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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 christian denominations santa claus has partial christian roots in saint nicholas particularly in the high church denominations that practise the veneration of him and other saints various christian denominations have differing opinions of santa claus ranging from acceptance to denouncement 135 136 some christians particularly calvinists such as the puritans disliked the idea of santa claus as well as christmas in general believing that the lavish celebrations were not in accordance with their faith 137 other nonconformist christians condemn the materialist focus of contemporary gift giving and see santa claus as the symbol of that culture 138 condemnation of christmas was prevalent among 17th century english puritans and dutch calvinists the american colonies established by these groups reflected this view tolerance for christmas increased after the restoration although puritan attitudes toward the holiday remained unfavorable 139 in the dutch new netherland colony season celebrations focused on new year s day excerpt from josiah king s the examination and tryal of father christmas 1686 published shortly after christmas was reinstated as a holy day in england following the restoration of the monarchy and with puritans out of power in england 140 the ban on christmas was satirised in works such as josiah king s the examination and tryal of old father christmas together with his clearing by the jury 1686 50 in 1958 reverend paul nedergaard a clergyman in copenhagen declared santa a heathen goblin danish en hedensk trold after santa s image was used on the annual christmas stamp julemærke for a danish children s welfare organisation 141 mary baker eddy the founder of the christian science movement wrote the children should not be taught that santa claus has aught to do with this christmas pastime a deceit or falsehood is never wise too much cannot be done towards guarding and guiding well the germinating and inclining thought of childhood to mould aright the first impressions of innocence aids in perpetuating purity and in unfolding the immortal model man in his image and likeness 142 opposition under state atheism under the marxist leninist doctrine of state atheism in the soviet union after its foundation in 1917 christmas celebrations along with other religious holidays were prohibited as a result of the soviet antireligious campaign 143 144 the league of militant atheists encouraged schoolchildren to campaign against christmas traditions among them being santa claus and the christmas tree as well as other christian holidays including easter the league established an antireligious holiday to be the 31st of each month as a replacement 145 146 in december 2018 the city management office of langfang in hebei province china released a statement stating that people caught selling christmas trees wreaths stockings or santa claus figures in the city would be punished by authorities 147 unreliable source symbol of commercialism santa claus sydney 1933 jeremy seal author of the 2005 book nicholas the epic journey from saint to santa claus said in an interview that santa s 19th century elements like reindeer a sleigh and bells were reminiscent of the real world 148 relevant writing in mothering magazine carol jean swanson makes similar points noting that the original figure of saint nicholas gave only to those who were needy and that today santa claus seems to be more about conspicuous consumption he mirrors some of our highest ideals childhood purity and innocence selfless giving unfaltering love justice and mercy the problem is that in the process he has become burdened with some of society s greatest challenges materialism corporate greed and domination by the media 149 in the czech republic a group of advertising professionals started a website against santa claus a relatively recent phenomenon in that country 150 in the czech tradition presents are delivered by ježíšek which translates as baby jesus 150 a law in the us state of ohio prohibits the usage of santa claus or his image to sell alcoholic beverages 151 representation to children see also paternalistic deception parent initiated activities like visiting a santa actor at a shopping centre promote belief in santa claus by young children 152 psychologists generally differentiate between telling fictional stories that feature santa claus and actively deceiving a child into believing that santa claus is real imaginative play in which children know that santa claus is only a character in a story but pretend that he is real just like they pretend that superheroes or other fictional characters are real is valuable actively deceiving a child into believing in santa claus s real world existence sometimes even to the extent of fabricating false evidence to convince them despite their growing natural doubts does not result in imaginative play and can promote credulity in the face of strong evidence against santa claus s existence 153 154 children will eventually know that santa is a fictional character 155 babies and toddlers do not understand the concept of a fictional character but most children become developmentally able to believe in santa claus around age three or four 156 152 the prevalence of belief in santa claus is high at age five and declines precipitously when children are seven or eight years old 157 158 159 160 although the age at disillusionment has been fairly stable for decades in 1978 85 of american five year olds believed that santa was real but only 25 of eight year olds still did it may be getting slightly lower over time 161 age inappropriate belief in santa is seen in some older children and teenagers who have autism or other neurodevelopmental disorders 162 the psychology professor jacqueline woolley helped to conduct a study that found that children seemed competent in their use of logic evidence and comparative reasoning even though they might conclude that santa claus or other fanciful creatures were real according to woolley the existence of santa claus is affirmed to children by friends books tv and movies and by hard evidence of half eaten cookies and empty milk glasses 163 typical objections to presenting santa claus as a literally real person rather than a story include that lying is normally bad 154 parents intentionally lying to their children promotes distrust 154 it promotes selfishness greed and materialism 164 it associates good behavior with being materially rewarded with presents from santa claus 164 and tricking children into believing falsehoods interferes with the development of critical thinking 165 153 some have argued that santa claus prioritises parents short term happiness in seeing children excited about santa claus and their nostalgic willingness to prolong the age of magical thinking over children 154 the philosopher david kyle johnson wrote it s a lie it degrades your parental trustworthiness it encourages credulity it does not encourage imagination and it s equivalent to bribing your kids for good behavior 166 others see little harm in the belief in santa claus the psychologist tamar murachver said that because it is a cultural not parental lie it does not usually undermine parental trust 167 woolley posited that it is perhaps kinship with the adult world that causes children not to be angry that they were lied to for so long in one study it was found that children did not trust their parents less and adults did not recall an increase in lack of trust 168 austin cline argued that to get children s belief in santa claus a complicated series of elaborate lies and defenses over time is needed rather than a few single time lies 165 most children do not remain angry or embarrassed about the deception for very long 168 169 they are most likely to have a positive feeling about it if they are able to figure it out logically e g by realising the impossibility of one person visiting every home in a single night and gradually 168 169 according to the psychologist john condry the most common response to finding out the truth was that they felt older and more mature they now knew something that the younger kids did not 169 in other studies a small fraction of children felt betrayed by their parents but disappointment was a more common response 154 some children have reacted strongly including rejecting the family s religious beliefs on the grounds that if the parents lied about the existence of santa claus then they might lie about the existence of god as well 154 the new zealand skeptics also see no harm in parents telling their children that santa is real the spokesperson vicki hyde said it would be a hard hearted parent indeed who frowned upon the innocent joys of our children s cultural heritage we save our bah humbugs for the things that exploit the vulnerable 167 see also christianity portal holidays portal mythology portal related figures amu nowruz uncle new year iranian gift bringing figure associated with spring and the new year in the traditional iranian calendar ayaz ata grandfather frost in turkic folklore befana a friendly witch who delivers gifts to children on 5 january christkind a popular giftbringer in central europe for christmas companions of saint nicholas ded moroz russian equivalent father christmas british equivalent joulupukki finnish santa claus moș gerilă name of a character from romanian communist propaganda nikolaus gift bringer popular in central europe and the benelux olentzero traditional basque character who has recently been transformed into a santa like figure saint basil who is believed to bring christmas gifts for children in greek orthodox tradition sinterklaas dutch nikolaus the three kings the biblical three wise men brings gifts on 6 january in spain other jack frost and old man winter mythical characters associated with winter christmas controversy flying santa a northeastern us tradition of pilots delivering presents to families in remote lighthouses fraternal order of real bearded santas pancho claus a tex mex version of santa claus santa claus indiana a small midwestern united states town named after the figure home to holiday world amusement park santacon references citations santa 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