I have recently moved to Virginia with my whole family. We along with my daughters (5 and 3 years old) are learning about the festivals out here. First we learnt about the Halloween and enjoyed it very well. We went to the Fashion mall in pentagon on the day of Halloween and my daughters liked the concept (obviously because they got candies). Christmas is around the corner now. We were expecting to do some shopping on the weekend but there was a surprise in store for us. It was all snow this weekend and at the time of writing there is at least 18 inches of snow outside our home. My kids loved it again, as they got a chance to play in snow and refresh their memories of Manali and Gulmarg in India.
My kids are eagerly waiting for Christmas now. They believe that the Santa Claus will bring many gifts (toys and chocolates) for them. It is an interesting feeling but at the same time, I thought to learn more about Christmas. I am not saying that I am not aware of Christmas but at the moment I am curious to know more about it. While reading, I stumbled upon a question asked by a little girl (eight year old) to the “The New York Sun” in 1897. She was curious to know whether Santa Claus really existed.
The query found its way into the hands of the veteran editor “Francis P. Church” who , amazed with the simplicity in which this question was asked” made a reply which later became one of the most memorable editorials of the newspaper history.
Here I am reproducing the question asked by the little girl and the response from the veteran editor [look at reference]. This is simply amazing
"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
"Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
"Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'
"Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?
"VIRGINIA O'HANLON.
"115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET."
VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
Reference: http://beebo.org/smackerels/yes-virginia.html This was published in The New York Sun, 1897 "Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus,"
