Christmas 2011: Narnia

[Antheia]

A Christmas party will commence in Lantern Waste on December 18th to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of Father Christmas' arrival in Narnia after 100 years of holidayless winter.
There will be a bonfire, lots of food, and dancing. Rumor says that Tumnus, Edmund, and other canon characters plan to show their faces! It might even be a good chance to catch Father Christmas.
Please plan to attend. If you don't think you will be able to travel, p#mail or page a staff member to yank you to Lantern Waste. We'd love to see you there!

[Ruby]

I was wondering, what does Father Christmas represent in Narnia? Christmas in our world represents the birth of the Messiah, but what about in Narnia where Jesus doesn't exist?

[Antheia]

Yes, this question is often brought up about Narnia because it seems like a clash of worlds. I think it's a mixture of these three following ideas, though I also think you could pick just one and stick with it if you wanted.

Explanation #1. It's a children's book, and Lewis wanted to make winter sound as horrible as possible, so he tried to take out all the things children see as good about winter. Christmas was one of those things, so even though it was an anomaly, he pointed it out.

Explanation #2: In our world, Christmas represents the beginning of the hope/change that Jesus will bring. In Narnia, Christmas represents the beginning of the hope/change that Aslan will bring. It's not really there to mark an event, since we know that it also happened before the White Witch was in power. Rather, it marks an idea-- of joy in the midst of a dark and cold world.

Explanation #3: Lewis loved myths and mythical figures. Into Narnia he places dryads/naiads, fauns, Bacchus, and many other figures from stories in our world. Even among these figures, there are a lot of incongruities. Sometimes fauns have short tails, sometimes long. Sometimes dryads seem like actual trees, sometimes like spirits of trees, and sometimes like people who live in/are connected to/are the shepherds of trees. Father Christmas is another such seemingly incongruous mythical figure. Maybe he just threw in what ever seemed to best fit the scene or moment or idea he was thinking of for the piece. Or, maybe he had some deeper ideas for all his incongruities. Narnia is a 'supposal'-- a 'what if'. Lewis asks the question "What if" God were a Lion in a world filled with talking beasts. He seems to think the answer is, "Well, in such a world, all these fantastic figures would be real as well, including Father Christmas". In such a supposal, the wider ideas are the most important, and the details (might be) less important.


This article has some interesting thoughts on Lewis' incongruities: http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/inspir ... tion=print

We have some real Lewis/Narnia fans here who may have other theories as well.

[Blackclaw]

someone once mentioned to me that Frank and Helen probably imported Christmas? i imagine they'd be pretty cognizant of the theological parallels between the two worlds and would have made some sort of attempt to reconcile the faith they knew with the different way it manifested in the new world? the way aslan told peter and susan etc. to do at the end of PC but in reverse?


or maybe it was just a political thing; dudes get really depressed in the winter

[Lydia]

My impression has always been that Lewis saw Narnia, while not under occupation (by the Witch, Telmarines, etc.) as this idyllic place filled with 'childhood' things and ideas that he enjoyed most--comfortable clothes, talking beasts, grandmother/fatherly characters like the Beavers and King Lune, mythological or fairy tale creatures (okay, most young children now wouldn't care about fauns, but c'mon, Lewis was the ultimate nerd), and Christmas.

It doesn't seem like he always tries to explain why. After all, children usually like to believe in things that are impossible in one way or another. For instance, a beaver with a sewing machine? A wand that turns creatures into stone? An apple that cures all ills? Who buys that? But it's part of the atmosphere. It's part of believing in something that doesn't have to make sense.

[Antheia]

Times have been declared for the breakfast and evening feast: noon PST in one of the orchard rooms for the breakfast, and 7pm PST near the lamp-post for the evening meal.

[Ruby]

How come I have not heard of this IC yet?? None of my characters are aware of this IC.

[Antheia]

Any information in a save message should be considered gamewide IC knowledge (and this is in a save message). You can pretend you don't know about info in a save message, but if it's there, it's fair game for you to say you know about it.


Disclaimer: sometimes information in saves is incorrect or blown out of proportion.

[Snowback]

Times have been declared for the breakfast and evening feast: noon PST in one of the orchard rooms for the breakfast, and 7pm PST near the lamp-post for the evening meal.

Sunday, December 18 12:00 and 19:00 PST coincide with Monday, December 19 05:00 and 12:00 Japan time, so this is one wolf who will be sleeping through breakfast and working his day job through dinner. Hope everyone has a great time at the parties, and a very merry Christmas.

[Ruby]

Any information in a save message should be considered gamewide IC knowledge (and this is in a save message).

*hasn't seen it in a save message yet* :p