Jump to content
 







Main menu
   


Navigation  



Main page
Contents
Current events
Random article
About Wikipedia
Contact us
Donate
 




Contribute  



Help
Learn to edit
Community portal
Recent changes
Upload file
 








Search  

































Create account

Log in
 









Create account
 Log in
 




Pages for logged out editors learn more  



Contributions
Talk
 



















Contents

   



(Top)
 


1 Origin  



1.1  St. Nicholas as an elf  







2 Contemporary pop culture  



2.1  In films and television  





2.2  In literature  







3 Around the world  





4 See also  





5 References  





6 External links  














Christmas elf






Deutsch
Հայերեն
Bahasa Indonesia
עברית
Lingua Franca Nova
Македонски

Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча
Polski
Română
Русский
Simple English
Српски / srpski
Suomi
Українська
اردو
Tiếng Vit
Winaray
 

Edit links
 









Article
Talk
 

















Read
Edit
View history
 








Tools
   


Actions  



Read
Edit
View history
 




General  



What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Cite this page
Get shortened URL
Download QR code
Wikidata item
 




Print/export  



Download as PDF
Printable version
 




In other projects  



Wikimedia Commons
 
















Appearance
   

 






From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 


An elf on a Christmas ornament

InEnglish-speaking cultures, a Christmas elf is a diminutive elf that lives with Santa Claus at the North Pole and acts as his helper. Christmas elves are usually depicted as green- or red-clad, with large, pointy ears and wearing pointy hats. They are most often depicted as humanoids, but sometimes as furry mammals with tails. Santa's elves are often said to make the toys in Santa's workshop and take care of his reindeer, among other tasks.

They were first introduced in literature by Louisa May Alcott in 1856. Santa is much older, emerging in U.S. folklore in the early 17th century from St. Nicholas with attributes of various European Christmas traditions, especially from English Father Christmas and Dutch Sinterklaas. The association of Christmas presents with elves has precedents in the first half of the 19th century with the Scandinavian nisse or tomte, and St Nicholas himself is called an elf in A Visit from St. Nicholas (1823).

Origin[edit]

The origins of the elf are said to have been derived from Norse mythology, which refers to the álfar, also known as huldufólk 'hidden folk'. The elf character is most likely to have combined this Norse legend with other Scandinavian and Celtic cultures and myths regarding elves, fairies and nature spirits. In various regions of Europe there were similar supernatural beings that can be connected to elves, such as kobolds from Germany and house spirits named brownies in Scotland. In Medieval Europe, elves were seen as nefarious and were often linked to demons.

The Christmas elf appeared in literature as early as 1850 when Louisa May Alcott completed, but never published a book titled Christmas Elves. The image of the elves in the workshop was popularized by Godey's Lady's Book, with a front cover illustration for its 1873 Christmas issue showing Santa surrounded by toys and elves with the caption "Here we have an idea of the preparations that are made to supply the young folks with toys at Christmas time".[1] During this time, Godey's was immensely influential to the birth of Christmas traditions, having shown the first widely circulated picture of a modern Christmas tree on the front cover of its 1850 Christmas issue. Additional recognition was given in Austin Thompson's 1876 work "The House of Santa Claus, a Christmas Fairy Show for Sunday Schools".[1]

St. Nicholas as an elf[edit]

In the 1823 poem A Visit from St. Nicholas (more commonly known today as 'Twas the Night Before Christmas), often attributed to Clement Clarke Moore, Santa Claus himself is described in line 45 as follows: "He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf".[2] Prior to the influence of St. Nicholas in Sweden, the job of giving out gifts was done by the Yule goat. By 1891, the saint had merged with Tomten, which was previously an elfish / dwarfish farm guardian. Following the work of Jenny Nyström, this hybrid figure became known as Jultomten.[3]

Contemporary pop culture[edit]

Sailors aboard the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) watch a screening of the 2003 film Elf

In the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and Ireland, the modern legend of Santa Claus typically includes diminutive elves at Christmas; green-clad elves with pointy ears and pointy hats as Santa's employees / assistants. They make the toys in Santa's workshop located in the North Pole. In recent years, other toys—usually high-tech toys like computers, video games, DVDs, and DVD players, and even mobile phones—have also been depicted as being ready for delivery, but not necessarily made, in the workshop as well. In this portrayal, elves slightly resemble nimble and delicate versions of the dwarfsofNorse myth.

In more recent movies (e.g. The Santa Clause series and The Christmas Chronicles), the elves' jobs also include operating police and air forces protecting the North Pole, helping Santa outside the Pole when he is captured by the real-world police, and as Santa's secret-service-like bodyguards (Fred Claus).

The elves are generally said to live for hundreds, or even thousands, of years, despite the fact that in some cases they appear eternally youthful as children.

In films and television[edit]

Christmas elves have had their role expanded in modern films and television. They are generally portrayed in live-action films either by little actors, children, forced perspective to make normal-sized actors appear diminutive, or computer-generated imagery (CGI); otherwise by traditional animation, stop-motion animation, or computer animation according to the format of the film. For instance:

In literature[edit]

Valentine D'Arcy Sheldon's children's picture book, The Christmas Tree Elf,[11] tells the origin story of how Santa met his elves. It also introduces Blink the elf, who introduces Santa to the elves and saves Christmas by extinguishing a Christmas tree fire.

A strong connection to Christmas and elves can be found in the popular fairy tale The Elves and the Shoemaker published by the Brothers Grimm in 1812. In this tale a shoemaker, who had not been able to meet the demand to make more shoes, is greeted by several elves just before Christmas to finish all the shoes for him.

Around the world[edit]

Two Zwarte Pieten, St. Nicholas' companion in Belgium and the Netherlands.

In European countries, Santa has differing helpers depending on the country. In the Netherlands and Belgium, St. Nicholas is accompanied by Zwarte Piet (Black Peter) whose inclusion has become a controversial issue for the Blackface depiction of the character.[12]

InGermany, the companions are the Knecht Ruprecht and in Luxembourg, they are known as Hoesecker.[13]

In Nordic countries, Christmas Elves are considered nisser and not elves and they will usually wear only red instead of the green and red outfits that they are known for in English speaking countries.[13]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Restad, Penne L. (1996). Christmas in America: A History. Oxford University Press. p. 149. ISBN 978-0-19-510980-1.
  • ^ Van Deusen, Mary S. "Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas". Intermedia Enterprises. Retrieved 2009-12-20.
  • ^ Swahn, Jan-Öjvind. "Christmas - Festival of gifts, candles and groaning tables". Christmas Magazine. Archived from the original on December 24, 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-20.
  • ^ "Santa's Workshop". The Encyclopaedia of Disney Animated Shorts. Archived from the original on 2011-06-22. Retrieved 2009-12-20.
  • ^ The traditional elf costume is green with red trim.
  • ^ Original Rankin/Bass Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer GE Commercials (1964). MiserBrosPress. August 9, 2011. Retrieved November 26, 2017 – via YouTube.
  • ^ Ebert, Roger (1985-11-27). "Santa Claus: The Movie". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on 2008-12-11. Retrieved 2009-12-20.
  • ^ Susman, Gary. "'Elf' at 10: Jon Favreau Reflects on Buddy's Magical Legacy". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  • ^ Wolski, C.A. "A Surreal Christmas Story". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2009-12-20.
  • ^ ""Disney Prep & Landing" : The making of a modern Christmas classic". Jim Hill Media. Archived from the original on 2009-12-14. Retrieved 2009-12-20.
  • ^ Sheldon, Valentine D'Arcy. "The Christmas Tree Elf". book. The Valentine Sheldon Company. Archived from the original on 2014-02-19. Retrieved 2013-11-13.
  • ^ Swaab, Justine. "Zwarte Piet: Black Pete is "Dutch racism in full display"". Retrieved 2019-11-27.
  • ^ a b Rae, Jaci. "The History of Santa's Elves (Elf)". ChristmasWithLove.com. Archived from the original on December 8, 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-20.
  • External links[edit]


    Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christmas_elf&oldid=1225789509"

    Categories: 
    Literary characters introduced in 1856
    Santa's helpers
    Elves
    Fictional toymakers and toy inventors
    Hidden categories: 
    Articles with short description
    Short description is different from Wikidata
    Articles to be expanded from November 2020
    All articles to be expanded
    Articles using small message boxes
    Articles with trivia sections from January 2022
    Commons category link is on Wikidata
     



    This page was last edited on 26 May 2024, at 18:43 (UTC).

    Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.



    Privacy policy

    About Wikipedia

    Disclaimers

    Contact Wikipedia

    Code of Conduct

    Developers

    Statistics

    Cookie statement

    Mobile view



    Wikimedia Foundation
    Powered by MediaWiki