Christopher Harris: Kris Kringle's origins help put the 'Miracle' in '34th Street'

Dec. 17—There's an often-made joke — most recently seen again in the new "Santa Clause" series — that the name "Santa" looks a lot like "Satan."

It can be a funny observation (and it can also be taken way too seriously), but the truth is, the names of the iconic Christmas gift-bringer are more accurately rooted in the complete opposite — the core of the Christian faith.

I've spent my holiday season playing the role of Kris Kringle in Flashback Theater Co.'s production of "Miracle on 34th Street" at the Virginia Theater, directed by Jade Ellis, presented by SPEDA. You've probably seen the poster somewhere around town (I suspect people have gotten sick of seeing my face everywhere). The last show is this Saturday, and if you can get a ticket, I encourage you to come out and enrich your Christmas season by seeing a dedicated group of performers light up the stage in this historic building — the first story presented there since the Virginia stopped showing movies back in 1994.

It's been fun. I've always loved Christmas, and everything about the holiday — the beautiful lights, the bustling stores, the traditions and stories from the Nativity to the Griswolds, the festive music, and the opportunity to pick out the perfect gift for someone. And yes, if you hear someone going "Ho ho ho!" late at night in the streets of Somerset on Christmas Eve, it's probably me — I like imagining that a little kid might hear it and believe it's Santa himself.

When I got the opportunity to act in a production of "Miracle on 34th Street," I jumped at it. It's a favorite of mine around this time of year, the 1947 version at least — I particularly enjoy the Post Office trick — and the ability to portray a unique version of Kris Kringle is something I think I'll cherish forever.

The story involves an old man who calls himself Kris Kringle and insists that he is one and the same as Santa Claus. He gets hired to portray the character for the Macy's department store, hearing gift requests from children, and makes quite a splash in doing so with his unexpected approach to the job. His belief that he is the literal embodiment of Santa, however, gets him in trouble and results in him facing the dire prospect of spending the rest of his life in a mental health ward. Only his attorney friend Fred can get him out of the mess by proving that Kris is who he claims to be — but it might take a miracle to do so.

While doing the play, I started digging around into the history of of the name "Kris Kringle" and found some interesting stuff, which ended up completely changing my perspective on this well-known Christmas tale.

"Kris Kringle" is a name that has come to be associated with Santa Claus in modern American culture, but it comes from another figure entirely — the "Christkind" or "Christkindl." That is, the Christ Child.

Santa Claus (and also the "St. Nick" moniker) comes from St. Nicholas, the third-century bishop who did good works in what is now Turkey. The modern Santa Claus or Father Christmas image of the old man with the beard arises from that figure. But as I understand it, the Christkind is also an entity that delivers gifts to children in several cultures, sometimes as an accompanying party with a Santa figure, sometimes alone. It's essentially a "frozen-in-time" version of the Baby Jesus, taking an angelic form.

Thus, is to play Kris Kringle not to play a modern St. Nicholas, but the Christ child Himself? It's an interesting thing to consider when portraying the character.

This made me consider what story "Miracle" is really telling — and indeed, it can be seen as a parallel for the life of Jesus, if you want to look at it that way.

You have this mysterious, somewhat puckish figure, going around, doing good, and getting in trouble with the powers-that-be. There's a lot of that "Who do people say I am/Who do you say I am?" that Jesus engaged in, encouraging people not to believe that he was just a nice man with a beard (probably) but indeed THE Messiah — just like the debate over whether Kris is a nice old man with a beard or THE Santa Claus.

Kris is challenged by the authority figures of their day and their abuse of good-intentioned common wisdom — the counselor and his modern psychology, the store's policy about handling gift requests — and challenges them right back, thumbing his nose at them ... similar to Jesus and the Pharisees and Sadducees. And of course, both Kris and Christ were ultimately taken into custody and dragged before the court. Here, the story differs a bit, but hey, it's a Christmas show, not an Easter one. (Though everything Christ went through meant that he didn't abolish the law but fulfilled it, just as Kris fulfilled the laws and mission of the Post Office ... okay, that's a stretch, but it's something.)

Of course, there's the other way to look at it — the idea that when you help someone in need of it, you are helping Jesus as well: "When did we see a stranger and invite you in?" If you are to look at Kris as just a kind old man who's been kicked out of a senior living facility for his supposed delusions of being Santa Claus and is living at the zoo, but is welcomed into the home of a stranger, here he takes on that "What if God was one of us?" dimension — appearing very human, yet still taking on that duality of the Christ child figure, human but more than that as well.

This is all just my perspective on it. "Miracle on 34th Street" is a secular show, but clearly if you want to see it that way, it can be linked to the Christian basis for the holiday. And whether I'm playing Santa Claus/the magical modern St. Nicholas, a version of the Christkindl, or just a nice old man who has to stay at the zoo for a while, I like to think I'm telling my Savior's story in some small way by doing it.

We often talk about Jesus' birth being the "Reason for the Season" and some people find conflict there with "the world" — the holiday trappings that aren't spiritual in nature serving as a distraction against those that are.

But instead of seeing contradiction, I find it more enlightening to search for the "Reason" in the things where it might not be as readily apparent. When you seek Christ, you can try to find Him in the things around you, rather than choosing to see them as empty of spiritual substance. I think that way of going about things is liable to make you more joyful than the alternative.

Merry Christmas, everyone. Happy Holidays, Feliz Navidad, Happy Hanukkah, and may peace be with you this special time of year. Ho ho ho!