The tradition of Christmas has become almost global in reach: children from all over the world trace Santa Claus as it traverses the Earth, giving gifts and opposing the time.
Yeardo, at least 100,000 children call the North American airspace protection command to inquire about Santa’s location. Millions more follow the internet in nine languages, from English to Japanese.
Every night, Norad is scanning the heavens for possible threats, such as last year’s Chinese spy balloon. But on Christmas Eve, volunteers at Colorado Springs are asking questions like “When is Santa coming to my house?” And, “Am I on the bad or nice list?”
“There are shouts and giggles and laughter,” said Bob Sommers, 63, a civil and volunteer contractor.
Sommers often says in the call that everyone should be asleep before Santa arrives, making parents say, “Do you hear what he said? We have to go to bed early.”
Norad’s Santa’s annual pursuit has endured since the Cold War, anticipating the ugly parties of Triko and Mariah Carey Classics. Tradition continues despite the closure of the government, such as the one in 2018, and this year.
Here’s how it started and why the phones continue to ring.
The story of origin is Hollywood-Esque
Started with an accidental call of a child in 1955. The Colorado Springs newspaper suppresses a sears advertising that encouraged children to call Santa, ranking a phone number.
A boy called. But he reached the Continental Air Defense Command, now Norad, a joint US and Canadian attempt to see possible enemy attacks. Tensions were growing with the Soviet Union, along with the anxieties for the nuclear war.
Harry W. Shoup Air Force Colonel chose a “red phone” only urgent and was greeted by a small voice that began reciting a list of Christmas desires.
“He went on a little, and he breathes, then says,” Hey, you’re not Santa, “the show told the Associated Press in 1999.
Understanding an explanation would lose the young man, Shoup called a deep, clumsy voice and replied, “Ho, ho, ho! Yes, I am Santa Claus. Have you been a good guy?”
Shoup said he learned from the boy’s mother who mistakenly suppressed the high secret number. He was hanged, but the phone quickly fell with a young girl reciting her Christmas list. Fifty calls a day were followed, he said.
In the pre-digital era, the agency used a 60-80-foot Plexiglas map (18-by-24 meters) of North America to track unidentified objects. A member of the staff jokingly drew Santa and his sled over the North Pole.
Tradition was born.
“Note to Kiddies”, a PA story from Colorado Springs began on December 23, 1955.
In a possible reference to the Soviets, the article noted that Santa was guarded by the potential attack by “those who do not believe in Christmas”.
Is the History of origin Humbug?
Some Grinchy journalists have attracted the story of the shoup, asking if a mistake or malice fostered the boy’s call.
In 2014, the Gizmodo Technology News site mentioned an international news service history from December 1, 1955, regarding the call of a child to show. Published in Pasadena Independent, the article said the child returned two digits to the Sears number.
When a childish voice asked the commander of COC COL. Harry Shoup, if there was a Santa Claus on the North Pole, he answered much more approximately than it should – considering the season:
“There may be a son named Santa Claus in the North Pole, but he is not the one I worry about coming from that direction,” “Show said in the short part.
In 2015, Atlantic magazine suspected the flood of calls on the secret line, while noting that the shoup had a gift of public relations.
Telephone calls aside, the shoup was really a media saver. In 1986, he told the Scripps Howard News Service that he recognized an opportunity when a staff member drew Santa on the glass map in 1955.
A Lieutenant Colonel promised to delete it. But the shoup said, “You leave it there,” and called public works. Shoup wanted to strengthen morals for troops and the public alike.
“Why, made the army look good – like we’re not all a bunch of snobs that don’t care about Santa Claus,” he said.
Shoup died in 2009. His children told the Storycorps podcast in 2014 that it was a wrong Sears advertising that promoted phone calls.
“And later in life he received letters from all over the world,” said Terri Van Keuren, a girl. “People who say ‘thank you, colonel because you know, this sense of humor.” “
A rare addition to Santa’s story
Norad’s tradition is one of several modern additions in the centuries -old Santa history that have endured, according to Gerry Bowler, a Canadian historian who spoke to AP in 2010.
Advertising campaigns or movies try to “kidnap” Santa for commercial purposes, said Bowler, who wrote “Santa Claus: a biography”. In contrast, Norad gets an essential element of Santa’s story and looks at it through a technological lens.
In a recent interview with AP, Air Force Lt. Gen. Case Cunningham explained that Norad radars in Alaska and Canada known as the Northern Warning System- are the first to discover Santa.
He leaves North Pole and usually goes to the international dateleline in the Pacific Ocean. From there he moves west, following the night.
“This is when satellite systems we use to track and identify interest objectives every day begin to begin,” Cunningham said. “A perhaps little fact is that Rudolph’s nose that glows red springs a lot of heat. And thus, they satellites trace (Santa) through this source of heat.”
Norad has an online app and web site, www.noradsanta.org, which will track Santa on Christmas Eve from 4am to midnight, Mountain Standard Time.
People can call 1-877-hi-norad to inquire direct operators about Santa’s location from 6am to midnight, Mali’s time.
#screams #giggles #laughter
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