Souji Santa Seta

The sun is rising on a fine Christmas morning. There have been songs of this day! Joyous and wonderful songs. Yet none of the songs go in depth on how cold it can be. Cue one Soujiro Seta. Currently he is walking around the streets of Eas village with a cart behind him. One might think he is hauling the cart, but he is not! A strong and helpful member of his female Lander friends list is pulling it. They are dressed in red Christmas dresses and Soujiro has a big and baggy Santa suit on. It even has the little hat. No one is going to confuse Souji with Santa though, his build is far too athletic and youthful instead of the jolly old man. Where the similarities overlap is the warmth in his smile and personal touch he provides, taking the time to talk to anyone that the group runs into. Everyone gets a hot cup of spiced tea for the morning and some even walk away with gifts!

Of course Soujiro informed everyone over chims that he would be in Eas today celebrating and that they are more than welcome to join him in spreading good cheer.

It -is- a bit chilly this morning, if not below freezing, but Goldenblade, up early most days, is up eartly today, returning from some fetch-quest or other. She really doesn't stop grinding, even when they're hardly worth XP anymore. She may not know that gray quests won't reward her? She watches the santa parade go by, and asks, "Who is this for? Back home, I'd agree it was for the kids. But the Lander kids don't have this as a holiday ...." Too late she realizes this is just going to be a thing with kids today.

Santa Souji hoists a Lander child onto his shoulders. She is elated to be so high up, hands to the sky as the holiday Samurai balances her up there. It is adorable. "Goldenblade!" Souji says as he walks over with a cup of hot mulled tea and a child on him, "It is good to see you." Some people say that like it is going through the motions. An thing of etiquette. The way Souji says it seems as if he means it every time. That seeing people makes his day better. He holds over a cup that steams against the cold wintery air. "It is for everybody," the young man says as the drink is offered. "The holidays are a magical day and the way that the kids light up when they get a present," he says as one such child is crawling over his face, "ishmaghitcal." And now the kid is climbing down his Santa suit. Because. Children. Soujiro picks her up and spins her around, putting her back down onto the ground with the ruffle of her hair. "How did you celebrate Christmas, back in the Old World?"

Goldenblade accepts the hot drink, watches Soujiro juggling the child. "The holidays are a special time for children, but they're not Yamato holidays. The kids here are happy to play, I imagine, but they have no idea why it is." As to how she celebrated Christmas, she counters with "When? In 1941, it was pretty austere. The Japanese had just bombed the hell out of Pearl Harbor, for one. But it was a quiet and thoughtful holiday. We'd sing carols and have a tree, but we didn't go in for the commercial madness like you get nowadays. It didn't really get crazy until the sixties, when Madison Avenue really took over Christmas in the US. Since then it's gotten worse. Japan isn't mostly Christian in any event, so they mostly appreciate the secular side if it, pretty decorations and such. I haven't really done much for Christmas since my boys moved out. We sometimes went to their house and once they came up to see us, but most years, it's just a quiet morning."

Soujiro Seta listens intently as Goldenblade describes her Christmas experiences. For Souji he was already well into when it was a commercial phenomenon. Such is the young'ns these days. They would not know the evolution over time and certainly not the uneasy state from World War 2 and religious influence. The Santa Souji grabs a cup of tea for himself so they can drink in solidarity. "Did your boys really enjoy the holiday?" he asks, picking up on the part that has a familial aspect to it. He sips on his tea, taking a moment to really inhale the steam in no hurried fashion. Another sip. "If I had the chance to talk to my Dad again, I'd let him know how much I appreciated the time we spent together on Christmas. For us it was about giving and community. The whole family would go out after breakfast and do things like hand out presents at the precinct or spend time with the elderly at nursing homes." Another sip as he looks at Goldenblade, "It was about letting people know that they are loved, once a year." Kids dont understand much, but they do understand emotional stimulation! Fred Rogers would be proud. "Not everyone was a fan, but you could tell how some people were lonely or wondering why other people are so happy and why they are not. Hearing that 'it is ok', that they are enough as they are, and having someone talk to them? I think we save lives that day, which is the part of the work my father does best." Sip. "The best gift." Sword Saint is Saintly.

Did her boys really enjoy Christmas? "It's not even called that by most Japanesee I knew," explains Goldenblade, "and my kids grew up without it as very young kids. When my oldest was about seven, though, he'd heard from other kids in school about 'Santa Day'. My wife, who was Shinto, and I decided we'd do the Santa Day thing for the kids, and it ... was more like a theme to celebrate than the mass for our Christian savior. So, I think the whole glurge is beside the actual point of the holiday. But if you like the glurge, then by all means, be my guest. That seems to be all anyone cares about anymore anyhow."

Soujiro Seta scratches the back of his head as he offers a bashful laugh, "Hah. I can't say that I understand the whole religious aspect to it." Honest. "But in High School it was a pretty big deal for parties and dates. Very intimate holiday!" Hence the ever growing swarm of Souji fangirls that are amassing at the tea cart like it was an idol sighting. "People would be both really happy to be out and about and just as much feeling rough if they were excluded," he says as his hand goes back down to his cup and sips it. "I don't understand the meaning of the holiday past that." He considers for a moment, "So your wife was Shinto, how did she lean into it or not? Also, does that mean you had more Christian roots in the holiday?" Just because he doesn't know, doesnt mean he isnt interested in learning. "Is that where the tree came from? Or was that the winter solstace?"

Goldenblade smirks about the religious aspect to it, and explains, "In Europe, in the 200 and 300's most of the citizens were pagan, or recent pagan converts, and had some sort of major feastday at the height of winter, to take their minds off the long winterr that had just begun. The early Christians had nothing going on then, and a lot of the newly converted went with their pagan festivals because they felt like you did, it's good to have a celebration, independent of whether the meaning is meaningful to you. The early christians saw this as backsliding, and having false gods, and all that, but they had to pur their own second biggest holiday in the winter to compete with the pagan festivals. So, they said the mass for Christ in December, and that's how the holiday got placed there."

"Now, here in Japan, it's mainly about parties and spending time with people, and that's the bit my wife liked. In the US, it used to be like that, too, though it became very commercialized and competitive as far as who could do fancier decorations." The tree draws a shrug. "I think that's a holdover from the pagan winter celebrations," she offers, but she doesn't sound positive about that.

Soujiro Seta learns! "You are rather worldly, Goldenblade! How did you learn and remember all of that?" Souji grew up in an era where there was an internet, smart phones, and information everywhere. He would never know the joy of finding books for research the same way as before the boom of the information age. Forget knowing stuff. Remembering it becomes the problem! "Oh! So Saint Nick," he says as he shakes the red outfit he is wearing, "That would be less pagan and more Christian roots, yeah?" A taps the side of his head thinking, "Was he the Saint that pushed for the mass in December? This is interesting stuff, I bet the gals would love to hear about it." Really the gals back at the tea cart would love to hear Souji say anything. The content is moot. "When did ornaments on the trees become a thing?"

Goldenblade can only shrug to Soujiro. "I was a bricklayer, so my mental energies were not needed at work. So I read a lot outside work. History was one of my interests." She shrugs off-handedly, admitting, "I tend to accumulate random bits that have interested me at one point or another."

She adds, though, "Saint Nicholas was a Christian lord in Eastern Europe around 600 or 800, I think, who gave gifts, mainly food, to his peasants on Christmas. He was sainted in the standard church way, official miracles and all that. Once he became an official saint, his legend grew outside his home area, promulgated by the church the way they do with all saints. I think ornaments have always been on the tree since its pagan roots."

As Goldenblade is growing long-winded, a Lander rushes up to her. "General Goldenblade!" he cries urgently. "We need your assistance quickly!" With an apologetic nod to Soujiro, Goldenblade says, "But we can discuss this later. I am needed." Apparently the duties of a Legendary person such as herself happen irregularly and without planning. She will head off to see what the Lander needs of her.