Day 6: Klaus
Today’s film is 2019’s Klaus. It presents an alternate origin of Santa Claus in a fictional 19th-century island town in the Far North where a postman befriends a reclusive toymaker. When Smeerensburg’s new postman, Jesper, befriends toymaker Klaus, their gifts melt an age-old feud and deliver a sleigh full of holiday traditions. It is a traditionally animated 2-D film full of heart and the wonderful message that “A simple act of kindness always sparks another.”
Today’s Tradition: Mari Lwyd, Wales
In Wales, the Christmas and New Year period is marked by one of the most striking British folk customs: the Mari Lwyd. This ancient tradition sees a horse’s skull decorated with tinsel and streamers and its eye sockets inlaid with baubles, with the whole thing attached to a pole and a bedsheet and worn as a costume by a local man. He then goes with a group of acolytes around the neighbourhood, knocking on doors and asking, through the medium of verse, to be let inside and given food and drink. The person in the house must respond also in verse and if they cannot beat the horse they must let them in.
