So, whilst it's a staple that Santa has always punished the naughty kids, the coal seems to come from a whole bunch of different places. In Italian folklore, kids were visited by a witch on her flying broomstick who dished out gifts and candy to the good kids, and coal to the bad kids.
Indeed, in some cultures, Santa doesn't just stop at coal, but also leaves bundles of twigs, bags of salt, and garlic and onions to naughty children- we're not sure which one we'd least want to get!
Kids who have been good get candy and small toys in their stockings, while naughty ones get coal. In some of these Christmas legends, receiving a lump of coal is the least of kids' worries.
But why does Santa give children coal if they've been bad? We asked Brian Horrigan with the Minnesota History Center for an answer. "Santa Claus comes down chimneys...and he needs something to give the bad kid. So he's looking around and picks up a lump of coal, and sticks that into the kid's stocking," Horrigan said.
Research suggests it's bad practice to lie to children. Dr Justin Coulson, one of Australia's leading parenting experts, – "If you want to do Santa that's fine, but let the kids know Santa was based on a historical figure who may or may not have done the things that we think he did".
Many parents dread the day their child begins questioning if Santa is real. While there is no perfect age to have this conversation, parents often start noticing their children becoming skeptical around eight, but this can vary. However, it may be beneficial to initiate the conversation before middle school.
The Age Most Kids Figure It Out
According to psychologists, believing in Santa can be beneficial to children because it teaches selflessness and service to others.
Bad Santa is rated R by the MPAA for pervasive language, strong sexual content and some violence.
The tradition of giving misbehaving children lumps of fossil fuel predates the Santa we know, and is also associated with St. Nicholas, Sinterklaas, and Italy's La Befana.
Santa travels to all corners of the globe in one night, bringing good boys and girls wonderful gifts and treats… but if you've been bad, you're just getting a lump of coal straight out of your own fireplace. Santa's trying to prove a point… you've been bad, and you're not getting a present!
Krampus isn't exactly the stuff of dreams: Bearing horns, dark hair, fangs, and a long tongue, the anti-St. Nicholas comes with a chain and bells that he lashes about, along with a bundle of birch sticks meant to swat naughty children. He then hauls the bad kids down to the underworld.
Parents need to know that this holiday-themed dramedy includes some mild jokes about sex and drinking, as well as some questionable behavior. The movie's focus is on the bonds among adult siblings and their long-suffering, sometimes narrow-minded mother. Sexual content includes kissing, staying overnight with a…
Krampus is basically the anti-St. Nicholas, the opposite of Santa Claus. He's a fugly mythical creature usually depicted with similar features as the devil. He has body hair, horns, hooves, and fangs. He carries with him chains and birch rods, which he uses to beat misbehaving children and whisk them off to hell.
If children want to believe, I don't believe they are going to end up emotionally stunted or mistrusting of parents for allowing them to do so. What really matters is as children's cognitive development increases, and they reach a point where they begin to question if Santa is real, we should be honest with our kids.
As children start to understand more about physical impossibilities, they learn for themselves that the Santa story just couldn't be real.
“Why would we not respect that earlier just because it's part of this cultural tradition?” Jamie Howard, a clinical psychologist at the Child Mind Institute, said most young children who cry in front of characters like Santa Claus do so out of fear and unfamiliarity.
We're not sure where the name "Dirty Santa" originated, but it's meant to refer to game participants, the "Santas," stealing desirable gifts from each other. As opposed to Secret Santa, where participants are trying to guess who their personalized gifts are from, Dirty Santa adds a fun, competitive twist.
There are about 150 f-words and over 60 s-words, along with more than 75 other profanities and crudities. God's name is profaned over 15 times, mostly in conjunction with the word “d–n.” Jesus' name gets abused about 25 times and is sometimes egregiously combined with the f-word.
Krampus. Krampus, in central European popular legend, a half-goat, half-demon monster that punishes misbehaving children at Christmastime. He is the devilish companion of St. Nicholas. Krampus is believed to have originated in Germany, and his name derives from the German word Krampen, which means “claw.”
"There is no such thing as being too old to believe in Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy," Kelman tells Yahoo Life. "Letting kids figure it out on their own is preferable to parents breaking the news to them.
"It's not an overnight shift in thinking," says Laura Lamminen, Ph. D., a pediatric psychologist at Children's Health℠, "and there's no set age where children should know the truth about Santa Claus." Dr. Lamminen says each family and each child within that family will be ready to talk about Santa at different ages.
While 17% of Americans say children should stop believing in Santa at the age of 10, 35% say the truth should be revealed earlier. About a fifth (21%) of Americans, however, aren't so sure what the right age is for a child to stop believing in Father Christmas.
“Are Mom and Dad really Santa?” We know that you want to know the answer and we had to give it careful thought to know just what to say. The answer is no. We are not Santa. There is no one, single Santa.
Instead, the average age that children stop believing in Santa is eight years old, according to an international academic survey. Woah. This varies slightly between countries in the UK, with kids in England believing in Santa until they're 8.03 years, and kids in Scotland believing until 8.58 years.
As we all know, Santa Claus is a good and benevolent old chap: he brings presents and tries the best he can to fulfil children's wishes. But he is also fair: he only brings presents to those who have been good, and coal to the naughty ones.