Poll: Did you believe in Santa Claus?

[rayen020]

santa isn't real? i... i... shut up! yes he is! you guys are bastards!

 

[IamQ]

I must be honest here, and say that as far as I remember, I didn't. I never believed in any of that. Tooth Fairy, no sir. Easter Bunny? Nein mein fhürer. The closest to anything like that was the fact that I believed that you could stick a propeller in your back and use it to fly (Most likley only Swedes will get this reference.)

 

[iFail69]

When I was younger, yes, I did. Why wouldn't I? But by the age of about 8, I knew better and my parents told me what really happened.

My little sister believes in him, though she's a LOT younger than me, so I can't blame her. I just steer clear of the subject, as I dislike misleading family members, regardless of the topic at hand.

 

[Magicmad5511]

Used to. I actually remember the moment where I realized properly he wasn't.
It was sort of chilling.

 

[MammothBlade]

What do you mean, did I believe? Still do, and always will. Heeehee.

 

[UmJammerSully]

When I was very young I did. I remember being told that he wasn't real which actually made me happy, I didn't like the idea of some weird, old man snooping around our house at night and I knew I'd still get presents from my parents.

 

[John the Gamer]

Nope. We don't do santa claus in my country. Instead celebrate the deathday of Saint Nicholas(6th of december), a 5th century bisshop from myra in Turkey, who also forms the basis of santa claus.

It doesn't have much(if anything at all) to do with the catholic church anymore though, but it's still very popular.

Spoiler

The guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicholas

The celebration: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas

He does have the same function santa claus has in America, and I did beleive in him in the same way you folks beleive in santa. So I guess it counts? We just beleive in the origional, whilst you beleive in the nordic copy-cat or something.

 

[Romblen]

No, my parents never told me that Santa existed, as they thought that was stupid. I remember when I was 8 or 9 I told the entire class as school that he didn't exist, they were surprising hostile over that. One mother actually called my mother complaining about it.

 

[CRRPGMykael]

Wait, WUT. SO HE'S NOT REAL?! WTF!!!

OK, for real now, I used to believe in him, but I found out pretty soon that he wasn't real. Just like I found out about religion being retarded (I became atheist when I was like 12, and keep in mind that my family is pretty religious and I live in a town that became popular for supposed religious miracle things or some shit like that).

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

You... You mean he isn't real?

Joking aside, yes, I believed in him until I was about nine.

 

[ArchAngelKira]

The Santa claus concept started in history some where right? There WAS a guy who game gifts to those on a certain day in December. I don't think it should be religion based rather then a neutral child and adult happiness that can be shared world wide. Its just a fun nice concept that everyone should just accept and if not then just "Go sell your vocal cords for money until you have enough money to buy the newest Call of Duty game play it,days on end get off the Internet,throw your peace and happiness out the window and be a shut in" COME AT ME BRO! >_<

 

[Yopaz]

Of-course, up until I was about seven or eight.

Only seven or eight? That's it? I believed until I was eleven...

I was (and still am I suppose since I study it at uni now) very interested in science as a child so around that age I was starting to question things that didn't fit in with it. The clincher was when I was still awake at night and I saw my mum bringing in the presents, she said that he had left them at the front door for me but it was too late. :-D

Of-course, up until I was about seven or eight. As far as I know my little sister still believes in him.

Anyone who says no in the poll is lying or mistaken unless their parents never pretended that Santa was real since younger children are programmed to pretty much unconditionally accept whatever their parents teach them, no exceptions.

So you are calling me a liar for saying no because I was able to recognize my grandfather's voice when he showed up dressed up as Santa? I never believed in god either despite being in a Christian kindergarten and my parents didn't really care about religion one way or the the other. So despite being fed Christianity I didn't accept it because it didn't make sense and neither did Santa.
I knew that Santa wasn't real, but it was a nice tradition and I liked the stories around it so I didn't complain. Christmas wasn't Christmas without Santa, yet I knew that it was fake.

Childhood memories are notoriously inaccurate, you probably have retrospectively applied your adult-mindset into your past and forgotten when you did believe. While I don't doubt you recognised your grandfather at that point, unless your parents never attempted to trick you, you certainly would have believed in Santa sometime before then. There's no such thing as a sceptical young child as they don't have enough experience or knowledge to judge the truthfulness of a belief against, that's well-known psychology.

No, you are wrong there. Sure childhood memories are inaccurate, but I just called my mom and asked her about it and she said I didn't believe in Santa. I guess your hypothesis about this was proven incorrect.

 

[DarkRyter]

I first learned about Santa Claus from a cartoon about a kid who learned Santa wasn't real.

Kinda missed out on the whole experience, really.

 

[Casual Shinji]

No, I didn't believe in Santa Claus; I'm not American.

I believed in Sinterklaas: A bishop on horseback who did exist a couple of hundred years ago, and whose image has been embellished, probably with good reason.

 

[Neverhoodian]

I did as a child, and in a sense I still do. I believe the New York Sun's Letter to the Editor for September 21, 1897 applies:

Spoiler

"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
"Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
"Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'
"Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

"VIRGINIA O'HANLON.
"115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET."

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

In a nutshell, my rational mind knows that Santa does not physically exist, but the spirit of what he embodies (love, generosity, innocence) is very real indeed.

 

[Pinkamena]

Nope, never. I did believe in the tooth fairy though.

 

[EmperorSubcutaneous]

I never believed in Santa. I could tell that my parents were just "playing pretend," which was my favorite thing to do at that time, so I played along with them. It was like a fun game.

Fairies and unicorns, though? That's another story.

 

[Ham_authority95]

No...but I believe in Santa Christ:

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

yupp, probably up until age 5-6, i was decently suspicious of it, but hey, the big guy brought me presents, who am i to question at that age?

 

[JoJo]

Of-course, up until I was about seven or eight. As far as I know my little sister still believes in him.

Anyone who says no in the poll is lying or mistaken unless their parents never pretended that Santa was real since younger children are programmed to pretty much unconditionally accept whatever their parents teach them, no exceptions.

So you are calling me a liar for saying no because I was able to recognize my grandfather's voice when he showed up dressed up as Santa? I never believed in god either despite being in a Christian kindergarten and my parents didn't really care about religion one way or the the other. So despite being fed Christianity I didn't accept it because it didn't make sense and neither did Santa.
I knew that Santa wasn't real, but it was a nice tradition and I liked the stories around it so I didn't complain. Christmas wasn't Christmas without Santa, yet I knew that it was fake.

Childhood memories are notoriously inaccurate, you probably have retrospectively applied your adult-mindset into your past and forgotten when you did believe. While I don't doubt you recognised your grandfather at that point, unless your parents never attempted to trick you, you certainly would have believed in Santa sometime before then. There's no such thing as a sceptical young child as they don't have enough experience or knowledge to judge the truthfulness of a belief against, that's well-known psychology.

No, you are wrong there. Sure childhood memories are inaccurate, but I just called my mom and asked her about it and she said I didn't believe in Santa. I guess your hypothesis about this was proven incorrect.

Memories in adults are less prone to mistakes but they aren't fool-proof ( see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confabulation), since I assume this occurred well over a decade that certainly isn't "proof". Sorry but I'm not convinced that you were somehow immune to the learning stages which every child goes through. Critical thinking is something learned, not inherent, so assuming your parents did pretend that Santa was real at one point there's no way you wouldn't have believed it.