Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus
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"Is There A Santa Claus?" was the headline that appeared over an editorial in the September 21, 1897 edition of the New York Sun. The editorial, which included the response of "Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus," has become an indelible part of popular Christmas lore in the United States.
In 1897, Dr. Philip O'Hanlon, a coroner's assistant on Manhattan's Upper West Side, was faced with a minor family crisis. His eight-year-old daughter, Virginia, had begun to doubt the existence of Santa Claus, her friends telling her he was fictional.
Dr. O'Hanlon told her to write to the Sun, a prominent New York newspaper at the time, assuring her the paper would tell her the truth. While he was possibly passing the buck because he could not bear to tell his daughter that Santa Claus was a myth, he unwittingly gave one of the paper's editors, Francis Pharcellus Church, an opportunity to rise above the simple question, and address the philosophical issues behind it.
Church was a war correspondent during the American Civil War, a time which saw great suffering and a corresponding lack of hope and faith in much of society. Although the paper ran the editorial in the seventh place on the editorial page, below even an editorial on the newly invented "chainless bicycle", its message struck a chord in the hearts of people who read it. More than a century later it remains the most reprinted editorial ever to run in any newspaper in the English language; the Sun itself reprinted it annually for years after its initial publication. Although many have questioned the veracity of the letter's authorship, noting that a young girl such as Virginia would not refer to children her own age as "my little friends", the message contained in the response is considered as pertinent today as in 1897.
Interestingly enough, when the editorial is reproduced today, it often omits more than half of Church's original response. One paragraph that is not often repeated begins, "Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies."
The story of Virginia's inquiry and the Sun's response was adapted into an Emmy Award-winning animated television special in 1974, animated by Bill Melendez (best known for his work on the various Peanuts specials) and featuring the voices of Jim Backus and Jimmy Osmond.
The story was also adapted to a TV movie in 1991.
"Weird Al" Yankovic's 1996 song The Night Santa Went Crazy has a line referencing the editorial: "Yes, Virginia, now Santa's doin' time" or, in the Extra Gory version, "Yes, Virginia, now Santa Claus is dead".
In 2006, the band Dresden Dolls released an album titled Yes, Virginia. Considering the general theme and feeling of their music, one might think it is intended as cynical sarcasm. However the overarching theme of the album pertains to many of the themes in this original editorial.
See also
- Christmas stories
- Yes, Virginia (Dresden Dolls' 2006 music album)
References
External links
- [Full text of the editorial with digital image from the original newspaper.] From the Newseum, Arlington, VA
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