Neberte nám Ježíška, vzkazují Češi Santa Clausovi - iDNES.cz
Santa Claus s dárky, soby a "mimořádnými vánočními slevami" na nás kouká z každého rohu, z každé výlohy. Spousta lidí prská nad touto zjevnou "amerikanizací", aniž by si uvědomovali, že i českým reklamním agenturám se lépe pracuje s výrazným červenobílým tlusťochem, než s biblickým novorozencem, který se nedokáže ještě ani postavit, natož unést pytel s dárky.
It turns out that red-clad reindeer-drawn Santa Claus is treading on the territory of the rather abstract Baby Jesus (Ježíšek) not because of some cultural imperialism but rather because it is much easier to brand things with Santa. Also, all Santa-related products are mass-produced and therefore much cheaper. For now, it seems that Santa and Ježíšek can coexist although the authors of the Anti-Santa.cz website , who compared Santa's rise to power in the Czech lands to that of Hitler, might disagree ("Santův nástup v Česku má paralelu v tom Hitlerově").
There are two interesting twists to this situation. There were some attempts in the 50s to introduce the Russian Santa (děduška moroz) but they mostly failed. Consumerism triumphs over ideology. But what is more interesting is the conflict with Mikuláš (Bishop St Nicholas) who, of course, has the same origin as Santa and looks very much like him. It would be interesting to have two of them.
