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anta claus festival was held on 30 december 2007 with government officials attending 2008 was officially declared the year of santa claus in the country the events are seen as moves to boost tourism in kyrgyzstan 55 the guinness world record for the largest gathering of santa clauses is held by thrissur kerala india where on 27 december 2014 18 112 santas overtook the previous record derry city northern ireland had held the record since 9 september 2007 when a total of 12 965 people dressed up as santa or santa s helpers a gathering of santas in 2009 in bucharest romania attempted to top the world record but failed with only 3 939 santas 56 santa claus has been featured in many video games 57 in brazil a version of santa with green clothes instead of red became popular through television commercials for the soft drink brand dolly appearing along with their mascot dollynho since the 2000s as a form of patriotism adapting the character to the colours of the brazilian flag and at the same time rivalling coca cola commercials 58 another attempt to adapt santa claus to the colours of the brazilian flag occurred in 2024 in balneário camboriú santa catarina where a sculpture wearing yellow clothes with green gloves and bag was installed generating controversy being accused of making an association with the political extreme right due to the colours being seen in protests by supporters of jair bolsonaro 59 traditions and rituals chimneys the feast of saint nicholas by jan steen c 1665 1668 the tradition of santa claus being said to enter dwellings through the chimney is shared by many european seasonal gift givers 60 christmas eve in hungary saint nicolaus mikulás or father winter télapó comes on the night of 5 december and the children get their gifts the next morning they get sweets in a bag if they were good and a golden coloured birch switch if not on christmas eve little jesus comes and gives gifts for everyone 61 in slovenia saint nicholas miklavž also brings small gifts for good children on the eve of 6 december božiček christmas man brings gifts on the eve of 25 december and dedek mraz grandfather frost brings gifts in the evening of 31 december to be opened on new years day an archetypal north american depiction of santa claus benedict xvi wearing a camauro which has been likened to santa s hat after the children have fallen asleep parents play the role of santa claus and leave their gifts under the christmas tree which may be signed as being from santa claus 62 63 64 appearance a man dressed as santa claus waves to children from an annual holiday train in chicago 2012 santa is generally depicted as a portly jolly white bearded man often with glasses wearing a red outfit consisting of jacket trousers and hat all trimmed with white fur accessorised with black leather belt and boots and carrying a bag full of gifts for children the 1823 poem a visit from st nicholas popularised this image in north america during the 19th century the caricaturist and political cartoonist thomas nast also played a role in the creation of santa s image 65 66 67 connections have been drawn between the camauro a soft red hat with white fur trim formerly worn by the pope and the red and white vesture of santa claus 68 69 70 the traditional 1823 christmas poem a visit from st nicholas relates that santa has a little round belly that shook when he laugh d like a bowl full of jelly though most often portrayed as white santa is also depicted as black or of other races his race or colour is sometimes a subject of controversy 71 72 laugh ho ho ho redirects here for other uses see ho ho ho disambiguation ho ho ho is the way that many languages write out how santa claus laughs ho ho ho merry christmas it is the textual rendition of a particular type of deep throated laugh or chuckle most associated today with santa claus and father christmas the laughter of santa claus has long been an important attribute by which the character is identified but it also does not appear in many non english speaking countries citation needed home see also santa s workshop location the santa claus village in lapland finland the legendary north pole home of santa santa s house at jerusalem old city st peter street santa claus s home is traditionally said to include a residence and a workshop where he is said to create often with the aid of elves or other supernatural beings the gifts he is said to deliver to good children at christmas some stories and legends include a village inhabited by his helpers surrounding his home and shop santa is traditionally said to live at the north pole which according to canada post lies within canadian jurisdiction in the postal code h0h 0h0 73 a reference to santa s laugh ho ho ho although postal codes starting with h are usually reserved for the island of montréal in québec on 23 december 2008 jason kenney the minister of citizenship immigration and multiculturalism formally awarded canadian citizenship status to santa claus the government of canada wishes santa the very best in his christmas eve duties and wants to let him know that as a canadian citizen he has the automatic right to re enter canada once his trip around the world is complete kenney said in an official statement 74 there is also a city named north pole in alaska where a tourist attraction known as the santa claus house has been established the united states postal service recommends mail to santa s workshop are sent to 123 elf road north pole 88888 75 royal mail recommends letters are sent to santa father christmas santa s grotto reindeerland xm4 5hq 76 each nordic country claims santa s residence to be within their territory norway claims he lives in drøbak in denmark he is said to live in greenland near uummannaq in sweden the town of mora has a theme park named tomteland the national postal terminal in tomteboda in stockholm receives children s letters for santa in finland korvatunturi in lapland has long been known as santa s home and two theme parks santa claus village and santa park are located near rovaniemi 77 in belarus there is a home of ded moroz in belovezhskaya pushcha national park 78 in france santa is believed to reside in 1 chemin des nuages pôle nord 1 alley of clouds north pole the french national postal service has operated a service that allows children to send letters to père noël since 1962 79 in the period before christmas any physical letter in the country that is addressed to santa claus is sent to a specific location where responses for the children s letters are written and sent back to the children 80 parades department stores and shopping malls see also santa s workshop santa claus grottos and department stores eaton s santa claus parade 1918 toronto canada having arrived at the eaton s department store santa is readying his ladder to climb up onto the building representation of santa claus in italy actors portraying santa claus are present at various venues in the weeks leading up to christmas a concept devised by the retail entrepreneur david lewis the first christmas grotto opened in lewis s department store in liverpool england in 1879 81 the idea then took hold throughout britain 82 before extending to australian and american department stores in the 1890s with james edgar starting in 1890 in his brockton massachusetts department store 83 having a santa actor set up to take pictures with children is a ritual that dates back at least to 1918 84 an area is often set aside for the actors portraying santa to use for the duration of the holiday season it usually features a chair for the actors to sit in surrounded by various holiday themed decorations in canada malls operated by oxford properties established a process by which autistic children could visit santa claus at the mall without having to contend with crowds 85 the malls open early to allow entry only to families with autistic children who have a private visit with the actor portraying santa claus in 2012 the southcentre mall in calgary was the first mall to offer this service 86 in the uk the discount store poundland changes the voice of its self service checkouts to that of santa claus throughout the christmas retail period 87 there are schools offering instruction on how to act as santa claus for example the children s television producer jonathan meath studied at the international school of santa claus and earned the degree master of santa claus in 2006 it blossomed into a second career for him and after appearing in parades and malls 88 he appeared on the cover of the american monthly boston magazine as santa 89 there are associations with members who portray santa for example mr meath was a board member of the international organisation called fraternal order of real bearded santas 90 due to the covid 19 pandemic many santa grottos were not operating for the 2020 christmas season due to this some companies offered video calls for a fee using apps such as zoom where children could speak to an actor who was dressed as santa claus 91 in 2021 walt disney world and disneyland featured for the first time black cast members portraying santa 92 letter writing letters to santa redirects here for the muppet television film see a muppets christmas letters to santa for the polish film see letters to santa film children sometimes write letters to santa claus often with a christmas wish list 93 94 some postal services collect and respond to letters addressed to santa 95 writing to santa can promote literacy including reading writing and in digital contexts computer and email skills for many children a letter to santa is their first experience of correspondence with guidance from a parent or teacher they learn about letter structure salutations and the use of addresses and postcodes 96 gifts like food toys and school supplies aboard a boeing c 17 globemaster iii flight to st paul island alaska as part of the alaska national guard s operation santa claus annual outreach to the state s remote communities the united states postal service usps operates the oldest national program for answering letters to santa claus citation needed usps operation santa which began in 1912 at the historic james farley post office in new york organizes letters addressed to santa and allows volunteers to adopt and respond to them 97 according to a 2007 survey of national postal operations by the universal postal union upu 95 la poste france received the most letters for santa claus or père noël in 2006 with 1 220 000 letters received from 126 countries 98 in 2007 it recruited someone specially to answer the enormous volume of mail for santa that was being sent from russia canada post replied to letters in 26 languages deutsche post in 16 languages the survey reported that although some postal operators accept messages via email santa receives far more letters than emails national postal operators that allow children to send letters to santa using an online form and receive a reply include canada post 99 verification needed la poste 100 101 and new zealand post 102 103 in france in 2010 by december 6 a team of 60 postal employees had sent reply cards in response to 80 000 online request forms and more than 500 000 physical letters 96 countries whose national postal operators received letters to santa and other end of year holiday figures in 2012 and the number of letters received include austria 6 500 australia 150 000 brazil 964 315 canada 1 350 000 germany 300 000 spain 300 000 united states more than 1 000 000 finland 550 000 france 1 700 000 great britain more than 800 000 greece 80 000 hungary 3 000 ireland 130 000 italy 130 000 lebanon 8 800 norway no figure available portugal 100 000 sweden 30 000 switzerland 17 000 and russia 350 000 104 from 2002 to 2014 canada post replied to approximately one million letters or more each year answering a total of more than 24 7 million letters 105 as of 2015 it responds to over 1 5 million letters annually in more than 30 languages including braille with each letter answered in the language in which it was written 106 in latin america letters are sometimes tied to balloons instead of being sent through the mail 107 an example of a public and private cooperative venture is the opportunity for expatriate and local children and parents to receive postmarked mail and greeting cards from santa during december in the finnish embassy in beijing 108 santa claus village in rovaniemi finland and the people s republic of china postal system s beijing international post office 109 110 111 tracking the christmas issue of noaa s weather bureau topics with santa claus streaking across a weather radar screen 1958 a number of websites have been created by various organisations that have claimed to track santa claus s yearly journey some such as norad tracks santa the google santa tracker the emailsanta com tracker 112 and the santa update project have endured others such as the airservices australia tracks santa project 113 114 115 the dallas fort worth international airport s tracks santa project 116 117 118 the nasa tracks santa project 119 and the bing maps platform tracks santa project 120 121 have not 1955 sears ad with the misprinted telephone number that led to the creation of the norad tracks santa program norad tracks santa originated in 1955 when a sears roebuck ad incorrectly printed the number for their santa hotline and the continental air defense command received the calls intended for the sears hotline the program was transferred to norad when it was jointly founded by the united states and canada in 1958 122 123 in december 2000 the weather channel built upon these local efforts to provide a national christmas eve santa tracking effort called santawatch in cooperation with nasa the international space station and silicon valley based new multimedia firm dreamtime holdings 124 currently most local television stations in the united states and canada rely upon outside established santa tracking efforts such as norad tracks santa 125 in addition to providing holiday themed entertainment santa tracking websites raise interest in space technology and exploration 126 serve to educate children in geography 127 and encourage them to take an interest in science 128 many websites exist that claim to track santa and his workshop one particular website called emailsanta com was created when a 1997 canada post strike prevented alan kerr s young niece and nephews from sending their letters to santa in a few weeks over 1 000 emails to santa were received and the site had received 1 000 emails a day one year later 129 130 some websites such as santa s page on microsoft s former windows live spaces or emailsanta com have used or still use bots or other automated programs to compose and send personalised and realistic replies 131 132 microsoft s website has given occasional profane results 133 134 criticism see also christmas controversies opposition from some 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