Why?

Because he knows that his role has been reduced to being a pawn in the titanic struggle between parents and children, as parents try and exert some discipline into their children's lives.  We worry that God will catch us out if we're bad and will punish us, but as we often even doubt that the truth in that, we feed the children a more believable story. 'If you're not good, Santa won't bring you any presents'. I personally prefer fear of God over fear of Santa, but that's my personal preference.

So, how does he do it? (Santa not God) Well, just as the original Saint Nicholas has multiplied into different cultural manifestations, so to does his way of checking whether children are naughty or nice differ in each country. Here's how it's traditionally been done in seven countries.
 

• In Austria, Saint Nicholas confronts children about their behaviour. He travels along with the devil who asks children to inform him of their good and bad deeds. If the children are naughty, he chases them away with the help of the devil. If they are nice, he rewards them with delicious treats.

• Saint Nicholas in Czechoslovakia comes down from the sky with both a devil and an angel. When the children hear that Nicholas is coming they recite prayers. Those who know their prayers are rewarded by the angel with gifts and those who fail to memorize their prayers are punished with switches by the devil.

• In Germany Saint Nicholas travels with an assistant, known as Knecht Ruprecht, Krampus, or  Pelzebock. The saint comes with a sack on his back and a  rod in his hand. While the good children receive a gift, the naughty children are punished by the assistant with a  few hits of the rod.

• In Holland, sails in on a ship arriving on December 6th. He carries a big book which tells him  how the Dutch children have behaved during the past  year. Good children are rewarded with gifts and the bad ones are taken away by his assistant, Black Peter.

 
• In Hungary, children leave their shoes on their window sills for Saint Nick on the night of December 5. He comes around and distributes admonitions to bad children and rewards the good ones..

• In the Netherlands, even the parents of the naughty, children are whipped by the evil Black Pete.

• In Switzerland, Chriskindli, the Swiss Santa Claus, appears in the form of a female angel. She goes throughout the villages in her sleigh with six reindeers and her helpers. She distributes gifts and treats to those deserving of them.

Personally, I was never that fussed with setting Santa up as God. I also thought that it never really worked that well with kids outside of the week preceding Christmas anyway (I know, every little bit of help that week is appreciated), and in the end just distorted the Judeo- Christian version of God as they grew up.

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