"Santa Claus executed", or the eternal return of an immortal rite

With an essay with a provocative title, "Santa Claus executed", Claude Lรฉvi-Strauss is inspired by a bizarre news event at his time - the hanging and holocaust of a puppet of Santa Claus by the Dijonese clergy - to arrive to the understanding of the "true meaning of Christmas", based on the reciprocal relationship between the world of children and that of the dead. The method used for this purpose is a synchronic and confrontational approach with non-European societies.

G. de Santillana: โ€œHistory to be rewrittenโ€. Reflections on "Ancient Fate" and "Modern Affliction"

(image: Gilbert Bayes, ananke, sculpture)

Extract from the essay by Giorgio de Santillana ยซHistory to rewrite", Written in 1968 and published the following year by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, later (1985) translated and published in Italy by Adelphi in the collection of writings entitled"Ancient fate and modern fateยป.

Preface and notes by Marco Maculotti. Our italics.