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Alissa Blaney |
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Recently I've become very intrigued with Santa. I used to think he was a very superficial figure, mascot of consumer culture run amok But looking back though history, in the years the world has known him Santa has appeared in many guises. Starting with the historical Saint Nicholas, the evolution of Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, the unsmiling Belsnickle. Nast's early cartoons. Coke's illustrations from the 1930s, bringing us the Santa we know today. And I began to conceive of a Santa who was not a man of plenty, not a fertility figure (Mama "kissing" Santa Claus indeed!) but more of a trickster, a shapeshifter. A man of many faces, many guises, able to appear by magic and whisk himself away at will. That twinkle in his eye, what does it signify? Then one day I remembered the children's story of 1000 paper cranes. Legend has it that if you fold a thousand paper cranes, whatever you wish for will come true. Why don't I try it and see? Homeless Santas
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