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N.E. Brigand
Gondolin
Dec 14 2009, 6:34am
Post #1 of 7
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Father Christmas Letters, 1930-31
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1930
A short letter dated Nov. 20 comes in an envelope delivered to “J. & M. & C. Tolkien” by messenger rather than the postal service: instead of a stamp, the envelope bears a red wax seal. The letter, from “F.N.C.” (Father Christmas had given his first name, Nicholas, in 1923, but it hadn’t been mentioned since) thanks the children for their notes (“What a lot, especially from C & M!”) some of which were nominally from their toy animals. Fr. Christmas would like more details about the gifts the children desire and “also (if you can find out) what anyone else like P or Mummy or Auntie (I mean Miss) Grove wants”. (Oddly that quoted text is missing from the transcription.) There is just a little news: North Polar Bear is recovering from whooping cough.
The longer letter (though not a “full long letter like I mean[t] to” write) was completed on Christmas Eve. The N.P.B.’s earlier illness made him unable to help with gift preparations: “it would be simply awful if any of my children caught Polar whooping cough and barked like bears on Boxing Day”. (For this reason, the children may find they haven’t received everything they hoped for.) Instead, the Bear helped with the reindeer stables, but a bad storm blew up, and he got lost and stuck in deep snow, and was not missed for some time. This made him very ill: he only regained his strength four days before Christmas. Then F.C. held a party attended by Snowboys (“sons of the Snowmen”) and Polar Cubs (“the Polar Bear’s nephews”), and “when the big cracker went off after, he threw away his rug, and leaped in the air and has been well ever since”.
Father Christmas also explains that the Snowmen are “not of course men made of snow” but actual people, the “only sort ... that live near”. His gardener is the eldest of these men. Now that N.P.B. is better and “at his tricks again”, he’s been quarreling with the gardener and even “pushed him through the roof of his snow house”. He also put lumps of ice in packages for naughty children; of this Fr. C. tentatively approves, except that not having been consulted, these packages weren’t stored cold and the ice melted.
In closing, Fr. Xtmas regrets he has no time to say more concerning:
my green brother and my father, old Grandfather Yule, and why we were both called Nicholas after the Saint (whose day is December sixth) who used to give secret presents, sometimes throwing purses of money through the window.
The picture-page this year has four panels. The top one shows P.B. at the tea party with Fr. C., boys and cubs:
The middle two pictures show F.C. finding the Bear in a snowdrift, and N.P.B. “sitting with his feet in hot mustard and water to stop him shivering”. The bottom section shows the moment of his recovery:
1931
“I should hardly call it Christmas if he didn’t do something ridiculous.”
Two letters again this year, and four pictures. The first, shorter note is dated Oct. 31, and Father Christmas indicates that although he has already received letters from the children, due to a warm autumn he has only just begun to plan for Christmas and would welcome more correspondence: “Sunday and Wednesday evenings are the best time to post to me”. (John Tolkien is apparently off at school: the other children are asked to send Fr. C.’s love to him.) North Polar Bear adds a post-script: he is “GLAD FR X HAS WAKT UP”, and he hopes for snow, as “MY COAT IS QUITE YELLOW”.
Father X’s signature on this note is especially ornate:
The year’s major letter runs to two pages of small print in green ink, with capital letters and some proper names in red, and several marginal notes by the N.P.B. in black block letters. It is dated Dec. 23 and was sent “By flying messenger please” by “N.C.” to “J.F.R. & M.H.R. & C.R. & P.M.R.” with a further note on the envelope from the Bear: “I AM SO SORRY I FORGOT TO POST THIS”. As the children show a great liking for trains, that forms the greater part of his presents for them this year. The children may find they have received less than they hoped for, which they should share, because “this Christmas all over the world there are a terrible number of poor and starving people”. For that reason, Father C. “and also [his] Green Brother” have been collecting not only toys but also clothes and food.
The Bear has been lethargic in the warm weather, and “sampling and tasting the food parcels” (N.P.B. adds that it was his duty, and after all he did find “stones in some of the kurrants”). Also when asked to pull some items from the “Cracker-hole”, he foolishly brought with him two Snowboys. They got to playing, P.B. tried to discipline them, and in the process dropped his candle and set off some of the crackers and sparklers. Father Christmas ran in to see “nothing but smoke and fizzing stars” – and the Bear now “has quite a bare patch burnt on his back”. (For N.P.B.’s part, he says that Father C. “spilled the gravy on my back at dinner”—presumably a joke, since one can’t imagine the Bear lying.)
There are two guests in the household: N.P.B.’s nephews Paksu and Valkotukka (who say their names mean “fat” and “white-hair”), adorable but ever under foot. They are also mischievous and accident-prone, like their uncle (“Not fair!” adds N.P.B.) Valkotukka put holly in Father C.’s bed, gave himself a “tangled cough” by eating a ball of string (“thinking it was cake”), and put ink into the fire attempting “to make night”. Paksu merely ate two entire puddings and spent the next day sleeping in the cupboard.
In conclusion, Father C. tells the children that illustrations showing him in “aeroplanes or motors” are fanciful: he can’t and won’t drive them. They also smell, and his reindeer are faster anyway, particularly some new ones he acquired from Lapland: “a great place for wizards; but these are WHIZZERS”.
Finally, “I am expecting that John, although he is now over 14, will hang up his stocking this last time; but I don’t forget people even when they are past stocking-age, not until they forget me.” Meanwhile “little PM” is “beginning her stocking-days & I hope they will be happy.”
Of the four pictures, only one is mentioned in the letter, and two of the others are sketches. One of these is hardly begun: a pencil image of Father Christmas sitting in his sleigh. Another sketch, in red, blue, green ink, and pencil, has a note reading, “Rough sketch of cracker accident. I had no time to do proper picture.” It’s very hard to see make out much detail:
The description applies only to the top half of that page. The bottom half, rougher still, is mostly pencil with a little red ink, and shows Fr. C. “making pastry” with a rolling pin, and N.P.B. by a fire “very busy helping”. One of the two finished pictures is “My latest portrait” showing Father Xmas wrapping gifts:
The other is “all drawn by N.P.B. Don’t you think he is getting better. But the green ink is mine—& he didn’t ask for it”. It has two parts: at the top is a picture of the Bear standing or leaning—to me he looks like he’s scratching his back against a wall:
At the bottom is a picture of the sun behind the mountains:
Questions
Do you think Tolkien’s children, who interacted so much with Father Christmas, were more or less shaken than other children, when they learned who he really was?
Shouldn’t Father Christmas ask the children what their father wants too, to avoid giving away his identity?
Can you catch whooping cough from items handled by people with that disease?
Does the phrase “hot mustard” refer to especially warm mustard, or especially spicy mustard? And how is it supposed to help?
If the Tolkien children asked Father Christmas, or their father, how to reconcile the earlier story of Fr. C.’s Snow Man gardener (who drew himself as a man made of snow, wrote in white with his finger, and was broken by N.P.B.) with the Snowman now said to be Fr. C.’s gardener (who is flesh-and-blood man), what would the answer be?
Who are the Snowmen? Are they Inuit, Sami, Yukaghir?
Why are the Snowboys wearing hoods indoors?
Do you have any tradition of presents for naughty children? (Ever get a lump of coal in your stocking, for instance?)
Why are there butterflies in the party picture? What’s the dotted arc that extends across most of the picture? And isn’t that Christmas tree awfully bare?
Is there a more rousing piece of music than Saints-Saëns’ “Bacchanale” from Samson et Dalilah?
What do you make of the hints of Father Christmas’ family and history, that he refrains from telling? Who can his “green brother” be? What aspect of Tolkien’s North Pole mythology would you most like to know more about?
How did Tolkien, notorious for disliking machinery (note the comments about Fr. X, cars and planes) feel about his children’s interest in railways? How did they come by such an interest, in the Tolkien house?
Which was written first, this letter with North Polar Bear rolling on the ground trying to put out the sparks in his fur, or the similar passage in The Hobbit where the wargs do the same thing?
Have you ever tried to make night?
Does the children’s aging-out from stocking-days remind you at all of C.S. Lewis’s stories, when Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy each come to the end of their time in Narnia?
Does N.P.B.’s mountain-and-sun picture remind you of anything else drawn by Tolkien? And what does the “V” at lower right indicate?
What does Fr. C. mean about the green ink that N.P.B. “didn’t ask for”? Does that mean that Fr. C. added the green to the picture? Or that N.P.B. used it without permission? And why are we told about that detail anyway?
Any further comments or questions about these two letters, or any from 1920 through 1931?
Thanks for your responses this week!
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We're discussing The Silmarillion in the Reading Room, Aug. 9 - Mar 7. Please join the conversation!
This week: "Of Túrin Turambar".
 Also in the RR, Dec. 7-27: Letters from Father Christmas!
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How to find old Reading Room discussions.
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squire
Gondolin
Dec 14 2009, 11:12am
Post #2 of 7
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The reference to "hot mustard". Mustard oil has, or was believed to have, an anti-inflammatory and immune-stimulating effect. Thus it was a folk remedy for colds, etc. I have often seen references to "mustard plasters", which are poultices (pastes wrapped in cloth) applied to the chest. I haven't seen Father Christmas's usage before: putting the mustard in a foot bath. I expect the goal is for the patient to inhale the steam. The "hot" here means very spicy - containing the most oil.
"Green brother". I only caught that in this reading - hadn't noticed it before. I think Tolkien is making a clever in-joke, way over his children's heads (like much of this book and indeed like all of his juvenile writings), to the "Green Man". That is a well-known figure of European folklore, a man who lives in the woods in a state of nature, and is indeed often portrayed as if he is half-vegetable in nature (he is an acknowledged source of Treebeard and the Ents).
It is interesting that Tolkien should combine pagan and Christian folklore so cleverly: the Green Man and Father Christmas in these stories, it appears, are the children of "Grandfather Yule" - Yule being the ancient Germanic/Nordic midwinter festival from pagan times (and thus it is freely used as the Hobbits' holiday in The Lord of the Rings). I was raised to believe that Santa Claus (our American Father Christmas) was Saint Nicholas of Asia Minor, who secretly gave gifts to the needy, but in Tolkien's version, Fr. Christmas [and his brother (?)] are only named after the Christian St. Nicholas!
squire online:
RR Discussions: The Valaquenta, A Shortcut to Mushrooms, and Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit
Lights! Action! Discuss on the Movie board!: 'A Journey in the Dark'. and 'Designing The Two Towers'.
Footeramas: The 3rd TORn Reading Room LotR Discussion; and "Tolkien would have LOVED it!"
squiretalk introduces the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: A Reader's Diary
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Darkstone
Elvenhome
Dec 14 2009, 9:15pm
Post #3 of 7
(631 views)
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Do you think Tolkien’s children, who interacted so much with Father Christmas, were more or less shaken than other children, when they learned who he really was?
Less, just the opposite of kids interacting with mass-produced commercial Santa Clauses. I think they would have been clued in earlier since they knew their father and so would have recognized his personal touches.
Shouldn’t Father Christmas ask the children what their father wants too, to avoid giving away his identity?
Christmas is for children.
Can you catch whooping cough from items handled by people with that disease?
Not unless the items are still soaked with fresh mucus and you breathe or ingest that mucus. In other words, not very easily, and certainly not after a couple of days and over a long distance.
I suppose back then people would believe all sorts of silly rumors about how diseases were passed. The more things change...
Does the phrase “hot mustard” refer to especially warm mustard, or especially spicy mustard?
Ground up mustard seeds in really hot water.
And how is it supposed to help?
Mustard “increases blood circulation and opens pores”. That is, it’s a blistering agent. Mustard baths were popular with ancient Greeks and Romans and notice how they’re not around anymore. Coincidence? I think not!
If the Tolkien children asked Father Christmas, or their father, how to reconcile the earlier story of Fr. C.’s Snow Man gardener (who drew himself as a man made of snow, wrote in white with his finger, and was broken by N.P.B.) with the Snowman now said to be Fr. C.’s gardener (who is flesh-and-blood man), what would the answer be?
Retcon. (“Guido shot first.”) And the children would rightfully be outraged.
Who are the Snowmen? Are they Inuit, Sami, Yukaghir?
Knowing Tolkien, they’re Sámi.
Why are the Snowboys wearing hoods indoors?
It seems Santa didn’t have “lots and lots of pegs for hats and coats”. Obviously not a very proper hobbit hole at all.
Do you have any tradition of presents for naughty children? (Ever get a lump of coal in your stocking, for instance?)
Not really. There were occasional Christmases where presents were a bit light, but that was due to monetary circumstances rather than behavior.
Why are there butterflies in the party picture?
It’s too cold for them outside.
What’s the dotted arc that extends across most of the picture?
I assumed it was a traditional Christmas streamer.
And isn’t that Christmas tree awfully bare?
They probably already ate all the ornaments. Popcorn balls, candy canes, cookie stars, etc. Yum! Today of course the Health Police would have a fit.
Is there a more rousing piece of music than Saints-Saëns’ “Bacchanale” from Samson et Dalilah?]
There’s Jaromír Vejvoda’s “Modøanská polka” from “A Day at the Circus” (1939). Especially the way Chico plays it.
What do you make of the hints of Father Christmas’ family and history, that he refrains from telling?
The magic of the hinted but untold back story. It’s what makes Lord of the Rings so magnificent, and The Silmarillion so disappointing.
Who can his “green brother” be?
Jack in the Green, aka The Lord of the May.
What aspect of Tolkien’s North Pole mythology would you most like to know more about?
Shieldmaidens and how often they shower. With copious and detailed illustrations.
How did Tolkien, notorious for disliking machinery (note the comments about Fr. X, cars and planes) feel about his children’s interest in railways?
If he didn’t like them then why’d he put them in his stories? (“The dragon passed like an express train, turned a somersault, and burst over Bywater with a deafening explosion.”)
How did they come by such an interest, in the Tolkien house?
How could they not, in early 20th century Great Britain? When I was a kid, a passing train whistle would attract kids for miles around. The railroad tracks would be lined with them. More popular than the sound of an ice cream truck.
Which was written first, this letter with North Polar Bear rolling on the ground trying to put out the sparks in his fur, or the similar passage in The Hobbit where the wargs do the same thing?
Obviously it was written before he wrote The Pyre of Denethor. I note “Stop, drop, and roll” is drilled into professional firemen but even they keep an eye on each other just in case of the natural instinct of “Run like heck!” kicks in.
Have you ever tried to make night?
Sure. One of our old houses had an L-shaped hall. When you closed all the doors it was pretty dark at the end.
Does the children’s aging-out from stocking-days remind you at all of C.S. Lewis’s stories, when Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy each come to the end of their time in Narnia?
Nope. More like Spongebob Squarepants when he thinks he’s all grown up but then realizes he misses his grandmother’s cookies. One is never too old for goodies.
Does N.P.B.’s mountain-and-sun picture remind you of anything else drawn by Tolkien?
It’s reminiscent of Sheba’s Breasts from H. Rider Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines (typical acknowledged as the first novel the “Lost World” genre). I’m sure that’s exactly how Tolkien would have drawn them if he had been alive then and had become a professional illustrator. I note Haggard also had a skull avalanche in his novel “She”, but Tolkien didn’t put that in his writings, though Peter Jackson remedied that no doubt inadvertent omission.
And what does the “V” at lower right indicate?
I assume it means it was drawn by Valkotukka.
What does Fr. C. mean about the green ink that N.P.B. “didn’t ask for”?
N.P.B. stole it.
Does that mean that Fr. C. added the green to the picture? Or that N.P.B. used it without permission?
The latter.
And why are we told about that detail anyway?
Character development. It’s a typical comment some people pop off with when they get querulous.
Any further comments or questions about these two letters, or any from 1920 through 1931?
Nice.
Thanks for your responses this week!
Thank you for leading.
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That hobbit has a pleasant face,
His private life is a disgrace.
I really could not tell to you,
The awful things that hobbits do.
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Darkstone
Elvenhome
Dec 14 2009, 10:49pm
Post #5 of 7
(692 views)
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Shouldn’t Father Christmas ask the children what their father wants too, to avoid giving away his identity?
Christmas is for children. ...Father Christmas had asked the boys about gift ideas for their sister, mother and aunt -- just not their father.
Or their uncle or the other male relatives.
This means something.....
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That hobbit has a pleasant face,
His private life is a disgrace.
I really could not tell to you,
The awful things that hobbits do.
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GaladrielTX
Dor-Lomin
Dec 15 2009, 8:51pm
Post #6 of 7
(555 views)
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Do you think Tolkien’s children, who interacted so much with Father Christmas, were more or less shaken than other children, when they learned who he really was?
Possibly more. Maybe Aunt Dora's kids had the best experience of Santa, having been told at an early age that Santa was something to pretend about. Maybe not. I'm glad I don't have to make this decision.
Shouldn’t Father Christmas ask the children what their father wants too, to avoid giving away his identity?
I didn’t notice this difference between the manuscript and the transcription. Kudos to you! Yes, once I read that, I immediately figured out why Father Christmas asked that question and wondered if his kids were so easily duped.
Can you catch whooping cough from items handled by people with that disease?
It is contagious, but I don’t know how long the disease remains on surfaces. I do know my grandmother was wary of touching things sick people might have touched years before so maybe that was conventional wisdom back then.
Does the phrase “hot mustard” refer to especially warm mustard, or especially spicy mustard? And how is it supposed to help?
I’m not sure. Lots of things that burn used to be considered healthful, though. I’m thinking of the merthiolate my mother used to apply to my cuts and scrapes. The cure hurt worse than the injury sometimes.
When I had my first job as a teenager (in a restaurant) and would come home footsore my mother would sometimes fill a plastic tub up with hot water and something called Epsom salts and had me soak my feet in it. She swore by the stuff.
If the Tolkien children asked Father Christmas, or their father, how to reconcile the earlier story of Fr. C.’s Snow Man gardener (who drew himself as a man made of snow, wrote in white with his finger, and was broken by N.P.B.) with the Snowman now said to be Fr. C.’s gardener (who is flesh-and-blood man), what would the answer be?
I’m sure he’d come up with some rationalization. ;o)
Who are the Snowmen? Are they Inuit, Sami, Yukaghir?
In my imagination they look like plain old Englishmen dressed for cold weather but smaller.
Why are the Snowboys wearing hoods indoors?
Why do cats wear fur indoors?
Do you have any tradition of presents for naughty children? (Ever get a lump of coal in your stocking, for instance?)
No, I was a good girl.
Is there a more rousing piece of music than Saints-Saëns’ “Bacchanale” from Samson et Dalilah?
I'll try to give it a listen and get back to you.
What do you make of the hints of Father Christmas’ family and history, that he refrains from telling? Who can his “green brother” be? What aspect of Tolkien’s North Pole mythology would you most like to know more about?
Could this refer to the Green Man or the Green Knight? Who is Grandfather Yule?
Does the children’s aging-out from stocking-days remind you at all of C.S. Lewis’s stories, when Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy each come to the end of their time in Narnia?
That’s a good comparison.
Any further comments or questions about these two letters, or any from 1920 through 1931?
In his P.S., Father Christmas writes, "Chris has no need to be frightened of me." Some children are frightened of St. Nick, I know, but isn't six a little old for that?
Thanks for your responses this week!
Thank you, sir, for stepping in!
~~~~~~~~
The TORNsib formerly known as Galadriel.
(This post was edited by GaladrielTX on Dec 15 2009, 8:53pm)
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Dreamdeer
Doriath
Dec 15 2009, 11:01pm
Post #7 of 7
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Thanks for leading an excellent discussion! //
[In reply to]
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Life is beautiful and dangerous! Beware! Enjoy!
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Also in the RR, Dec. 7-27: Letters from Father Christmas!