If asked, most people would probably say that Santa Claus is an adaptation of Saint Nicholas but the truth of the matter is that the legend of Santa Claus goes back much farther than that to a Scandinavian Norse god called Odin/Woden. As the reach of Baal worship extended, the Scandinavians worshipped sun gods as well and Odin was one of them. He was known as "the god of intoxicating drink, ecstasy, as well as the god of death." As one can imagine, given the debauchery that took place during winter solstice, he was the most honored god of Saturnalia. He rode at night on a white horse with eight legs, which later was adapted to eight reindeer. He carried a crosier, and had long, white hair and a beard.
Later in the 1500's, the Odin legend adapted to Sinter Klaas. This character was from Holland and took on more of the appearance of the modern day Santa Claus. He wore long, white hair and a beard, his cloak was red, and he rode through the night skies on a white horse that landed on house tops. Sinter Klass would then leave presents under his sacred fir trees that were adorned within the homes. History supports that all of the Klaas/Klaus figures have dark helpers with them called Krampus. The Klaas/Klaus figure would have the Krampus go down the chimneys and based on the observations of a child's behavior throughout the year, would leave presents for the good children or beat the bad children, use switches on them, or in some cases, enjoy dragging them off to hell. Even the fact that the Krampus came down through the chimneys into the fire of the fireplace comes from the Norse legend where the goddess Hertha appeared in the fireplace bringing good luck to the home. In fact, the name Hertha is where the word hearth comes from.
During the plays of the 1600's, according to The History of a Hobglobin by Allen W. Wright, a man by the name of Robin Goodfellow appeared in many of the plays as the devil. Before he would walk onstage, he would announce himself with the laugh, "Ho Ho Ho!" Later, Santa Claus was given the phrase.
It wasn't until the 1930's that Santa Claus in the form in which we know him today, became popular. This happened as a result of the Coca Cola company looking for a way to promote more sales of their product during the winter season. It was at this point that the legend took on the appearance of the character we know today as Santa Claus; complete with eight reindeer and toy making elves replacing the dark helpers or Krampus.
Barna Group uses statistical analysis where the margin of error is less than 5%. In their publication Third Millennium Teens, they reported their findings about children coming to know the Savior. "If they are not saved by age 13, they probably never will be. The data shows clearly that the prime evangelistic years are those before a person becomes a teenager." (Barna Research, pg 65) The most formative time in a child's life is believed to occur by the age of five. What a strategic plan of the enemy to manufacture the image of a fictitious, kindly old man who, incredibly enough, has some of the following characteristics of the Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ, Yeshua Ha 'Mashiach!
Santa Claus:
* Has an eternal spirit
* Has no beginning or end
* Loves children
* Knows when they are good and bad, asleep and awake (Omnipresent)
* Writes their names in a book
* Has white hair and beard (Revelation 1:14)
Regardless of the fact that this character seems harmless enough, so did the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Eve wouldn't have listened to him, otherwise. It is beyond me to think that she would have considered the bait, much less bitten into it, if she had seen him for who he truly was and knew the plan he had behind the lie he was telling her.
Santa Claus is an impostor carefully packaged by the enemy to lure impressionable children away from the One who came and died to give them eternal life. By the time that the children find out the truth, mistrust of anyone unseen has already been well established. During this research, I have read that some of the people who encourage the belief in Santa teasingly call it the "Santa Game." The salvation of our children and grandchildren and their trust in the One who created them is not a game.
"Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God."
Mark 10:14b
Reference materials and additional sites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Christian_Alpine_traditions
http://www.av1611.org/othpubls/santa.html
The goddess Hertha (World Book Encyclopedia)
https://www.thetrumpet.com/literature/read/10163.6.0.1/the-truth-about-christmas
http://www.boldoutlaw.com/puckrobin/puckages.html