Over the Christmas period, shopping malls and stores bear witness to an even greater number of screaming children than normal. There’s a big, bearded stranger in town, and parents are making their kids sit on his lap.
There are a number of fairly clear-cut reasons why a child would be scared of Santa, all of which tend to fade away with age. For this reason, “santaphobia” is rarely, if ever, recognized in authoritative text-books or lists of phobias. Cases among adults are rare indeed, but not beyond the realms of possibility (there seems to be a listed phobia for everything else, after all).
Genuine Adult Santa Phobia
But what if an adult does experience anxiety or fear when confronted with Santa Claus? A fear of Christmas shopping is more than understandable, so too a general distaste for the ever-escalating commercialization of the festive season. Being unreasonably afraid of a bearded man in a red suite, however, is kind of tricky to explain.
Genuine adult Santa phobia would likely be the result of a Santa-related childhood trauma, the seed of a long-held (perhaps subconscious) fear of Santa. If, however, no such trauma can be identified, what is inspiring such anxiety? Is this “santaphobia,” or is there some other phobia at work?
Alternative phobias could be triggering a fear of Santa, but they would have to be specific and limited to the period in which Santa makes an appearance. For example, rhodophobia (the fear of the color red) or cacomorphobia (the fear of fat or obese people) could inspire a fear of Santa, but both phobias would be at work all-year-round and in all manner of situations. So, what phobias could be triggering a fear of Santa, if not “santaphobia” itself?
The Fear of Santa as Saint Nicholas
According to the Wrong Diagnosis website, hagiophobia is “an exaggerated or irrational fear or dislike of saints and holy things.” A fear of Santa Claus, as Saint Nicholas, would fit with this phobia. A person of little religious inclination could quite easily remain out of reach of saintly imagery and overtly holy things – until, that is, the appearance of Saint Nicholas in the guise of Santa.
However, the link between Saint Nicholas (Nikolaos of Myra, Sinterklaas in Dutch) and our modern Santa Claus is tenuous at best. Both are recognized for their gift-giving, but the pious Bishop of Myra would probably not see himself reflected in the image of the rotund, jovial, roof-hopping and reindeer-friendly Santa Claus. Hagiophobia, therefore, may be a leap too far when trying to explain “santaphobia.”
Is Santa Scary, or is it the Fear of Beards?
An adult fear of Santa Claus, in theory, could also be the result of pogonophobia, the fear of beards. A sufferer of pogonophobia would undoubtedly be scared out of his wits within the Ancient Greek city-state of Sparta or among a band of polar explorers, but the popularity of the beard in many modern social circles has declined.
If a person’s daily life is generally free from close proximity beard-contact, latent pogonophobia could provoke an explosion of fear during the Christmas season, with the object of that fear being Santa Claus. Bushy, abnormally dense beards suddenly appear on every street, at every party, on every TV channel. Christmas is a pogonophobic nightmare, and Santa is to blame – but “santaphobia,” in this case, is not.
Santa Phobia & the Fear of Masks
A fear of Santa Claus could also be caused by masklophobia, a more general fear of mascots, masked figures and costumed characters. “Although it's not a text-book defined phobia,” writes Janaya Fuller-Evans for the Faceoff.com website, “there are masklophobia discussion groups all over the internet about the fear and loathing of these larger-than-life masked entertainers.” Again, depending upon the subject’s lifestyle and daily routine, masklophobia could lie relatively dormant until the onset of Christmas and the annual wave of costumed Santas.
Coulrophobia, or the fear of clowns, is a more specific form of masklophobia (and a surprisingly common fear). Clowns, like Santa performers, hide their true features behind masks and costumes, obscuring their true natures; this, subconsciously or not, promotes distrust and fear in others.
However, unlike the traditional Santa figure (a sedate, jovial character), clowns possess a number of behavioral characteristics that increase distrust, such as mischievousness, recklessness and even violence. It is perhaps for this reason, at least in part, that cases of adult coulrophobia are common and well documented, while the adult fear of Santa Claus is not.
Tony Dunnell - Tony Dunnell is a freelance writer and a specialist in South American travel. He has two Peru blogs, howtoperu.com and tarapotolife.com
