In thinking about my favorite holiday Horror Story, Myth, or Legend, I surprised myself. Off the cuff Krampus springs to mind, but honestly, I've not really given this enough thought previous to this prompt, so answering with a staunch, "Favorite" seems a bit disingenuous. Also, the surprising part is that another story sprang immediately to mind, and it's one I haven't actually read, watched or listened to since I was a kid. That's how the stories that impact us most stay with us, though. I'm talking about Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.
But that's not the story I want to actually talk about now. No, for that I'm going to something I only just learned about, but which has stayed on my mind since I read about it in a recent issue of Hellebore magazine. Specifically, an incident described in the article "The Lord of Misrule," written by Katy Soar, published in Hellebore N. 4 - The Yuletide Special.
The incident in question took place in the French city of Dijon, a giant effigy of Santa Claus was tied to the Cathedral's gates and set on fire in front of a crowd that included as many as 200 children.
This was the church's way of protesting the "Paganization" of Christmas, as Santa Claus is, historically, linked to pre-Christian ritual most widely known as The Lord of Misrule. Ms. Soars does an excellent job mapping the lineage in this article, and you can check out and order Hellebore HERE, but for a shortcut, there's also THIS article.
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