Who's the more central figure of Christmas: Santa Claus or Jesus Christ?

Apparently I'm so secular that I didn't even notice the 'Christ' in Christmas until I was 15 or so.

Santa is the titular character.

Santa for sure.

now Santa but maybe 100-200 years ago it would be Jesus

Lord Jesus Christ.

Santa

Jesus is the reason for the season.

Jesus Christ

lol no it’s not. Christmas is a pagan holiday.

Santa Claus

Lord Jesus Christ should be.

These days, Santa Claus for sure.

I mean even non-christian/catholic celebrate Christmas. So easily santa.

Christmas is the birth of Jesus, it's his birthday basically

I was told jesus has telekinesis and can mind control. If so then he stomps

OT: Santa, 100 - 200 years ago Jesus, it's his birthday

Santa.

And this is hilarious, lol

"People today, not me, don’t care about these figures at all.. All they care about is eating a lot of food, getting gifts and going out with their crush to do something unseemly..."

Gotta be irony, right?

Let's not kid ourselves. It's Santa Claus lol. Not that I celebrate Christmas...or Saturnalia...or any other holiday anyway.

Oh its definitely santa claus.

Yule is a Pagan holiday, in which traditions from it have been incorporated into Western celebrations of Christmas. Christmas is a Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Christ.

Santa Claus. I didn’t even know Christmas was “Jesus’ birthday” until I was a teen and you don’t see Jesus in the malls taking gift requests.

This is a terrible question. Whether you like it or not Christmas is a Christian holiday with the sole purpose of the Commemoration of the birth of Jesus. Everything after is an added bonus. It doesn’t matter if Santa is “bigger”, Jesus is *the* central figure of Christmas. The holiday literally shares his last name. Guys, get real.

Just the term itself will tell you WHO is the star of that day. And boy do I hate it when ppl shortcut it to "X"mas. Santa on the other hand is just a symbolic figure of sharing and gift giving during this time of the year. Since Santa is not limited to one or two religion, so they use him more frequently as a sign that CHRISTmas is here.

@cocacolaman: Neither did I.

Its Santa now

Christ is the center figure of the holiday as he is why the holiday is. Santa is just some figurehead that society made up for gift traditions Christmas isn't about him. After all only one of them exist.

I do find it funny when atheists or non Christians celebrate Christmas.

Lol at all of these "But, it was named after Christ" comments. Thursday was named after Thor, and the planet Pluto was named after the Roman god Pluto, and no one claims that Thor is the central figure of Thursdays, or that Pluto is the central figure of the planet Pluto. Names are just names.

I believe Santa would beat Jesus Christ in a fight. So yeah. Santa.

Christmas was created to celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ. Whether or not you believe he was the son of God, Jesus was a real person. Santa is just a fake character.

@mrmonster: Good point.

Christmas isn’t christian and never has been. It’s a pagan celebration under the facade of being Christian. None of the traditions involved originate with Christianity. Christmas wasn’t even a thing until hundreds of years after Jesus walked the Earth and was banned even in the US for years because of its lack of scriptural backing. And today it’s become just a way to line the pockets of the commercial system, Santa is the face of that marketing campaign. If Jesus wanted Christmas to be celebrated he would have said so

I just hope Santa will redeem your soul when the time comes, and sacrifice himself for our sins.

Amen to this.

It's more than that. I won't blame you if you find this as shallow as how you interpret it and how you make comparisons. Probably because you're not Catholic / Christian. Oh and by the way, the name CHRIST isn't just "a name".

And July was named after Julias Caesar, and so was the c-section, but Caesar isn't the symbol of childbirth or summer.

Christmas was created in the fourth century as a celebration to unify the pagans and the Christians of the Roman empire. December 25th was already a time of celebration for the sun god Mithra/Sol. (this date was not chosen because of when Jesus was born, which wouldn’t have been in December) The traditions remained the same while the reasoning changed to being “Christian“. There is so much about Christmas that is carry over from Mithraic worship. Nothing about celebrating Christmas was in the Bible. Cutting down a tree and putting it in your house and hanging up things like mistletoe and holly come from nature and fertility worship and was never commanded by Christ to do. If it was purely christian, it wouldn’t be celebrated by millions of non Christians every year.

First off, I was a Christian for the first 20 years of my life. The best thing you can do is leave that crap behind, as I've done.

Second off, sorry, but Christ (not sure why you felt the need to put it in all caps), really is just another name.

I'll just agree to disagree with you then. I'm sorry you parted when you were 20. Yes, I need to put in all caps the person that I believe is more than a name, and you telling me that he really is just another name? That's your personal opinion. Don't worry I'll leave you with that kind of thinking.

Yeshua wasn't born in December so pick what you want

@ghostodoofus2: Christmas was never TRULY about Jesus it's a conglomerate of pagan holidays

Another thing people don’t think about is the star of Bethlehem that they top their trees with wasn’t actually a good thing in the Bible. It did not lead the “wise men” (magi/astrologers) directly to Jesus in Bethlehem first, but to King Herod first, where they were tasked with informing him where Jesus was located. The appearance of the “star” set in motion events that threatened the life of Jesus and resulted in the murder of innocent children, definitely not something to be given praise or recognition

God loves Santa more than Jesus. Change my mind.

@alavanka: God loves you more than any of those two for he gave up his son to redeem us. You don't have to change your mind. Wouldn't that be enough for you?

And I don't know where you got that information that God actually loves Santa than Jesus Christ.

To make it more convenient with everyone why don't you try to google the topic title and see what the answer is?

Christmas is a time to remember the serpent wrapped around the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as we put tinsel around the tree.

It’s a time to remember God unwrapping the first gifts under the tree when he sacrificed the first animals and skinned them and gave the skins as gifts to Adam and Eve. its a time to remember the fruit of the tree of life as we hang the balls on the tree.

As we place our gifts under the tree It’s a time to remember Abraham offering gifts to God under the holy tree.

As we burn the Yule log we remember Abraham offering burnt sacrifices under the tree.

The holly and Mistletoe we bring into our homes is to say we are in the Holy Grove of God where God often appears to Abraham.

The star we put on the tree is to remind us of the one descendant Jesus among the many that God pointed out to Abraham

@firestarlord73194: TIL!

Santa cause of marketing

I would say Santa because of stores, commercials, and in general.

Jesus is more of central figure in the Nativity Scene and reenactments at churches. You don't see Christmas commercials about Jesus all that much.