Santa – the facts
Santa – the facts
Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth. The Grey Hare Spies have been hunting to bring to you- Santa – the facts. According to observations from the International Space Station and NORAD he travels east to west. NORAD have a special SANTA tracking facility that is made ready for its once a year outing to ensure that SANTA is kept safe and should there be any mishaps then the right help can be provided quickly.
He makes 822.6 visits per second allowing him 1/1000th of a second to park, hop out of the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the next house….. phew….. so the chances of children seeing him are very remote….
This means that Santa’s sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, 3,000 times the speed of sound. This makes Rudolf a very special type of reindeer as a conventional reindeer can run at a maximum of about 15 miles per hour.
In addition to the facts researched by the Grey Hare Media team above there are a few other things you should know about the global Big Red Man… and all of these have come from www.uselessdaily.com.
- In the United States and Canada, his name is Santa Claus.
- In China, he is called Shengdan Laoren.
- In England, his name is Father Christmas, where he has a longer coat and a longer beard.
- In Germany, children get presents from Christindl, the Christ Child.
- In France, he’s known as Pere Noel.
- Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, Santy, or simply Santa is a figure with legendary, historical and folkloric origins who, in many Western cultures, is said to bring gifts to the homes of the good children on 24 December, the night before Christmas Day.
- The modern figure of Santa Claus is derived from the Dutch figure of Sinterklaas, whose name is a dialectal pronunciation of Saint Nicholas, the historical Greek bishop and gift-giver of Myra.
- During the Christianization of Germanic Europe, this figure may have absorbed elements of the god Odin, who was associated with the Germanic pagan midwinter event of Yule and led the Wild Hunt, a ghostly procession through the sky.
- Santa Claus is generally depicted as a portly, joyous, white-bearded man—sometimes with spectacles—wearing a red coat with white collar and cuffs, white-cuffed red trousers, and black leather belt and boots and who carries a bag full of gifts for children.
- Images of him rarely have a beard with no moustache.
- This image became popular in the United States and Canada in the 19th century due to the significant influence of the 1823 poem “A Visit From St. Nicholas” and of caricaturist and political cartoonist Thomas Nast.
- This image has been maintained and reinforced through song, radio, television, children’s books and films.
- Since the 20th century, in an idea popularized by the 1934 song “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”, Santa Claus has been believed to make a list of children throughout the world, categorising them according to their behaviour (“naughty” or “nice”) and to deliver presents, including toys, and candy to all of the well-behaved children in the world, and sometimes coal to the naughty children, on the single night of Christmas Eve.
- He accomplishes this feat with the aid of the elves who make the toys in the workshop and the flying reindeer who pull his sleigh. He is commonly portrayed as living at the North Pole and saying “ho ho ho” often.
- The tradition of Santa Claus entering dwellings through the chimney is shared by many European seasonal gift-givers. In pre-Christian Norse tradition, Odin would often enter through chimneys and fire holes on the solstice.
Track Santa at using the special NORAD portal below:
By the way – the Grey Hare Media team can help you with any of your requirements, we will talk to anyone (ish) – if you want to get in touch click HERE
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