#Frank L. Baum's Santa Claus lore

[entropic-saudade]

Yes, Dean, there is a Santa Claus!

A little holiday gift fic for my winter gift exchange!

Tags:  

Post S15 AU, Established Dean/Cas, Christmas, Santa, Land of Oz, Fix-It of Sorts, Hurt/Comfort and Fluff

Summary:

When a mysterious letter arrives in the boys' PO box, they're swept into a case that challenges some of Dean's beliefs.

Thankfully, a little Christmas magic heals all wounds.

Link to Fic

[ariel-seagull-wings]

CARLY ANNE CROCKER: HEADCANONS

@thealmightyemprex

@moonshinenum @exoticb-utters @positivelybeastly @voxxgrimly

01º Carly was born and grew up in Hannibal, Missouri; 

02º Her father, Carter, was a firefighter, and the family of her late mother, Enid, owned a diner;

03º Became blind as an infant due to congenital glaucoma;

04º Was homeschooled until the age of eight years old;

05º After retiring from the Fire Department, her father became the new owner and manager of his wife’s family diner, working on management duties while friends and in-law relatives work in the kitchen and serving tables;

06º Her father wanted her to go to college in Saint Louis or Kansas City, but Carly always dreamed of going to college in New York, and her mother was supportive of her independence;

07º Came to live in New York at age seventeen when she applied for college;

08º Majored in Drama and English in Vassar College, and Law and Education in New York University;

09º Is a professional actress, storyteller and puppeteer;

10º Carly was twenty three years old when her mother died;

11º At the age of twenty seven, she received the surgery that cured her blindness;

12º Overalls, dungarees and jumpsuits are her favorite pieces of clothing;

13º Has German and Irish ancestry on her father’s side, and French-Canadian (Acadian) ancestry on her mother’s side;

14º Can be conversational in french;

15º Is a fan of the fairy tale radio anthology series Let’s Pretend;

16º At the time she was a patient in the hospital for the blind, Carly started to bond with Hank McCoy when she told him she was from Hannibal, and he referred to it as “the city of Mark Twain.” 

17º From that moment onward, they started a conversation about the Twain family, Joseph Médard Carrière, Rosemary Hyde Thomas, Marie Campbell, Washington Irving, L. Frank Baum, Tall Tales, Walt Disney and Americana;

18º Makes volunteer work as a theater educator, puppeteer and storyteller in several shelters and hospitals for blind people, as a way to give people the same support she received when she was blind;

19º Is bisexual;

20º Uses her knowledge of Law and Education to become an activist for Disabled, LGBTQIA+ and Mutant Rights;

21º Cheese based dishes are her comfort food;

22º Loves both cats and dogs;

23º Her Zodiac Signs is Libra; 

24º Her favorite Shakespeare plays are Measure for Measure, Troilus and Cressida, Love’s Labour's Lost, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest;

25º Her favorite books are: Tales from the French Folk-Lore of Missouri, It’s Good to Tell You: French Folktales from Missouri, Tales from the Cloud Walking Country, The Last Unicorn, The Once and Future King, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Father Christmas Letters, Bambi a Life in the Woods, Bambi’s Children, Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus, Watership Down, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Les Miserables, The One Thousand and One Nights, The Canterbury Tales, The Decameron, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, The Sea Fairies, Sky Island, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Diaries of Adam and Eve, The Mysterious Stranger, Fairy Tales, New Tales, or Fairies in Fashion, The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories and Stories or Tales from Past Times, with Morals;

26º Her favorite colors are Green, Red, Pink, Violet and Blue;

27º Carly’s favorite flowers are myrtle, rosemary, rue, daffodils, violets, primroses, oxlips, carnations, gillyvors, flower-de-luce , hot lavender, mints, savory, marjoram and marigold;

28º Voice, scent, hands and pulses are the first things she notices as attractive in another person;

29º  Is allergic to pine and eucalyptus;

30º Her favorite movies are The Adventures of Prince Achmed, The Thief of Bagdad, Pinocchio, Bambi, Fantasia, The Fox and the Hound, Powell and Pressburger A Matter of Life and Death and The Tales of Hoffman, Black Orpheus, Jason and the Argonauts, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Donkeyskin, The Wicker Man, Babette’s Feast, Watership Down, The Last Unicorn, Legend, Willow, Ladyhawke and Wings of Desire.

[thenightling]

“The Land”

“Your land has been home to many since your day.” - Morpheus to Alianora in The Sandman: A Game of You.  As The Land holds striking similarities to a popular form of coming-of-age fantasy story that means within the lore of The Sandman that the skerry (island) in The Dreaming known as “The Land” may have also been the realms of: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking glass Lilith and Phantastes by George MacDonald.    Babes in Toyland  The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz / L. Frank Baum’s Oz books and The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (Same continuity) The Adventures of Peter Pan The Chronicles of Narnia (Mostly just The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, before the Christian allegories became too blatant) The Phantom Toll Booth  The Company of Wolves The Thief of Always  Labyrinth (Jim Henson’s Labyrinth) The 10th Kingdom Pan’s Labyrinth (El laberinto del fauno) Beauty and the Beast AKA  La Belle et la Bête (The novel is not actually set in France) Halloweentown  Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland (which is Underland instead of Wonderland) Over the Garden Wall  Wonderland Oz Neverland   Narnia  Toyland  The Labyrinth / The Underground  The Summer Isle  The House of Always  The 9 Kingdoms Halloweentown Underland The Enchanted Forest  The Unknown There are more but you get the idea. Pretty much every fantasy story where a child (usually a girl) goes on an adventure of self-discovery and growth in a surreal fantasy world full of odd characters may well be Barbie’s The Land in The Sandman.   

[skrytch]

If you wrap in the lore from L. Frank Baum's "The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus" then Lady Avylana might be especially star struck since Santa was Chosen by the Council of Immortals.

elf yuri fans rejoice i finally sat down and doodled the elves again

meeting her girlfriend's boss

[gaykarstaagforever]

So weird that the 8 reindeer thing and their names comes from some random poem published in a New York newspaper in 1823.

That the author C. C. Moore was so embarrassed by, he only claimed authorship of it more than 10 years later after it randomly got popular.

"Donder" and "Blixem" are how Dutch people in New York were saying the words for thunder and lighting in the 1820s. Other than maybe spelling "Bliksem" differently, seems legit to me.

But for some reason someone later tried using the German words instead, which is where "Donner" and "Blitzen" come from. This was apparently after Moore had died. Also this poem was totally public domain the moment it was published because American copyright lawyers were not a thing in 1823, so everyone just did whatever with it. And that's how this guy's random Santa Claus fanfic poem became an authoritative work in the Santa lore canon.

Also Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was created in 1939 as a seasonal department store mascot. His copyright is still owned by someone, though they don't seem to sue over it because of some confusing legal technicality I don't care to do any more research about. Though I'm sure that if Disney added him to the MCU, some patent troll somewhere would run at them, screaming.

Fun fact: L. Frank Baum, the Wizard of Oz guy, wrote some Santa story in 1902 and he created his own ten reindeer. Their names were Flossie and Glossie, Racer and Pacer, Reckless and Speckless, Fearless and Peerless, and Ready and Steady.

Which I guess is no more stupid than what Moore came up with, but they never caught on.

Now here is the picture from the Wikipedia article I am regurgitating:

This is the first confirmed artwork of a reindeer pulling the sleigh of "Santeclaus," another anonymous work from another New York paper in 1821.

[mythologiafennica]

Is Santa real?

Well it’s Christmas week and I think it would be only fitting to talk a little about  Santa and to wonder whether he is real. Our theme for this week after all is, could mythical characters be real? I think we can all agree that Santa is definitely one of them.

If I’m allowed to, I am, I’d like to first say: yes, Santa is real. I can say this for a fact because he lives in my town. Here’s a picture of me and Santa from two weeks back. See that hand on my shoulder? Yup, it was a real human hand. Hence, he is very real and physically existing.

You’re thinking: doesn’t that dummy know that it’s an actor just pretending to be Santa? Yes. I do know. But that is not the point. Here, let me explain myself.

The Santa Claus whose handshake was so real is probably the most wonderful example about how we can by combining a bunch of different mythical characters, preserve them and create a whole new character for everyone to love. The Santa Claus whose handshake was so real is an actor, yes, but isn’t it wonderful to think that we have been able to keep this one myth alive? Children still believe in Santa, and I hope adults do too, I do for sure. (But what didn’t you just admit that the dude is just an actor? Of course it was an actor, who Santa probably hired. He’s got to be buried in all the Christmas preparations so there’s no chance he himself could sit there for a whole day just meeting tourists.)

Probably the most well known origin story for Santa Claus is Saint Nicholas, who lived during the 4th century in Myra (modern-day Demre, Turkey) and has an abundance of stories tied to him. The recurring theme in all of them is that he was a helper, a benefactor, gift-giver. One story tells that he would put coins into people’s shoes for them to find, another of him helping a poor man by giving dowry to his three daughters. Now of course one can never be sure, but Saint Nicholas actually did live. There are records and he has a tomb. Hard to say of course whether he did all those things the lore tells of, but if there is any truth, it definitely tells that he was generous.

Out of Saint Nicholas of Myra evolved “Saint Nick”, and went on to Sinterklaas. Sinterklaas is still a living thing (just like the Santa I saw on the Arctic Cirle) who is still celebrated on December 5th-6th in The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and northern France. He is the “Santa” who is closest to his origins, since he is directly derived from Saint Nicholas. Sinterklaas’ distinguishable features are his robes of white and red and his long, white beard. Sound familiar?

Lets leap into The United Kingdom to further investigate the curious case of Santa Claus--pardon me, Father Christmas he is called here. Father Christmas was a personification of Christmas already on the 15th century. Although first he was called with other names, such as King Christmas, or Captain Christmas (sounds like my kind of a superhero.) He was associated with feasting and drinking and didn’t bring any gifts. During the 17th century, puritans totally banned all Christmas celebrations for 15 years, and in the pamphlets that followed during those years, the Captain Christmas got his name, Father Christmas. Although the restoration of 1660 revived most of previous Christmas traditions, it wasn’t until the late 18th century when Father Christmas re-entered the scene through the ‘mummers plays’.

Victorian period was when Father Christmas took on his habit of bringing gifts, since the celebrations had become more family-oriented than they had been before. This was partly because of the American Santa Claus’ landing on Britain.

The American figure Santa Claus is a bit of a mashup of other Santas. There is some Sinterklaas, so there has to be some Saint Nicholas in there as well. There is a bit of the French Pére Noël, who was the first to leave presents for children under the cover of night. And there is a heck of a lot of L. Frank. Baum’s book, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. American Santa Claus had an affect on the British Father Christmas, who was not yet living up to his full potential. Father Christmas also began to make nocturnal visits that Santa was already making. It’s kind of like Christmas-figures sharing trade secrets.

And the Santa I met, well. We never had a Santa like Santa Claus or Father Christmas, Sinterklaaas or Pére Noël of ourselves, so we kind of stole him from America. We just totally claimed him. In fact, every Nordic country has claimed him. The Norwegians are saying that Santa lives in Drøbak, Swedes say he lives in Mora, Danes think he lives somewhere around Uummannaq in Greenland and we Finns, we have claimed him to live ant Korvatunturi, but we set up the Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi, Arctic Circle. Although the American Santa Claus does indeed live in the North Pole, according to lore.

But is Santa real?

Saint Nicholas was real. What I believe is that the impact of his life and the stories surrounding him have been so strong that people have just felt a need to keep this character around. And I really do love that. Santa is an ever evolving character too, there are tons of movies about him adjusting to modern times (please watch Arthur Christmas) and more are probably coming. I love all the theories people whip up to explain things like, how can Santa make it to all the children in one night (please watch Arthur Christmas), how do Santa’s reindeer fly (please watch Arthur Christmas) and so on.

But, you didn’t tell us anything about the Finnish Santa?

Like I said, we never really had one. Well we did, kind of, two of them. But I’ll give them their own separate post since they have very little to nothing to do with the Santa I wanted to showcase here.

This was not Finnish mythology!

I know! How do I dare be interested in other mythologies too! Shame on me! (Finnish Santa-myths coming soon...)

[gnomegirlgabby-blog]

Wiki Gnomes

So after DND gnomes wiki article I decided to find out what other gnome articles Wiki has! Hehe their story is below...

This article is about the fictional humanoid type of creature. For the user interface for UNIX-like operating systems, see GNOME. For the garden ornament, see Garden gnome. For other uses, see Gnome (disambiguation).

History

Origins

The word comes from Renaissance Latin gnomus, which first appears in the Ex Libro de Nymphis, Sylvanis, Pygmaeis, Salamandris et Gigantibus, etc by Paracelsus, published posthumously in Nysa in 1566 (and again in the Johannes Huser edition of 1589–1591 from an autograph by Paracelsus).

The term may be an original invention of Paracelsus, possibly deriving the term from Latin gēnomos (itself representing a Greek γη-νομος, literally "earth-dweller"). In this case, the omission of the ē is, as the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) calls it, a blunder. Paracelsus uses Gnomi as a synonym of Pygmæi and classifies them as earth elementals. He describes them as two spans high, very reluctant to interact with humans, and able to move through solid earth as easily as humans move through air. The chthonic, or earth-dwelling, spirit has precedents in numerous ancient and medieval mythologies, often guarding mines and precious underground treasures, notably in the Germanic dwarfs and the Greek Chalybes, Telchines or Dactyls.

In Romanticism and modern fairy tales

The English word is attested from the early 18th century. Gnomes are used in Alexander Pope's "The Rape of the Lock". The creatures from this mock-epic are small, celestial creatures which were prudish women in their past lives, and now spend all of eternity looking out for prudish women (in parallel to the guardian angels in Catholic belief). Other uses of the term gnome remain obscure until the early 19th century, when it is taken up by authors of Romanticist collections of fairy tales and becomes mostly synonymous with the older word goblin.

Pope's stated source, the French satire (by Nicolas-Pierre-Henri de Montfaucon de Villars, the abbot of Villars) Comte de Gabalis (1670) describes gnomes as such:

"The Earth is filled almost to the Center with Gnomes or Pharyes, a People of small Stature, the Guardians of Treasures, of Mines, and of Precious Stones. They are Ingenious, Friends of Men, and easie to be commandded. They furnish the Children of the Sages with as much Money, as they have need of; and never ask any other Reward of their Services, than the Glory of being Commanded. The Gnomides or Wives of these Gnomes or Pharyes, are Little, but very Handson; and their Habit marvellously Curious."

Villars used the term gnomide to refer to female gnomes (often "gnomid" in English translations). Modern fiction instead uses the word "gnomess" to refer to female gnomes.

In 19th-century fiction, the chthonic gnome became a sort of antithesis to the more airy or luminous fairy. Nathaniel Hawthorne in Twice-Told Tales (1837) contrasts the two in "Small enough to be king of the fairies, and ugly enough to be king of the gnomes" (cited after OED). Similarly, gnomes are contrasted to elves, as in William Cullen Bryant's Little People of the Snow (1877), which has "let us have a tale of elves that ride by night, with jingling reins, or gnomes of the mine" (cited after OED).

One of the first movements in Mussorgsky's 1874 work Pictures at an Exhibition, named "Gnomus" (Latin for "The Gnome"), is written to sound as if a gnome is moving about, his movements constantly changing in speed.

Franz Hartmann in 1895 satirized materialism in an allegorical tale entitled Unter den Gnomen im Untersberg. The English translation appeared in 1896 as Among the Gnomes: An Occult Tale of Adventure in the Untersberg. In this story, the Gnomes are still clearly subterranean creatures, guarding treasures of gold within the Untersberg mountain.

As a figure of 19th-century fairy tales, the term gnome became largely synonymous with other terms for "little people" by the 20th century, such as goblin, brownie, kobold, leprechaun, Heinzelmännchen and other instances of the "domestic spirit" type, losing its strict association with earth or the underground world.

Cultural references

Modern fantasy literature

Creatures called gnomes have been used in the fantasy genre of fiction and later gaming since the mid-nineteenth century, typically in a cunning role, e.g. as an inventor.

In L. Frank Baum's Oz series (created 1900 to 1914), the Nomes (so spelled), especially their king, are the chief adversaries of the Oz people. They are ugly, hot-tempered, immortal, round-bodied with spindly legs and arms, have long beards and wild hair, live underground, and are the militant protectors/hoarders of jewels and precious metals. Baum does not depict any female gnomes. Ruth Plumly Thompson, who continued the series (1972 to 1976) after Baum's death, reverted to the traditional spelling.

J. R. R. Tolkien, in the legendarium (created 1914 to 1973) surrounding his Elves, uses "Gnomes" as the initial and later dropped name of the Noldor, the most gifted and technologically minded of his elvish races, in conscious exploitation of the similarity with the word gnomic. Gnome is thus Tolkien's English loan-translation of the Quenya word Noldo (plural Noldor), "those with knowledge". Tolkien's "Gnomes" are generally tall, beautiful, dark-haired, light-skinned, immortal, and typically wise but suffer from pride, tend towards violence, and have an overweening love of the works of their own hands, particularly gemstones. Many of them live in cities below ground (Nargothrond) or in secluded mountain fortresses (Gondolin). He uses "Gnomes" to refer to both males and females. In The Father Christmas Letters (between 1920 and 1942), which Tolkien wrote for his children, Red Gnomes are presented as helpful creatures who come from Norway to the North Pole to assist Father Christmas and his Elves in fighting the wicked Goblins.

BB's The Little Grey Men (1942) is a story of the last gnomes in England, little wild men who live by hunting and fishing.

In C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia (created 1950 to 1956), the gnomes are sometimes called "Earthmen". live in the Underland, a series of caverns. Unlike the traditional, more human-like gnomes, they can have a wide variety of physical features and skin colours. They are used as slaves by the Lady of the Green Kirtle.

The Dutch books Gnomes (1976) and The Secret Book of Gnomes (1984), written by Wil Huygen, deal with gnomes living together in harmony. These same books are the basis for a made-for-TV animated film and the Spanish-animated series The World of David the Gnome (as well as the spin-off Wisdom of the Gnomes). The word "gnome", in this case, is used in place of the Dutch kabouter.

In the Warcraft franchise (1994 to present), particularly as featured in the MMORPG World of Warcraft, gnomes are a race of beings separate from but allied to dwarves and humans, with whom they share the lands of the Eastern Kingdoms. Crafty, intelligent, and smaller than their dwarven brethren, gnomes are one of two races in Azeroth regarded as technologically savvy. It is suggested in lore that the gnomes originally were mechanical creations that at some point became organic lifeforms. In World of Warcraft, gnomes are an exile race, having irradiated their home city of Gnomeregan in an unsuccessful last-ditch effort to drive out marauding foes.

In J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series (created 1997 to 2007), gnomes are pests that inhabit the gardens of witches and wizards. They are small creatures with heads that look like potatoes on small stubby bodies. Gnomes are generally considered harmless but mischievous and may bite with sharp teeth. In the books, it is stated that the Weasleys are lenient to gnomes, and tolerate their presence, preferring to throw them out of the garden rather than more extreme measures.

In A. Yoshinobu’s Sorcerous Stabber Orphen , the European concept of a gnome is used in order to introduce the Far Eastern notion of the Koropokkuru, a mythical indigenous race of small people: gnomes are a prosecuted minority banned from learning wizardry and attending magical schools. 

In Terry Brooks' Shannara series (created 1977 to 2017), gnomes are an offshoot race created after the Great Wars. There are several distinctive classes of gnomes. Gnomes are the smallest race. In The Sword of Shannara they are considered to be tribal and warlike, the one race that can be the most easily subverted to an evil cause. This is evidenced by their allegiance to the Warlock Lord in The Sword of Shannara and to the Mord Wraiths in The Wishsong of Shannara.

Terry Pratchett included gnomes in his Discworld series. Gnomes were six inches in height but quite strong, often inflicting pain upon anyone underestimating them. One prominent gnome became a Watchman in Ankh-Morpork as the force became more diversified under the command of Sam Vimes, with Buggy Swires appearing in Jingo (novel). Another gnome in the series was Wee Mad Arthur a pest terminator in Feet of Clay (novel).

L. Frank Baum also featured the classical gnomes in his book The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. They are in charge of watching over the rocks and their king is part of the Council of Immortals. In addition, they also created the sleigh bells for Santa Claus' reindeer.

Music

"The Laughing Gnome" is a song by English musician David Bowie, released as a single in 1967. It became a hit when reissued in 1973, in the wake of Bowie's commercial success.

The 1970 album All Things Must Pass by English musician George Harrison has a cover image of the musician sitting among a group of garden gnomes.

"The Gnome" is a song by Pink Floyd on their 1967 album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. It is about a gnome named Grimble Gromble.

Games

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, gnomes are one of the core races available for play as player characters.

Derivative uses

Garden gnomes

After World War II (with early references, in ironic use, from the late 1930s) the diminutive figurines introduced as lawn ornaments during the 19th century came to be known as garden gnomes. The image of the gnome changed further during the 1960s to 1970s, when the first plastic garden gnomes were manufactured. These gnomes followed the style of the 1937 depiction of the seven dwarves in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by Disney. This "Disneyfied" image of the gnome was built upon by the illustrated children's book classic The Secret Book of Gnomes (1976), in the original Dutch Leven en werken van de Kabouter. Garden gnomes share a resemblance to the Scandinavian tomte and nisse, and the Swedish term "tomte" can be translated as "gnome" in English.

Gnome-themed parks

Several gnome themed entertainment parks exist. Notable ones are:

The Gnome Reserve, at West Putford near Bradworthy in North Devon, United Kingdom

Gnomeland, at Watermouth Castle in Berrynarbor, North Devon, United Kingdom

Gnome Magic Garden, at Colchester, United Kingdom

The Gnome Village, at Efteling theme park in Kaatsheuvel, Netherlands

Zwergen-Park Trusetal, in Trusetal, Germany

Garden Gnome Liberationists

Garden gnome liberationists such as the Gnome Liberation Front were introduced in France in 1997. They claim that Garden Gnomes deserve the same freedom that any other living creature would have. They are noted to have stolen hundreds of gnomes.

Gnome parades

Gnome parades are held annually at Atlanta's Inman Park Festival. Numerous one-off gnome parades have been held, including in Savannah, Georgia (April 2012) and Cleveland, Ohio (May 2011).

Metaphorical uses

The expression "Gnomes of Zürich", Swiss bankers pictured as diminutive creatures hoarding gold in subterranean vaults, was derived from a speech in 1956 by Harold Wilson, and gained currency in the 1960s (OED notes the New Statesman issue of 27 November 1964 as earliest attestation).

Architect Earl Young built a number of stone houses in Charlevoix, Michigan, that have been referred to as gnome homes.

A user of Wikipedia or any wiki who makes useful incremental edits without clamouring for attention is called a WikiGnome.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnome

Welp that is all for this Wiki gnome article but there are plenty more!!! Thank you Wiki!!