* (restored)
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
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.
71 educated guesses
*
p.s. RIP Udo Kier ** Dr. Kosten Koper, Hi. Heavy GOAT candidate for sure. Thank you for the great read. Wonderful about the post, thank you kindly, sir. ** Tosh Berman, Totally agree, no surprise. Hi, Tosh. ** Dominik, Hi!!! It’s cool, although not for you unless brain death has a good side. Bad timing even if so maybe. Screening seemed to go really well, thank you. It did snow in the middle of the night but I was asleep and missed it, but the videos of that look dreamy. So all credit to love. Love’s architecture firm being hired by Santa Claus and given an unlimited budget, G. ** Carsten, I, on the other hand, have a bit of a fetish for intertextual art. Interesting. No, nothing but interesting to read your delve into yoruba. I obviously hope Nigeria gives you landfall. ** Misanthrope, Hi, G. The Saturday RT screening just got switched to Friday by the host, and I think it’s sold out, but I don’t know. Nice if you can come. We’ll be popping in and out of NYC quickly then too due to money absence meets hotel expenses. Really good news about David. Highest hopes. Get more opinions, yes, sir! ** Laura, Thanks, I think it went well. No, I dressed like I always dress. It was very casual, on my part at least. I don’t know since I no longer indulge, but my impression is that’s very hard to find psychedelic drugs with the power and purity that one could easily find in the 60s/70s when I was indulging. Might be as simple as that. I had mostly excellent trips barring the two extreme nightmare ones that drove me away from psychedelics for good. Well, my indulgence was mostly during psychedelia, so it wasn’t hard to find a conducive trippy band with an appropriate lightshow. My rave era was the very early 90s, essentially near the movement’s dawn. Oh, gosh, I never actually bought trance records. I think maybe I liked the very early Sven Vath stuff? Seriously? I think my name is so dull. And its rhythm is very singsongy., ugh. So thank you. It snowed in the middle of night, so I didn’t see it, just some white stuff on the rooftops near my windows being decimated by rain in the next morning. ** _Black_Acrylic, I haven’t had a Napoleon in ages. I don’t think they actually call them Napoleons over here. Or maybe they do. I almost never see them in the patisserie display cases. I’m going to ask. Anyway, congrats! ** Steve, Hi. I can’t remember why that interview won the contest. But yes. I have to do an interview on some big radio program here tomorrow, but I think that’s it for the French press. We’ll see. The release is this Wednesday, so it’s time to read the reviews and press basically. I hope so, on the script. We’re very close finishing it, and I really want it cemented. I don’t know Helene Cattett & Bruno Forzani’s film very well, but I’ll find the soonest downtime and make my entrance. Thanks. ** Steeqhen, Hi. Hard to say where the best place is to enter Godard. His films are so various. ‘Breathless’ is the most famous place to enter, and it’s him at his most accessible, and I would guess that most do start there, so that probably works. Very nice about the wonderful Lorde experience. I of course hardly know her stuff, but I hear good things. Hm, maybe see a doctor then if you think it might be something deep and inherited? I don’t know. T’would be good to know, no? ** Diesel Clementine, Hi! I don’t know what a sickline is, so maybe not, or it’s just a term I’m an ignoramus about. Hello! I would be surprised if Godard hasn’t influenced the films or my own writing, but I don’t think I could point to how necessarily. I’m not especially drawn to politically didactic work, although the rare cases where an artist exploits that considerable power aesthetically can be really something. Um, I never think of my work as being didactic, more anti-didactic or aware of the didactic possibilities and manoeuvring around them if anything, I guess. I think I’m more into using my work to sneak things in to the reader/viewer. I don’t think my work is amoral, but I don’t know that I think it’s moral either. I think I’m allergic to that word. I think fairness is more what I angle towards. I find work that has the gumption to think it has a message worthy of being delivered is interesting, but I don’t think my own work has any message. Thank you for those questions. How’s your today? Fondly back, me. ** HaRpEr //, Nice. I sometimes wish I could smoke weed on occasion. It’s hard for me to imagine you being slowed down. Interesting about the Wire song. I feel like asking Colin Newman about that. We’ve exchanged rare hellos. Maybe I will. ** Hugo, Hi, H. I didn’t get into any kind big trouble about that Lish review. I remember some Lish-ites being outraged, but nothing painful. I think even amongst most Lish-ites there’s an acceptance that his influence is far more important than his actual literary output. I don’t know, the writers he influenced are still pretty respected for the most part. Maybe there are less newbies coming out of his aesthetic now. That’s maybe true. I never had any experience cos with Lish personally. He came to see a performance work I did with Ishmael Houston-Jones once and walked out after 10 minutes. That’s the only time we were in the same world. ** Uday, Hi. You’re in NYC, nice. I’ll be there on Sunday night for a quick two days. Oh, gosh, I’m actually pretty out of it about New York and its must-sees now. I’m hardly ever there. So I fear I’m the wrong person to ask. I always just check to see what’s at the museums and galleries when I’m there. I hope you found/find stuff. It sounds like you’re having a blast in any case. Good luck keeping your besottedness in check. Did it work? ** nat, Same here. Wet as far as the eye can see and the foot can fall. It snowed apparently for about twenty minutes on Saturday night, but I was asleep. I know of people who’ve written entire novels on their phones, and they’re not bad novels even. Crazy. You sound like you’ve got everything going on that you need to get ‘Nosebleed’ in place once it’s good and ready. ** Okay. I really don’t know why I decided to restore the old post up there today but I did. Do your best. See you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 
You into Xmas? I forget where you stand on that one. I’ve always hated it with a passion bordering on the violent. Spent an insufferable one with my Xmas-loving dad & his family a few years back, which I did manage to spice up one night. He basically watches Xmas movies all day long & eats, & after having to endure night after night of sappy shit they finally asked me to pick a film. Naturally I chose “Bad Santa”, I mean what else? And he, who usually loves raunchy comedies, made quite a performance of his distaste.
Anyway, now I pretty much stick to avoiding Xmas as much as possible. Which Vegas is great at. That used to be my Xmas escape choice. Malaga likes to decorate & put on a big light show, but I expect things to be more low key here a couple of miles east.
What about Thanksgiving, you skipping that one? Back in the U.S. I actually enjoyed it. That & the 4th of July were usually excuses for cookouts or BBQs with friends. Do you have a usual way to spend those holidays?
Glad to hear premiere no. 1 went well!
Hey Dennis!
We’re supposed to be getting 8 inches of snow up here in Fargo, so this restored post feels pretty timely. I’m not sure what things are like in France, but up here a lot of people already have lights, decorations, etc. up. It is supposed to be a pretty brutal winter here in my region, but I’m told, uh, “Santa” has a nice bottle of of Minnesotan whiskey for me, so hopefully that’ll help on the cold homebound nights. My mom’s half of the family is very Norwegian, so I was tickled to read about the influence of Nordic stave architecture in some depictions of Santa’s house. Fun interview, too. What a guy.
Hope you and yours are well! Super cool to hear about the continued Room Temperature screenings!
Best day ever!
Dennis, hello from Gare du Nord where my Eurostar has just been delayed.
I hope the rest of your evening went well after the screening.
I really liked Room Temperature – the sense of space, the tenderness, the mystery. I would definitely love to see it again in London and will spread the good word.
It was great to see you. Good luck with all your upcoming promo and travel.
And I look forward to tuning into your radio appearance.
Xo
James
Mum and I just had a chat about what we want for presents this Xmas. Turns out both of us will each be happy with another bottle of the same perfume we got last year: Daisy by Marc Jacobs in her case, CDG Blackpepper for me.
I suggested getting her the Daisy advert soundtrack (Suicide – Cheree) on vinyl but this idea was shot down. Here in the UK we have a tradition where the TV advert for John Lewis heralds the start of Xmas. This year’s edition depicts a young boy buying his ex-raver dad a favourite house record. Not a tune that I’m a fan of but maybe it’s still an interesting cultural moment?
@Laura: Gotta say, your enthusiasm is fanning my fire for Nigeria, especially because most people I share this desire with either don’t get it or think I’ll get killed on day 1. But the main reason this journey won’t happen any time soon is because it requires quite a bit of organization. I need a guide & translator to go with me, since I don’t speak Yoruba. Plus you need an in with the traditionalists, who are often suspicious of wide-eyed white outsiders—for damn good reason, as history has shown. So my idea’s always been to team up with a cultural institution (say Goethe Institute) & go from there. One day for sure. I just need to expand that network.
Totally different topic I meant to ask you about: have you seen any of Carlos Saura’s films? Are they any good? Feels like quite a gap now that I’ve settled in Spain, though not one I’m convinced needs filling. Do tell
hey! i just randomly thought of this girl on Insta who’s been everywhere, chloejadetravels i think. i sort of seem to remember she’s been to Nigeria, not totally sure tho. but she’s def been to Niger and to Haiti in the middle of real shitshows and made it work, so maybe worth dropping her a message just in case. she always seems to get an ‘in’ somehow. hope you’re habing a good one today! ^_^
bloody hell who put the v next to the b on the keyboard lol. could have been worse, could have been Spanish lol
oh Saura, not my fav but his earlier work was better imo… La Caza, Cría Cuervos, La Prima Angélica, La Madriguera, Ana Y Los Lobos, Deprisa Deprisa and Ay Carmela are p good and worth a watch. may be more but this is just off the top of my head… wish i’d never seen Dispara, on the other hand. it’s sort of I Spit On Your Grave minus the payoff. let me know what you think if you end up watching any!
oi Dennis!
omg your name! Dyonisus! barrels of wine! best name ever, don’t tell me you didn’t know.
i love early Sven Vath, and i really liked it when he hooked up with Miss Kittin. ^_^
you were so lucky to get all the slay psychedelics back then, wtf. think you’re right and it’s just basically the times or smth. i was talking about it with my husband earlier and his experiences seem about as blah as my own… like no trippier than eating hashish, which is like oh look i have astigmatism now or whatever. i had a friend who once saw stick figures walking about and i totally believe that’s the most interesting experience any of us ever had lol. i’m sorry about your bad trips! were they really fucked up, then? 🙁 hope you were in good hands at least while they happened.
sweet that your premiere went well and was chill, and also that it snowed. even if you sort of missed it what you describe is v beautiful, or maybe that’s just you describing it idk.
Santa Claus is v foreign to me, i’m just like, ok, St Nicholas, that Turkish bloke lol. p sure there’s at least a handful of obscure towns out there where it’s always Christmas, tho, which is super endearing. all the lil houses on this post! wonder which one he’d actually like to live in lol. maybe he just really wants to go back to idk Izmir.
think you said to someone else you like intertextual works? interesting, that’s what i’m doing tho i can’t tell how successfully just yet. i def like it a lot when one world spawns another or just intersects and there are all of these mirrors and synchronicities and tangents and contradictions and developments. what is it you like about the stuff? i had this major technical setback a bit ago, but it’s on the mend now so i should finally have stuff for you soon.
oh btw i started reading Edmund White and i’m v happy so far! i even got a quote out of it already lol. thanks for recommending.
be happy tonight, however that looks!
<3
Hi Dennis,
I love this and really hope you make more Christmas posts going forward. Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday and I get really crazy about watching Christmas movies this time of year. I’ve always imagined his house surrounded by a factory town like in The Polar Express. I grew up in a factory town so maybe that’s why that image stuck. My great grandma was actually the head of hr at a toy factory and my great grandpa was a carpenter in a wooden toy shop. I’ve got Christmas in my blood, basically. I interviewed Santa in a documentary I made my freshman year about my hometown’s Christmas parade. He was way too media trained to give me the real scoop but I’m happy to have talked to him. I’ll link it if you’d be interested in taking a look.
https://youtu.be/Zw7UnXgxeEM
I hope you have a wonderful day filled with Christmas cheer!
oh I love this very much. Hello friend sorry if this comment is a bit…patchy? Had a weird past 2 hours. I came home a bit ago from my first DBT class which is possibly hopeful.
Yes I dont know what happened oh but it was just impossible to write or draw or even think of making any kind of creative output or responsibility. I still sort of feel that way now with the restlessness and…depression? its a very much hopeless feeling because there is this intense…sadness? I was listening to Xiu XIu and then a bit of Three peaches by NMH becasue those help me in these states of chaotic restlessness. So im not going to call a friend even though I have more trusted people now…because I dont even know if im coherent? I dont want to lose good people. Well anyways Jeff Magnum always does the trick, im just upset that I had been so thoughtless to impulsively slash myself while wearing friends tye dye shirt, I cant take it off for the risk of the stains and them being upset. Oh anyways, but yes, that awful feeling not being able to channel this into any creative output as hard as I tried. I suppose gazing at Santas will do.
Oh anyways
Well anyways yes im here. I feel this is a good place to write something without others forced obligations of pity or unintentional arousal of concern.
Oh how come one of your viewings was canceled? I saw that on insta today.
If you were am musician/ band member and could create music of any genre or whatever style and composition which genre/ direction would you go?
Sending good vibes and hazelnut coffee or whatever is your go-to. Have you ever tried coconut flavored coffee?
Hey darbz,
Hope you’re ok. I did DBT a couple of years ago just before COVID, and whilst it is a commitment and doesn’t fix things overnight, when you stick with it and put it into practice it really does wonders and helps a lot. I’m also in one of those creative ruts too, but I find that even just doing the smallest amount, like taking notes or even just thinking about it will eventually help you when you’re out of it
<3
hey man, hope you’re holding up. i’m just here to say it’s all gonna work out and you just wrote v well imo so maybe you just need to approach whatever your topic is as if it were more of this. <3
Hey Dennis,
Woke up with a cough so I’m thinking that potentially my tiredness could be that; although it’s the same exhaustion that I tend to feel, just stronger. I’m planning on going to the doctor at some point soon, but I’m struggling to think of how to explain how I’m feeling, without it just being seen as low iron or deficiency (which it could be!)… like how do you know that what you’re feeling is or isn’t normal? I’ve started to reduce some medication (with the go-ahead from professionals) i’ve been on for almost 4 years or so, and they tend to make me drowsy so maybe this will help too? All I know is I was just as tired today, but able to do a bit more…
Are you a Christmas fan? I’m pretty neutral on the whole festivities, but enjoy the time to catch up on films and albums of the year. There’s this yearly tradition here where the big talk show (The Late Late Show) becomes a toy show and is kind of the start of Christmas; it was entertaining as a child and then entertaining as an adult as a bit of a cringe compilation of children ignoring the hosts and doing whatever they want. Of course toys seem to have been replaced mostly by video games and especially iPads and the internet, and the show does reflect that but tries to give promo to toys, especially Irish-made toys.
The news also has a segment on Santa’s arrival on Christmas Eve, and it’s funny to see something normally dedicated to deaths, court cases, and government fraud turn into a kids show for one night of the year.
Keeping it in check worked, but he commented on one of my blog posts and I felt so grateful to know him all over again. I shall be over it soon. Yes, the good thing with New York is there’s something to do everywhere. I visited a curio shop and also got some very nice books, so it’s a win of a day without even counting the other people I met and things I got up to. I’m about to head to a jazz bar soon so that should be fun. I’m going to wear my new denim coat and my Antoine Monnier jeans, excited! I’m trying to use the comma more whimsically.
Love,
Uday
Hey. I’ve really figured out that it was a dosage problem for me when it came to weed. I used to be able to smoke whole joints alone but then that stopped and I had these insane panic attacks where I thought I was having a heart attack. The worst drug experiences of my life have been on weed which sounds pathetic but is true.
I’m a big christmas fiend as I’ve said before. I can’t really explain why, but it’s not really about the day itself. Your chapter in ‘I Wished’ about St. Nick really stuck with me and I think sort of encapsulates my love for it, because Christmas and Santa are this great work of art which is a conduit to an unspoken law about giving.
Speaking of, I’ve been wanting to make a proposal for a post but feel free to veto it. It would essentially be a compendium of alt-Christmas stuff, eg. Music, writing, film etc. which involves Christmas but isn’t in the popular canon with a brief description by me amongst each thing. I already have the list in my head of things so it would just be the writing. Would you be interested? I think you’re going away next month and I don’t know what the blog will look like so let me know.
Hey Dennis, I remember watching Godard’s King Lear when it first screened in SF. I was nodding off and in this half-waking/dream state for big chunks of it. There were things I thought I saw on screen that were absolutely impossible in the context of the movie. So it was probably much more fun than watching the movie while totally alert.
Hollow Press is awesome. They reissued Al Columbia’s Biologic Show, and also put out the Daisuke Ichiba book I mentioned in my post a few months ago, both gorgeous editions. They’re also really into games, so you might enjoy their catalog. In case you didn’t notice, the fake video games book has a long descriptive video essay by the author that’s quite interesting.
Hope the upcoming Paris screenings go well!
Bill
Hi Dennis.
About Lish, I suppose my point is that for all the good authors he introduced to the world (Lutz in particular, who seems to outdo Lish at his own game all the way down to the initials GL) he seemed to have some peculiar blind spots, most glaring to me was Lydia Davis, because I can’t really see how someone who likes the mechanics of a sentence down to a tee can not admire her work. Maybe it’s my own small mindedness, but most grand doctrines for how literature should “work” strike me as slightly bogus or narrow minded. Which is not to say they have not produced great things sometimes. It’s just that, when I look at what Lish is praised for, it seems to me to promote a very narrow minded conception of literature and it’s inherent ambiguity.
That said I don’t wanna undermine the guys real achievements, but the cult of personality around him from way back when can’t help but be odd in retrospect to me, and his behaviour as a teacher strikes me as more silly than anything.
I wish you the best. Idk I’ve been thinking about this way too much and I wanted to bounce it off ya.