensored aesthetics and wishes and so on at a really big scale, maybe in or outside/near your house for convenience, or in the desert or something, you know, like Watts Towers or Grandma Prisbee's Bottle Village or something that'll take a bunch of your life to make, and that will make most people think you're bizarre, or ... I don't know. Maybe not. That was the first cure that sprang to mind, but I'm sans the second cup of coffee that lifts me each day into so-called full consciousness. I don't know. You sound like you're doing great to me. I'm doing really good, man. Just like you but slightly differently but not radically differently. ** Will C., I liked 'The Avengers', so, okay. Basically, I save blockbuster movies for the long plane flights I seem to take all the time, even though that context is so wrong for the intended gigantic-ness of blockbusters. But sometimes I try to decide if there's a blockbuster that I really need to see in the theater. And, so, maybe it'll be the new 'Thor'. It seems like it would warrant that treatment more than the new 'Hunger Games', which was the big movie I was half-thinking of seeing on the big screen until you brought up the Thor one. It's weird, but I was never a comic book guy ever. Not even the tiniest thing against them, I just somehow didn't end up reading them. Weird. Cool, really glad that you feel welcome, and please take as much advantage of that as you like/can. ** Mark Gluth, Hi, Mark. I'm FB friends with Basinski, and he seems like an incredibly nice, down to earth, approachable guy, so it seems he could totally into that. Great blurb idea! Well, yeah, on the Pitchfork thing re: Vampire Weekend. And Moonface. But, hey, Pollard put out three genius records this year, and about that many every year, and I don't think anything that he or GbV has made during Pitchfork's lifetime has ever gotten more than a begrudging 7 points from them in rare instances, much less made their hoity-toity year end list. ** Alistair McCartney, Hi, Alistair! Awesome to see you! Yeah, I think I noted on FB that you guys are going to Australia. Very sweet! Except for the plane trips to and fro, yikes. Very exciting news that there are only a couple of months' work left on your novel! Mine goes very well, but with many more months than that ahead of it, and yet so it goes, as you well know. If I don't get to interact with you again before, have a great, great Xmas! ** Misanthrope, Get those pounds off your ass, man, yeah, as soon as the dreaded Xmas + stomach codependence thing is history. Clear, much better! Too bad about LPS not going, but cool that you're free of all that driving, I guess. I was hoping Alan's quietude was novel-related, great! So, you're off already. Okay, I'll see you on Monday night-ish with blogging bells on. Have a blast! ** Rigby, Rigster! To what do I owe this so sadly rare occasion in which you plunge masterfully into my humble abode. Oh, it's love that brought you in! And my prettiness! And surely your prettiness had a thing to do with it too. What's up, lustrous one? Ha ha, holy fucking shit, on that Joseph Mills as singer for Divorce thing. I'm, as my mother used to say, 'in stitches' over here. ** Bill Porter, Hi, Bill. Yikes, I'll go check out that Franzen thing, thanks. The name Edmund Caldwell does ring a bell. You good? ** MyNeighbourJohnTurtorro, Hey! Aw, thanks, man. I'd be almost nowhere without The Wire. It's like my one IRL addiction almost. So that's a heavy compliment you gave me right there. 'Play', yeah, I still definitely intend to see that somehow. The Ensemble Pearl was terrific, for sure. You probably know that the music on that album was originally the rough draft score for one of Gisele's and my and Stephen's theater pieces. It was stuff that didn't end up on stage for reasons have nothing to with its excellence, obviously. I don't think I know Divorce, no. I'll use that link and get them known, thanks a lot! I just tried a few seconds of that youtube Divorce song, and it does sound great. I'll take it off pause as soon as I launch this. ** Rewritedept, Hi, Chris. You do the Xmas Eve thing. I guess a lot of people do. We always did the Xmas morning thing. My family, I mean. I think on Xmas Eve we ate cookies and milk or something. My Thursday ... saw my visiting bro, bought two Xmas presents, waited for and received a Fed Ex package, wrote, etc. My poetry book isn't officially out yet so, no, no press that I know of. Not sure if it'll get much. Poetry is sadly only poetry in the eyes of the press. I saw that about the 'Ladies and Gentlemen ... ' shows. I saw the original one, and it was pretty fucking good. IOW, sorry, man. ** Okay. Today is another Day when I try to find something interesting about Xmas and its back story. No clue as to whether it's of interest outside my head. There you go. See you tomorrow.