I sense your presents…

Wintertime in Western culture is known for the religious and pagan traditions of gift-giving, merriment and feasting around Christmas. Commonly across many cultures, it is considered Santa Claus delivers gifts. Last year we asked, ‘where’ does Santa come from?

This year we are looking into ‘how’ – namely how does Santa Claus (or whichever gift-bringer) navigate and deliver their gifts? Using a map of course! We can only guess on the actual map Santa uses – but I imagine that it could look like something like the stylised map below which I hope you enjoy.

Several cultures have different figures who deliver gifts – Santa Claus is dominant in the Anglophone world following the globalizing impacts of American culture. But in other areas of the world, the more historical or religious figures of Christ Child, Three Kings or Saint Nicholas.

Others like Julemanden and La Befana are more pagan in origin. Whatever the cultural figure – as the metro-map styled plan shows above, there is an interesting multitude of cultural diffusion, similarities and differences.

To get the fullscreen version of the embedded map below click here

Have a mappy and happy hoildays/Christmas!

David

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