Happy end-of-the-year evening and night events provide good opportunities to
explain the phases of the moon. The need for such moon phase education is once
again demonstrated, through an investigation of illustrations on Santa Claus
and Christmas gift wrap and in children's books, in two countries which have
been important in shaping the image of Santa Claus and his predecessor
Sinterklaas: The Netherlands and the USA. The moon on Halloween illustrations
is also considered. The lack of knowledge concerning the physical origin of the
moon phases, or lack of interest in understanding, is found to be widespread in
The Netherlands but is also clearly present in the USA, and is quite possibly
global. Definitely incomplete, but surely representative lists compiling both
scientifically correct and scientifically incorrect gift wrap and children's
books are also presented.Comment: Text, plus 4 figures and 4 tables; to appear in vol.12 of the
  Communicating Astronomy to the Public Journal (December 2011

Barthel, Peter

English

arXiv

Barthel, P.

University of Groningen Research Database

  
 University of Groningen
Santa and the Moon
Barthel, P.
Published in:
Communicating Astronomy with the Public
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Publication date:
2012
Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database
Citation for published version (APA):
Barthel, P. (2012). Santa and the Moon. Communicating Astronomy with the Public, (12), 13-15.
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13
To quantify the level of ignorance con-
cerning the phase of the evening Moon re-
lated to the Sinterklaas, Santa Claus and 
the Christmas season, a (jolly) research 
project was conducted, examining illus-
trations in children’s books, on gift-wrap-
ping paper, and on Christmas cards, both 
in the USA and in the Netherlands. These 
are the two countries that have shaped the 
image of Santa Claus and his name-giver 
Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas, Sint  Nicolaas), 
the benevolent figures who have been of 
key importance in commercialising the 
December holiday season. The goal of 
publishing this research is obviously to fo-
cus educators’ attention on a great oppor-
tunity to explain the (origin of the) Moon’s 
phases, as offered by these happy end-of- 
year events. The need for such education 
has been, for instance, well demonstrated 
by the video A Private Universe3.
Theoretical background
The Sinterklaas and Santa Claus stories 
are well known and date back to the fourth 
century bishop Nicholas of Myra (now 
Demre, in southern Turkey). Legends of 
his generosity and kindness spread over 
Europe and he became the patron saint of 
many groups, cities, and even countries. 
The 5 December, the eve of his death, was 
commemorated with an annual feast in 
many European countries. Following the 
Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth 
century, some countries merged the 
Introduction
Images of the Moon are often used to in-
dicate an evening or night scene, not only 
as illustrations in books (for adults and 
children), but also on product packag-
ing, brochures, greetings cards, gift-wrap-
ping paper, in advertising, commercials, as 
pictograms, etc. A full Moon is often used, 
partly hidden behind trees or clouds, but 
a partially lit Moon — half or crescent — 
also frequently appears. The latter case 
leaves no doubt as to an image’s identi-
fication with the Moon; a full Moon could 
possibly be mistaken for the Sun. There are 
two ways of depicting a partially lit Moon: 
around its first and its last quarters. A cres-
cent Moon, on its way towards first quar-
ter is called a waxing Moon, and such a 
waxing Moon can be observed in the af-
ternoon twilight and in the evening. Its right 
hand side is illuminated, for observers in 
the northern hemisphere (left for observers 
in the south). The first quarter Moon sets 
at midnight, a waxing Moon even earlier. 
A waning crescent Moon (from third quar-
ter to new Moon: left hand side illuminated) 
rises around 3 am, hence can only be ob-
served late at night and in the morning twi-
light. The full Moon is directly opposite the 
Sun in the sky, and hence rises at sunset. 
Moon illustrations are occasionally incor-
rect. There are postcards showing artist’s 
impressions of tropical evenings with both 
the Sun and the full Moon close to each 
other. Full Moons sometimes rise around 
midnight in movie scenes. Illustrations 
which show Moon crescents are also occa-
sionally wrong: third quarter Moons or wan-
ing crescents are depicted when the actual 
scene is in the evening. A 2010 UNICEF 
Christmas card as well as the opening 
scene in the 2010 Jacquie Lawson ani-
mated Advent e-Calendar — both widely 
sold items — provided the culmination 
of several years of frowning (and smiling) 
about this misconception or ignorance, 
and triggered the research presented be-
low. The UNICEF card, of British design1, 
shows children decorating an outdoor 
Christmas tree. Judging from the Moon 
phase, the scene takes place at 4 am or 
5 am in the morning, which is not impos-
sible but unlikely. The village scene that 
opened the 2010 Jacquie Lawson2 digi-
tal Advent Calendar depicts a Christmas 
carol concert, sung in the village square. 
Whereas the thin waning Moon indicates an 
early morning event, the artist undoubtedly 
wants to show us an early evening scene, 
judging from the people on the square and 
the lights in the houses, shops and the 
church. It is just about possible that both 
artists intended to create Australian scenes 
with reversed Moon phases, but the pres-
ence of snow in both scenes is strongly 
suggestive of the northern hemisphere in 
December.... The same misunderstanding 
is frequently seen on gift-wrapping paper 
in the Netherlands, displaying Sinterklaas, 
the predecessor of Santa Claus, distrib-
uting presents in the evening with a third 
quarter or waning Moon in the sky. 
CAPjournal, No. 12, May 2012
Santa and the Moon 
R
ev
ie
w
s
Peter Barthel
Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, 
University of Groningen, The Netherlands
E-mail: pdb@astro.rug.nl
Keywords
Books, Moon Phases, Christmas
Summary
This article reflects on the use of illustrations of the Moon in images of Santa Claus, on Christmas gift-wrapping paper and 
in children’s books, in two countries which have been important in shaping the image of Santa Claus and his predecessor 
Sinterklaas: the USA and the Netherlands. The appearance of the Moon in Halloween illustrations is also considered. The 
lack of either knowledge concerning the physical origin of the Moon’s phases, or interest in understanding them, is found 
to be widespread in the Netherlands, but is also clearly present in the USA, and is quite possibly global. Certainly incom-
plete, but surely representative, lists that compile occurrences of both scientifically correct and scientifically incorrect gift-
wrapping paper and children’s books are also presented.
Santa and the Moon
The US research was carried out during 
November 2010–January 2011, in New 
England and in Los Angeles: also here 
roughly two dozen book stores, stationery 
stores, pharmacies and department stores 
were visited. In addition, samples of com-
mercially available wrapping paper and 
Christmas cards were inspected on the 
internet. Thirty-three Moon scene images 
selected from 30 different books (Table III) 
provide the pie chart statistic as shown in 
Figure 4. It is clear that most of the time 
(70%) a full Moon is drawn, but it should 
be noted that 17 of the 30 inspected books 
were renditions by various illustrators of the 
poem A visit from Saint Nicholas. Inspection 
of illustrated editions of this poem7 from 
the 19th and early 20th century indicates 
that the full Moon is indeed shown very 
frequently, throughout the lifetime of this 
poem. Whereas the text does not explic-
itly mention the full Moon, that Moon phase 
may have become implicitly “attached” to 
its lines over the years: the full Moon more-
over provides a nice background for sleigh 
and reindeer.... Nevertheless, in several 
American books an incorrect waning or 
third quarter Moon is seen accompanying 
stories involving children in evening scenes, 
or illustrating Santa with a full sleigh, i.e., at 
the beginning of a night’s work. The book-
let, The Night before Christmas in California 
(Smith & Egan, 1992) displays two different 
Moons (full and waning) during one and the 
same evening.... 
With only a few exceptions, wrapping paper 
and Christmas cards sold in the USA (book 
St. Nicholas celebration with Christmas, 
but others stuck to 5 December. The char-
acteristic features of benevolence and the 
exchange of gifts obviously hark back to 
legends around St. Nicholas. Local folk-
lore was added, which resulted in different 
flavours for the celebrations in various 
countries. Dutch settlers in the New World 
celebrated St. Nicholas’ Eve in the 17th 
century, and those celebrations evolved 
through contacts with immigrants of other 
nationalities. Concerning the transforma-
tion to Santa Claus, the importance of the 
author Washington Irving in 1809 and of 
the 1823 poem A visit from Saint Nicholas, 
commonly known as The night before 
Christmas4, is well documented, as are 
the drawings of Thomas Nast in the 1860s 
and the Coca Cola advertisements in the 
1930s (e.g., Jones, 1978; Crichton, 1987; 
and www.stnicholascenter.org).
The Dutch Sinterklaas together, with his 
helpers, is believed to distribute his pre-
sents on the evening of 5 December. He 
may also pay visits during the evenings 
and nights before 5 December, leaving 
some candy in shoes set before the fire-
place, but the main event is the evening 
of the 5th. Once delivered, the presents 
are unwrapped during that same even-
ing. Scenes depicting the 5 December 
 Sinterklaas events should depict waxing, 
first quarter or full Moon (or no Moon) to 
be scientifically correct.
On Christmas Eve Santa Claus works 
through the night of 24–25 December to 
get his job done: the gifts are unwrapped 
on Christmas morning. If a Moon is shown 
in a Santa scene that takes place at the 
beginning of the night, its phase should 
be waxing, quarter or full, otherwise it can 
have any phase. The poem, A visit from 
Saint Nicholas, has the father witnessing 
Santa’s arrival before going to bed, and 
thus in the evening. The Moon “on the 
breast of the new fallen snow” must have 
been a waxing, first quarter, or full Moon to 
be scientifically correct. 
In summary, illustrations should preferen-
tially show first quarter or full Moons on 
 Sinterklaas or Santa Claus scenes, unless 
it is clear from the text that Santa’s job is 
nearly done (i.e. he has a nearly empty 
sleigh...) Any winter evening scene in gen-
eral, and certainly those having children 
around, should have a first quarter or full 
Moon, if the artist wants to show one. 
Measurements and results
December events
All data were obtained in the months 
November 2010–January 2011, and can 
be found compiled in Tables I through 
IV, which are available online5. In the 
Netherlands, two dozen book stores and 
department stores were visited, during 
November–December 2010. Book illustra-
tions depicting Sinterklaas and the Moon 
were examined, with regard to the Moon 
phase. Twenty-five images selected from 
25 books (Table I) provide the pie chart sta-
tistic as shown in Figure 1. It is seen that 
40% of the pictures display the last quar-
ter Moon, which is incorrect. 
The Netherlands wrapping paper analysis 
(20 different designs, from various firms, 
department stores and book stores) indi-
cates an even higher level of misunder-
standing. The chart in Figure 2 indicates a 
65% occurrence of the incorrect last quar-
ter or waning Moon. There is no reason to 
believe that this statistic is not represent-
ative, because examination of a collec-
tor’s sample of older Sinterklaas gift wrap6 
yields the comparable figure of 67% (six 
out of nine Moon designs incorrect). 
It must be concluded that the Dutch are 
often wrong, both on wrapping paper and 
in book illustrations; and more often so in 
the former case. Figure 3 nevertheless pre-
sents an example of nice wrapping paper 
with a correct waxing evening Moon.
40%
40%
20%
FIRST
FULL
LAST
Figure 1. Book statistics from the Netherlands.
CAPjournal, No. 12, May 201214
65% 10%
25% FIRST
FULL
LAST
Figure 2. Wrapping paper statistics from the 
Netherlands.
Figure 3. Scientifically correct Sinterklaas gift- 
wrapping paper. Credit: Keyzer Co., Wormerveer,  
The Netherlands: type 090011 (reproduced with 
permission).
Peter Barthel is astronomy professor at the 
Kapteyn Institute, University of Groningen in the 
Netherlands. In 2008, together with his team, 
he won the national Dutch science communi-
cation contest. Since the International Year of 
Astronomy 2009 he has been  collaborating 
with the professional pianists Elies van der Hei-
den and Siebert Nix in the project Keys to the 
Stars, merging astronomy and music.
Biography
15
References
Brown, M. W. & Hurd, C. 1947, and later editions, 
 Goodnight Moon, London: Harper Collins 
Crichton, R. 1987, Who is Santa Claus? — the  
  true story behind a living legend, Edinburgh: 
Canongate
Jones, C. W. 1978, Saint Nicholas of Myra,  
  Bari, and Manhattan: Biography of a Legend, 
Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Smith, C. & Egan, S. 1992, On the night before  
  Christmas, all down 101..., Salt Lake City: 
Gibbs Smith Publ.
Ungerer, T. 1967, and later editions, Moon  
  Man, London: Harper Collins 
Notes
1  http://www.unicefshop.nl/p656-kerstfeest.html
2 www.jacquielawson.com
3  http://www.learner.org/resources/series28.html
4  The widely known poem, with credit to Clement 
Clarke Moore, can be found for instance on 
http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19286 
(retrieved 7 January 2012). The site http://rpo.
library.utoronto.ca/poem/1312.html (retrieved 7 
January 2012) attributes it to Henry Livingston, 
Jr., following research published in 2000 by 
Donald Foster. A critical assessment of the 
authorship case can be read on http://www.
common-place.org/vol-01/no-02/moore/
(retrieved 7 January 2012
5  http://www.astro.rug.nl/~pdb/santa.html 
(retrieved 7 January 2012)
6  http://www.Sinterklaaspapier.nl
7  http://www.iment.com/maida/familytree/
henry/illos/editions/index.htm
8  Useful Moon phase education webpages are 
maintained by NASA and by NOAO: http://
www.jpl.nasa.gov/education/index.
cfm?page=123(retrieved 7 January 2012) 
and http://www.noao.edu/education/
phases(retrieved 7 January 2012). Excellent 
moon phase activities can be found on 
http://www.dennisschatz.org/activities.html
stores, general and department stores, 
stationery stores and pharmacies: single 
cards and boxed sets) were found to dis-
play full Moons, with or without Santa. The 
UNICEF card referred to in the Introduction 
represents one of the incorrect cases. Also 
a 2010 Holiday Delices set (cookies), sold 
by a famous (Fifth Avenue) department 
store, was found displaying a last quarter 
Moon at the beginning of a night of hard 
work by Santa and his crew. It must be con-
cluded that the Americans are occasionally 
wrong, but not as frequently as the Dutch. 
Other events
Other relevant happy outdoor evening 
events include Trick-or-treat (Halloween, 
the eve of Old Hallows) and Sint Maarten 
(Saint Martin), widely celebrated each 
year respectively in the USA, the UK, and 
Canada (31 October) and the Netherlands, 
Belgium, France, and Germany (11 
November). Often carrying lanterns and 
costumed, children go from home to 
home, begging for candy or money. Short 
songs about Sint Maarten are performed, 
whereas trick-or-treat is obviously accom-
panied by an innocent threat to the home 
owner’s property. Given that these are 
early evening activities, then any Moon 
depicted should be waxing, first quarter, 
or full. With reference to Table IV, inspec-
tion of eleven American trick-or-treat books 
indicated five cases (45%) of an incorrect 
last quarter Moon, one first quarter, and 
five full Moons. Three Dutch books dealing 
with Sint Maarten all showed the incorrect 
last quarter Moon. Two of these, however, 
were translations from German and Swiss 
editions: it is conceivable that the misun-
derstanding or lack of knowledge is global.
Finally, the well known classic children’s 
book Goodnight Moon (Brown & Hurd, 
1947) displays a correct full (evening) 
Moon, while the various Moon phases are 
also correctly dealt with in the classic Moon 
Man (Ungerer, 1967). On a last note, how-
ever, several titles in the Good Night Our 
World boardbook series (www.goodnigh-
tourworld.com), where children say good-
night to their city or region, display incor-
rect waning moons.
Discussion
We have established that illustrators and 
designers draw Moons ad libitum, ac-
cording to their taste, but that these il-
lustrations are often astronomically in-
correct. The most common mistake is 
to show the early morning waning Moon 
in an evening scene. Our research fo-
cussed on Sinterklaas, Santa Claus, and 
Christmas scenes, with a short side trip to 
Sint Maarten and Halloween. The apparent 
lack of knowledge concerning the physics 
of the Moon phases is most likely wide-
spread and not just limited to the countries 
examined here. Further investigations are 
however outside the scope of the present 
research. We note in passing that also the 
psyche could play a role: people may for 
instance be more inclined to draw Moon 
crescents which are open to the right, i.e. 
northern hemisphere waning Moons.
Naturally, the question arises: so what, who 
cares? The errors are innocent, somewhat 
comparable to incorrectly drawn rainbows, 
with the red colour at the inside of the arc. 
Now, watching beautiful natural phenomena 
like rainbows and Moon crescents is one 
thing, but understanding them makes them 
a whole lot more interesting. Moreover, un-
derstanding leads to knowledge which lasts. 
A tiny bit of insight, leading to the conclusion 
that the full Moon, being opposite the Sun, 
rises when the Sun sets and sets when the 
Sun rises, so that first quarter Moon, be-
ing at ~90 degrees, sets around midnight, 
and that last quarter Moon, at ~270 de-
grees, rises around that time, is required to 
avoid making the reported mistakes. The 
Halloween, Sint Maarten, Sinterklaas, and 
Santa Claus settings provide wonderful 
opportunities for Moon phase education8, 
through simple naked eye observations. If 
this paper stimulates that education and 
leads to improved understanding, we would 
all be pleased. “You better watch out” is of-
ten heard in the December month: it should 
also be taken literally....
Acknowledgements 
The author acknowledges useful com-
ments on the manuscript by Drs Andrew 
Fraknoi, Bob Sanders, Scott Trager, Piet 
van der Kruit, Gijs Verdoes Kleijn, and par-
ticularly three unknown referees. 
CAPjournal, No. 12, May 2012
Santa and the Moon
15%
70%
15%
FIRST
FULL
LAST
Figure 4. USA book statistics.


Santa and the Moon

This article reflects on the use of illustrations of the Moon in images of Santa Claus, on Christmas gift-wrapping paper and in children's books, in two countries which have been important in shaping the image of Santa Claus and his predecessor Sinterklaas: the USA and the Netherlands. The appearance of the Moon in Halloween illustrations is also considered. The lack of either knowledge concerning the physical origin of the Moon's phases, or interest in understanding them, is found to be widespread in the Netherlands, but is also clearly present in the USA, and is quite possibly global. Certainly incomplete, but surely representative, lists that compile occurrences of both scientifically correct and scientifically incorrect gift- wrapping paper and children's books are also presented

ARTS repository - University of Groningen

   University of GroningenSanta and the MoonBarthel, P.Published in:Communicating Astronomy with the PublicIMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite fromit. Please check the document version below.Document VersionPublisher's PDF, also known as Version of recordPublication date:2012Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research databaseCitation for published version (APA):Barthel, P. (2012). Santa and the Moon. Communicating Astronomy with the Public, (12), 13-15.https://www.capjournal.org/issues/12/12_13.phpCopyrightOther than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of theauthor(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons).The publication may also be distributed here under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the “Taverne” license.More information can be found on the University of Groningen website: https://www.rug.nl/library/open-access/self-archiving-pure/taverne-amendment.Take-down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediatelyand investigate your claim.Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons thenumber of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum.Download date: 31-10-202313To quantify the level of ignorance con-cerning the phase of the evening Moon re-lated to the Sinterklaas, Santa Claus and the Christmas season, a (jolly) research project was conducted, examining illus-trations in children’s books, on gift-wrap-ping paper, and on Christmas cards, both in the USA and in the Netherlands. These are the two countries that have shaped the image of Santa Claus and his name-giver Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas, Sint  Nicolaas), the benevolent figures who have been of key importance in commercialising the December holiday season. The goal of publishing this research is obviously to fo-cus educators’ attention on a great oppor-tunity to explain the (origin of the) Moon’s phases, as offered by these happy end-of- year events. The need for such education has been, for instance, well demonstrated by the video A Private Universe3.Theoretical backgroundThe Sinterklaas and Santa Claus stories are well known and date back to the fourth century bishop Nicholas of Myra (now Demre, in southern Turkey). Legends of his generosity and kindness spread over Europe and he became the patron saint of many groups, cities, and even countries. The 5 December, the eve of his death, was commemorated with an annual feast in many European countries. Following the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century, some countries merged the IntroductionImages of the Moon are often used to in-dicate an evening or night scene, not only as illustrations in books (for adults and children), but also on product packag-ing, brochures, greetings cards, gift-wrap-ping paper, in advertising, commercials, as pictograms, etc. A full Moon is often used, partly hidden behind trees or clouds, but a partially lit Moon — half or crescent — also frequently appears. The latter case leaves no doubt as to an image’s identi-fication with the Moon; a full Moon could possibly be mistaken for the Sun. There are two ways of depicting a partially lit Moon: around its first and its last quarters. A cres-cent Moon, on its way towards first quar-ter is called a waxing Moon, and such a waxing Moon can be observed in the af-ternoon twilight and in the evening. Its right hand side is illuminated, for observers in the northern hemisphere (left for observers in the south). The first quarter Moon sets at midnight, a waxing Moon even earlier. A waning crescent Moon (from third quar-ter to new Moon: left hand side illuminated) rises around 3 am, hence can only be ob-served late at night and in the morning twi-light. The full Moon is directly opposite the Sun in the sky, and hence rises at sunset. Moon illustrations are occasionally incor-rect. There are postcards showing artist’s impressions of tropical evenings with both the Sun and the full Moon close to each other. Full Moons sometimes rise around midnight in movie scenes. Illustrations which show Moon crescents are also occa-sionally wrong: third quarter Moons or wan-ing crescents are depicted when the actual scene is in the evening. A 2010 UNICEF Christmas card as well as the opening scene in the 2010 Jacquie Lawson ani-mated Advent e-Calendar — both widely sold items — provided the culmination of several years of frowning (and smiling) about this misconception or ignorance, and triggered the research presented be-low. The UNICEF card, of British design1, shows children decorating an outdoor Christmas tree. Judging from the Moon phase, the scene takes place at 4 am or 5 am in the morning, which is not impos-sible but unlikely. The village scene that opened the 2010 Jacquie Lawson2 digi-tal Advent Calendar depicts a Christmas carol concert, sung in the village square. Whereas the thin waning Moon indicates an early morning event, the artist undoubtedly wants to show us an early evening scene, judging from the people on the square and the lights in the houses, shops and the church. It is just about possible that both artists intended to create Australian scenes with reversed Moon phases, but the pres-ence of snow in both scenes is strongly suggestive of the northern hemisphere in December.... The same misunderstanding is frequently seen on gift-wrapping paper in the Netherlands, displaying Sinterklaas, the predecessor of Santa Claus, distrib-uting presents in the evening with a third quarter or waning Moon in the sky. CAPjournal, No. 12, May 2012Santa and the Moon ReviewsPeter BarthelKapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, The NetherlandsE-mail: pdb@astro.rug.nlKeywordsBooks, Moon Phases, ChristmasSummaryThis article reflects on the use of illustrations of the Moon in images of Santa Claus, on Christmas gift-wrapping paper and in children’s books, in two countries which have been important in shaping the image of Santa Claus and his predecessor Sinterklaas: the USA and the Netherlands. The appearance of the Moon in Halloween illustrations is also considered. The lack of either knowledge concerning the physical origin of the Moon’s phases, or interest in understanding them, is found to be widespread in the Netherlands, but is also clearly present in the USA, and is quite possibly global. Certainly incom-plete, but surely representative, lists that compile occurrences of both scientifically correct and scientifically incorrect gift-wrapping paper and children’s books are also presented.Santa and the MoonThe US research was carried out during November 2010–January 2011, in New England and in Los Angeles: also here roughly two dozen book stores, stationery stores, pharmacies and department stores were visited. In addition, samples of com-mercially available wrapping paper and Christmas cards were inspected on the internet. Thirty-three Moon scene images selected from 30 different books (Table III) provide the pie chart statistic as shown in Figure 4. It is clear that most of the time (70%) a full Moon is drawn, but it should be noted that 17 of the 30 inspected books were renditions by various illustrators of the poem A visit from Saint Nicholas. Inspection of illustrated editions of this poem7 from the 19th and early 20th century indicates that the full Moon is indeed shown very frequently, throughout the lifetime of this poem. Whereas the text does not explic-itly mention the full Moon, that Moon phase may have become implicitly “attached” to its lines over the years: the full Moon more-over provides a nice background for sleigh and reindeer.... Nevertheless, in several American books an incorrect waning or third quarter Moon is seen accompanying stories involving children in evening scenes, or illustrating Santa with a full sleigh, i.e., at the beginning of a night’s work. The book-let, The Night before Christmas in California (Smith & Egan, 1992) displays two different Moons (full and waning) during one and the same evening.... With only a few exceptions, wrapping paper and Christmas cards sold in the USA (book St. Nicholas celebration with Christmas, but others stuck to 5 December. The char-acteristic features of benevolence and the exchange of gifts obviously hark back to legends around St. Nicholas. Local folk-lore was added, which resulted in different flavours for the celebrations in various countries. Dutch settlers in the New World celebrated St. Nicholas’ Eve in the 17th century, and those celebrations evolved through contacts with immigrants of other nationalities. Concerning the transforma-tion to Santa Claus, the importance of the author Washington Irving in 1809 and of the 1823 poem A visit from Saint Nicholas, commonly known as The night before Christmas4, is well documented, as are the drawings of Thomas Nast in the 1860s and the Coca Cola advertisements in the 1930s (e.g., Jones, 1978; Crichton, 1987; and www.stnicholascenter.org).The Dutch Sinterklaas together, with his helpers, is believed to distribute his pre-sents on the evening of 5 December. He may also pay visits during the evenings and nights before 5 December, leaving some candy in shoes set before the fire-place, but the main event is the evening of the 5th. Once delivered, the presents are unwrapped during that same even-ing. Scenes depicting the 5 December  Sinterklaas events should depict waxing, first quarter or full Moon (or no Moon) to be scientifically correct.On Christmas Eve Santa Claus works through the night of 24–25 December to get his job done: the gifts are unwrapped on Christmas morning. If a Moon is shown in a Santa scene that takes place at the beginning of the night, its phase should be waxing, quarter or full, otherwise it can have any phase. The poem, A visit from Saint Nicholas, has the father witnessing Santa’s arrival before going to bed, and thus in the evening. The Moon “on the breast of the new fallen snow” must have been a waxing, first quarter, or full Moon to be scientifically correct. In summary, illustrations should preferen-tially show first quarter or full Moons on  Sinterklaas or Santa Claus scenes, unless it is clear from the text that Santa’s job is nearly done (i.e. he has a nearly empty sleigh...) Any winter evening scene in gen-eral, and certainly those having children around, should have a first quarter or full Moon, if the artist wants to show one. Measurements and resultsDecember eventsAll data were obtained in the months November 2010–January 2011, and can be found compiled in Tables I through IV, which are available online5. In the Netherlands, two dozen book stores and department stores were visited, during November–December 2010. Book illustra-tions depicting Sinterklaas and the Moon were examined, with regard to the Moon phase. Twenty-five images selected from 25 books (Table I) provide the pie chart sta-tistic as shown in Figure 1. It is seen that 40% of the pictures display the last quar-ter Moon, which is incorrect. The Netherlands wrapping paper analysis (20 different designs, from various firms, department stores and book stores) indi-cates an even higher level of misunder-standing. The chart in Figure 2 indicates a 65% occurrence of the incorrect last quar-ter or waning Moon. There is no reason to believe that this statistic is not represent-ative, because examination of a collec-tor’s sample of older Sinterklaas gift wrap6 yields the comparable figure of 67% (six out of nine Moon designs incorrect). It must be concluded that the Dutch are often wrong, both on wrapping paper and in book illustrations; and more often so in the former case. Figure 3 nevertheless pre-sents an example of nice wrapping paper with a correct waxing evening Moon.40%40%20%FIRSTFULLLASTFigure 1. Book statistics from the Netherlands.CAPjournal, No. 12, May 20121465% 10%25% FIRSTFULLLASTFigure 2. Wrapping paper statistics from the Netherlands.Figure 3. Scientifically correct Sinterklaas gift- wrapping paper. Credit: Keyzer Co., Wormerveer,  The Netherlands: type 090011 (reproduced with permission).Peter Barthel is astronomy professor at the Kapteyn Institute, University of Groningen in the Netherlands. In 2008, together with his team, he won the national Dutch science communi-cation contest. Since the International Year of Astronomy 2009 he has been  collaborating with the professional pianists Elies van der Hei-den and Siebert Nix in the project Keys to the Stars, merging astronomy and music.Biography15ReferencesBrown, M. W. & Hurd, C. 1947, and later editions,  Goodnight Moon, London: Harper Collins Crichton, R. 1987, Who is Santa Claus? — the    true story behind a living legend, Edinburgh: CanongateJones, C. W. 1978, Saint Nicholas of Myra,    Bari, and Manhattan: Biography of a Legend, Chicago: University of Chicago PressSmith, C. & Egan, S. 1992, On the night before    Christmas, all down 101..., Salt Lake City: Gibbs Smith Publ.Ungerer, T. 1967, and later editions, Moon    Man, London: Harper Collins Notes1  http://www.unicefshop.nl/p656-kerstfeest.html2 www.jacquielawson.com3  http://www.learner.org/resources/series28.html4  The widely known poem, with credit to Clement Clarke Moore, can be found for instance on http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19286 (retrieved 7 January 2012). The site http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/1312.html (retrieved 7 January 2012) attributes it to Henry Livingston, Jr., following research published in 2000 by Donald Foster. A critical assessment of the authorship case can be read on http://www.common-place.org/vol-01/no-02/moore/(retrieved 7 January 20125  http://www.astro.rug.nl/~pdb/santa.html (retrieved 7 January 2012)6  http://www.Sinterklaaspapier.nl7  http://www.iment.com/maida/familytree/henry/illos/editions/index.htm8  Useful Moon phase education webpages are maintained by NASA and by NOAO: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/education/index.cfm?page=123(retrieved 7 January 2012) and http://www.noao.edu/education/phases(retrieved 7 January 2012). Excellent moon phase activities can be found on http://www.dennisschatz.org/activities.htmlstores, general and department stores, stationery stores and pharmacies: single cards and boxed sets) were found to dis-play full Moons, with or without Santa. The UNICEF card referred to in the Introduction represents one of the incorrect cases. Also a 2010 Holiday Delices set (cookies), sold by a famous (Fifth Avenue) department store, was found displaying a last quarter Moon at the beginning of a night of hard work by Santa and his crew. It must be con-cluded that the Americans are occasionally wrong, but not as frequently as the Dutch. Other eventsOther relevant happy outdoor evening events include Trick-or-treat (Halloween, the eve of Old Hallows) and Sint Maarten (Saint Martin), widely celebrated each year respectively in the USA, the UK, and Canada (31 October) and the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Germany (11 November). Often carrying lanterns and costumed, children go from home to home, begging for candy or money. Short songs about Sint Maarten are performed, whereas trick-or-treat is obviously accom-panied by an innocent threat to the home owner’s property. Given that these are early evening activities, then any Moon depicted should be waxing, first quarter, or full. With reference to Table IV, inspec-tion of eleven American trick-or-treat books indicated five cases (45%) of an incorrect last quarter Moon, one first quarter, and five full Moons. Three Dutch books dealing with Sint Maarten all showed the incorrect last quarter Moon. Two of these, however, were translations from German and Swiss editions: it is conceivable that the misun-derstanding or lack of knowledge is global.Finally, the well known classic children’s book Goodnight Moon (Brown & Hurd, 1947) displays a correct full (evening) Moon, while the various Moon phases are also correctly dealt with in the classic Moon Man (Ungerer, 1967). On a last note, how-ever, several titles in the Good Night Our World boardbook series (www.goodnigh-tourworld.com), where children say good-night to their city or region, display incor-rect waning moons.DiscussionWe have established that illustrators and designers draw Moons ad libitum, ac-cording to their taste, but that these il-lustrations are often astronomically in-correct. The most common mistake is to show the early morning waning Moon in an evening scene. Our research fo-cussed on Sinterklaas, Santa Claus, and Christmas scenes, with a short side trip to Sint Maarten and Halloween. The apparent lack of knowledge concerning the physics of the Moon phases is most likely wide-spread and not just limited to the countries examined here. Further investigations are however outside the scope of the present research. We note in passing that also the psyche could play a role: people may for instance be more inclined to draw Moon crescents which are open to the right, i.e. northern hemisphere waning Moons.Naturally, the question arises: so what, who cares? The errors are innocent, somewhat comparable to incorrectly drawn rainbows, with the red colour at the inside of the arc. Now, watching beautiful natural phenomena like rainbows and Moon crescents is one thing, but understanding them makes them a whole lot more interesting. Moreover, un-derstanding leads to knowledge which lasts. A tiny bit of insight, leading to the conclusion that the full Moon, being opposite the Sun, rises when the Sun sets and sets when the Sun rises, so that first quarter Moon, be-ing at ~90 degrees, sets around midnight, and that last quarter Moon, at ~270 de-grees, rises around that time, is required to avoid making the reported mistakes. The Halloween, Sint Maarten, Sinterklaas, and Santa Claus settings provide wonderful opportunities for Moon phase education8, through simple naked eye observations. If this paper stimulates that education and leads to improved understanding, we would all be pleased. “You better watch out” is of-ten heard in the December month: it should also be taken literally....Acknowledgements The author acknowledges useful com-ments on the manuscript by Drs Andrew Fraknoi, Bob Sanders, Scott Trager, Piet van der Kruit, Gijs Verdoes Kleijn, and par-ticularly three unknown referees. CAPjournal, No. 12, May 2012Santa and the Moon15%70%15%FIRSTFULLLASTFigure 4. USA book statistics.

   University of GroningenSanta and the MoonBarthel, P.Published in:Communicating Astronomy with the PublicIMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite fromit. Please check the document version below.Document VersionPublisher's PDF, also known as Version of recordPublication date:2012Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research databaseCitation for published version (APA):Barthel, P. (2012). Santa and the Moon. Communicating Astronomy with the Public, (12), 13-15.https://www.capjournal.org/issues/12/12_13.phpCopyrightOther than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of theauthor(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons).The publication may also be distributed here under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the “Taverne” license.More information can be found on the University of Groningen website: https://www.rug.nl/library/open-access/self-archiving-pure/taverne-amendment.Take-down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediatelyand investigate your claim.Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons thenumber of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum.Download date: 21-06-202213To quantify the level of ignorance con-cerning the phase of the evening Moon re-lated to the Sinterklaas, Santa Claus and the Christmas season, a (jolly) research project was conducted, examining illus-trations in children’s books, on gift-wrap-ping paper, and on Christmas cards, both in the USA and in the Netherlands. These are the two countries that have shaped the image of Santa Claus and his name-giver Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas, Sint  Nicolaas), the benevolent figures who have been of key importance in commercialising the December holiday season. The goal of publishing this research is obviously to fo-cus educators’ attention on a great oppor-tunity to explain the (origin of the) Moon’s phases, as offered by these happy end-of- year events. The need for such education has been, for instance, well demonstrated by the video A Private Universe3.Theoretical backgroundThe Sinterklaas and Santa Claus stories are well known and date back to the fourth century bishop Nicholas of Myra (now Demre, in southern Turkey). Legends of his generosity and kindness spread over Europe and he became the patron saint of many groups, cities, and even countries. The 5 December, the eve of his death, was commemorated with an annual feast in many European countries. Following the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century, some countries merged the IntroductionImages of the Moon are often used to in-dicate an evening or night scene, not only as illustrations in books (for adults and children), but also on product packag-ing, brochures, greetings cards, gift-wrap-ping paper, in advertising, commercials, as pictograms, etc. A full Moon is often used, partly hidden behind trees or clouds, but a partially lit Moon — half or crescent — also frequently appears. The latter case leaves no doubt as to an image’s identi-fication with the Moon; a full Moon could possibly be mistaken for the Sun. There are two ways of depicting a partially lit Moon: around its first and its last quarters. A cres-cent Moon, on its way towards first quar-ter is called a waxing Moon, and such a waxing Moon can be observed in the af-ternoon twilight and in the evening. Its right hand side is illuminated, for observers in the northern hemisphere (left for observers in the south). The first quarter Moon sets at midnight, a waxing Moon even earlier. A waning crescent Moon (from third quar-ter to new Moon: left hand side illuminated) rises around 3 am, hence can only be ob-served late at night and in the morning twi-light. The full Moon is directly opposite the Sun in the sky, and hence rises at sunset. Moon illustrations are occasionally incor-rect. There are postcards showing artist’s impressions of tropical evenings with both the Sun and the full Moon close to each other. Full Moons sometimes rise around midnight in movie scenes. Illustrations which show Moon crescents are also occa-sionally wrong: third quarter Moons or wan-ing crescents are depicted when the actual scene is in the evening. A 2010 UNICEF Christmas card as well as the opening scene in the 2010 Jacquie Lawson ani-mated Advent e-Calendar — both widely sold items — provided the culmination of several years of frowning (and smiling) about this misconception or ignorance, and triggered the research presented be-low. The UNICEF card, of British design1, shows children decorating an outdoor Christmas tree. Judging from the Moon phase, the scene takes place at 4 am or 5 am in the morning, which is not impos-sible but unlikely. The village scene that opened the 2010 Jacquie Lawson2 digi-tal Advent Calendar depicts a Christmas carol concert, sung in the village square. Whereas the thin waning Moon indicates an early morning event, the artist undoubtedly wants to show us an early evening scene, judging from the people on the square and the lights in the houses, shops and the church. It is just about possible that both artists intended to create Australian scenes with reversed Moon phases, but the pres-ence of snow in both scenes is strongly suggestive of the northern hemisphere in December.... The same misunderstanding is frequently seen on gift-wrapping paper in the Netherlands, displaying Sinterklaas, the predecessor of Santa Claus, distrib-uting presents in the evening with a third quarter or waning Moon in the sky. CAPjournal, No. 12, May 2012Santa and the Moon ReviewsPeter BarthelKapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, The NetherlandsE-mail: pdb@astro.rug.nlKeywordsBooks, Moon Phases, ChristmasSummaryThis article reflects on the use of illustrations of the Moon in images of Santa Claus, on Christmas gift-wrapping paper and in children’s books, in two countries which have been important in shaping the image of Santa Claus and his predecessor Sinterklaas: the USA and the Netherlands. The appearance of the Moon in Halloween illustrations is also considered. The lack of either knowledge concerning the physical origin of the Moon’s phases, or interest in understanding them, is found to be widespread in the Netherlands, but is also clearly present in the USA, and is quite possibly global. Certainly incom-plete, but surely representative, lists that compile occurrences of both scientifically correct and scientifically incorrect gift-wrapping paper and children’s books are also presented.Santa and the MoonThe US research was carried out during November 2010–January 2011, in New England and in Los Angeles: also here roughly two dozen book stores, stationery stores, pharmacies and department stores were visited. In addition, samples of com-mercially available wrapping paper and Christmas cards were inspected on the internet. Thirty-three Moon scene images selected from 30 different books (Table III) provide the pie chart statistic as shown in Figure 4. It is clear that most of the time (70%) a full Moon is drawn, but it should be noted that 17 of the 30 inspected books were renditions by various illustrators of the poem A visit from Saint Nicholas. Inspection of illustrated editions of this poem7 from the 19th and early 20th century indicates that the full Moon is indeed shown very frequently, throughout the lifetime of this poem. Whereas the text does not explic-itly mention the full Moon, that Moon phase may have become implicitly “attached” to its lines over the years: the full Moon more-over provides a nice background for sleigh and reindeer.... Nevertheless, in several American books an incorrect waning or third quarter Moon is seen accompanying stories involving children in evening scenes, or illustrating Santa with a full sleigh, i.e., at the beginning of a night’s work. The book-let, The Night before Christmas in California (Smith & Egan, 1992) displays two different Moons (full and waning) during one and the same evening.... With only a few exceptions, wrapping paper and Christmas cards sold in the USA (book St. Nicholas celebration with Christmas, but others stuck to 5 December. The char-acteristic features of benevolence and the exchange of gifts obviously hark back to legends around St. Nicholas. Local folk-lore was added, which resulted in different flavours for the celebrations in various countries. Dutch settlers in the New World celebrated St. Nicholas’ Eve in the 17th century, and those celebrations evolved through contacts with immigrants of other nationalities. Concerning the transforma-tion to Santa Claus, the importance of the author Washington Irving in 1809 and of the 1823 poem A visit from Saint Nicholas, commonly known as The night before Christmas4, is well documented, as are the drawings of Thomas Nast in the 1860s and the Coca Cola advertisements in the 1930s (e.g., Jones, 1978; Crichton, 1987; and www.stnicholascenter.org).The Dutch Sinterklaas together, with his helpers, is believed to distribute his pre-sents on the evening of 5 December. He may also pay visits during the evenings and nights before 5 December, leaving some candy in shoes set before the fire-place, but the main event is the evening of the 5th. Once delivered, the presents are unwrapped during that same even-ing. Scenes depicting the 5 December  Sinterklaas events should depict waxing, first quarter or full Moon (or no Moon) to be scientifically correct.On Christmas Eve Santa Claus works through the night of 24–25 December to get his job done: the gifts are unwrapped on Christmas morning. If a Moon is shown in a Santa scene that takes place at the beginning of the night, its phase should be waxing, quarter or full, otherwise it can have any phase. The poem, A visit from Saint Nicholas, has the father witnessing Santa’s arrival before going to bed, and thus in the evening. The Moon “on the breast of the new fallen snow” must have been a waxing, first quarter, or full Moon to be scientifically correct. In summary, illustrations should preferen-tially show first quarter or full Moons on  Sinterklaas or Santa Claus scenes, unless it is clear from the text that Santa’s job is nearly done (i.e. he has a nearly empty sleigh...) Any winter evening scene in gen-eral, and certainly those having children around, should have a first quarter or full Moon, if the artist wants to show one. Measurements and resultsDecember eventsAll data were obtained in the months November 2010–January 2011, and can be found compiled in Tables I through IV, which are available online5. In the Netherlands, two dozen book stores and department stores were visited, during November–December 2010. Book illustra-tions depicting Sinterklaas and the Moon were examined, with regard to the Moon phase. Twenty-five images selected from 25 books (Table I) provide the pie chart sta-tistic as shown in Figure 1. It is seen that 40% of the pictures display the last quar-ter Moon, which is incorrect. The Netherlands wrapping paper analysis (20 different designs, from various firms, department stores and book stores) indi-cates an even higher level of misunder-standing. The chart in Figure 2 indicates a 65% occurrence of the incorrect last quar-ter or waning Moon. There is no reason to believe that this statistic is not represent-ative, because examination of a collec-tor’s sample of older Sinterklaas gift wrap6 yields the comparable figure of 67% (six out of nine Moon designs incorrect). It must be concluded that the Dutch are often wrong, both on wrapping paper and in book illustrations; and more often so in the former case. Figure 3 nevertheless pre-sents an example of nice wrapping paper with a correct waxing evening Moon.40%40%20%FIRSTFULLLASTFigure 1. Book statistics from the Netherlands.CAPjournal, No. 12, May 20121465% 10%25% FIRSTFULLLASTFigure 2. Wrapping paper statistics from the Netherlands.Figure 3. Scientifically correct Sinterklaas gift- wrapping paper. Credit: Keyzer Co., Wormerveer,  The Netherlands: type 090011 (reproduced with permission).Peter Barthel is astronomy professor at the Kapteyn Institute, University of Groningen in the Netherlands. In 2008, together with his team, he won the national Dutch science communi-cation contest. Since the International Year of Astronomy 2009 he has been  collaborating with the professional pianists Elies van der Hei-den and Siebert Nix in the project Keys to the Stars, merging astronomy and music.Biography15ReferencesBrown, M. W. & Hurd, C. 1947, and later editions,  Goodnight Moon, London: Harper Collins Crichton, R. 1987, Who is Santa Claus? — the    true story behind a living legend, Edinburgh: CanongateJones, C. W. 1978, Saint Nicholas of Myra,    Bari, and Manhattan: Biography of a Legend, Chicago: University of Chicago PressSmith, C. & Egan, S. 1992, On the night before    Christmas, all down 101..., Salt Lake City: Gibbs Smith Publ.Ungerer, T. 1967, and later editions, Moon    Man, London: Harper Collins Notes1  http://www.unicefshop.nl/p656-kerstfeest.html2 www.jacquielawson.com3  http://www.learner.org/resources/series28.html4  The widely known poem, with credit to Clement Clarke Moore, can be found for instance on http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19286 (retrieved 7 January 2012). The site http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/1312.html (retrieved 7 January 2012) attributes it to Henry Livingston, Jr., following research published in 2000 by Donald Foster. A critical assessment of the authorship case can be read on http://www.common-place.org/vol-01/no-02/moore/(retrieved 7 January 20125  http://www.astro.rug.nl/~pdb/santa.html (retrieved 7 January 2012)6  http://www.Sinterklaaspapier.nl7  http://www.iment.com/maida/familytree/henry/illos/editions/index.htm8  Useful Moon phase education webpages are maintained by NASA and by NOAO: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/education/index.cfm?page=123(retrieved 7 January 2012) and http://www.noao.edu/education/phases(retrieved 7 January 2012). Excellent moon phase activities can be found on http://www.dennisschatz.org/activities.htmlstores, general and department stores, stationery stores and pharmacies: single cards and boxed sets) were found to dis-play full Moons, with or without Santa. The UNICEF card referred to in the Introduction represents one of the incorrect cases. Also a 2010 Holiday Delices set (cookies), sold by a famous (Fifth Avenue) department store, was found displaying a last quarter Moon at the beginning of a night of hard work by Santa and his crew. It must be con-cluded that the Americans are occasionally wrong, but not as frequently as the Dutch. Other eventsOther relevant happy outdoor evening events include Trick-or-treat (Halloween, the eve of Old Hallows) and Sint Maarten (Saint Martin), widely celebrated each year respectively in the USA, the UK, and Canada (31 October) and the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Germany (11 November). Often carrying lanterns and costumed, children go from home to home, begging for candy or money. Short songs about Sint Maarten are performed, whereas trick-or-treat is obviously accom-panied by an innocent threat to the home owner’s property. Given that these are early evening activities, then any Moon depicted should be waxing, first quarter, or full. With reference to Table IV, inspec-tion of eleven American trick-or-treat books indicated five cases (45%) of an incorrect last quarter Moon, one first quarter, and five full Moons. Three Dutch books dealing with Sint Maarten all showed the incorrect last quarter Moon. Two of these, however, were translations from German and Swiss editions: it is conceivable that the misun-derstanding or lack of knowledge is global.Finally, the well known classic children’s book Goodnight Moon (Brown & Hurd, 1947) displays a correct full (evening) Moon, while the various Moon phases are also correctly dealt with in the classic Moon Man (Ungerer, 1967). On a last note, how-ever, several titles in the Good Night Our World boardbook series (www.goodnigh-tourworld.com), where children say good-night to their city or region, display incor-rect waning moons.DiscussionWe have established that illustrators and designers draw Moons ad libitum, ac-cording to their taste, but that these il-lustrations are often astronomically in-correct. The most common mistake is to show the early morning waning Moon in an evening scene. Our research fo-cussed on Sinterklaas, Santa Claus, and Christmas scenes, with a short side trip to Sint Maarten and Halloween. The apparent lack of knowledge concerning the physics of the Moon phases is most likely wide-spread and not just limited to the countries examined here. Further investigations are however outside the scope of the present research. We note in passing that also the psyche could play a role: people may for instance be more inclined to draw Moon crescents which are open to the right, i.e. northern hemisphere waning Moons.Naturally, the question arises: so what, who cares? The errors are innocent, somewhat comparable to incorrectly drawn rainbows, with the red colour at the inside of the arc. Now, watching beautiful natural phenomena like rainbows and Moon crescents is one thing, but understanding them makes them a whole lot more interesting. Moreover, un-derstanding leads to knowledge which lasts. A tiny bit of insight, leading to the conclusion that the full Moon, being opposite the Sun, rises when the Sun sets and sets when the Sun rises, so that first quarter Moon, be-ing at ~90 degrees, sets around midnight, and that last quarter Moon, at ~270 de-grees, rises around that time, is required to avoid making the reported mistakes. The Halloween, Sint Maarten, Sinterklaas, and Santa Claus settings provide wonderful opportunities for Moon phase education8, through simple naked eye observations. If this paper stimulates that education and leads to improved understanding, we would all be pleased. “You better watch out” is of-ten heard in the December month: it should also be taken literally....Acknowledgements The author acknowledges useful com-ments on the manuscript by Drs Andrew Fraknoi, Bob Sanders, Scott Trager, Piet van der Kruit, Gijs Verdoes Kleijn, and par-ticularly three unknown referees. CAPjournal, No. 12, May 2012Santa and the Moon15%70%15%FIRSTFULLLASTFigure 4. USA book statistics.

NARCIS 

University of Groningen

   University of GroningenSanta and the MoonBarthel, P.Published in:Communicating Astronomy with the PublicIMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite fromit. Please check the document version below.Document VersionPublisher's PDF, also known as Version of recordPublication date:2012Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research databaseCitation for published version (APA):Barthel, P. (2012). Santa and the Moon. Communicating Astronomy with the Public, (12), 13-15.CopyrightOther than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of theauthor(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons).Take-down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediatelyand investigate your claim.Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons thenumber of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum.Download date: 12-11-201913To quantify the level of ignorance con-cerning the phase of the evening Moon re-lated to the Sinterklaas, Santa Claus and the Christmas season, a (jolly) research project was conducted, examining illus-trations in children’s books, on gift-wrap-ping paper, and on Christmas cards, both in the USA and in the Netherlands. These are the two countries that have shaped the image of Santa Claus and his name-giver Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas, Sint  Nicolaas), the benevolent figures who have been of key importance in commercialising the December holiday season. The goal of publishing this research is obviously to fo-cus educators’ attention on a great oppor-tunity to explain the (origin of the) Moon’s phases, as offered by these happy end-of- year events. The need for such education has been, for instance, well demonstrated by the video A Private Universe3.Theoretical backgroundThe Sinterklaas and Santa Claus stories are well known and date back to the fourth century bishop Nicholas of Myra (now Demre, in southern Turkey). Legends of his generosity and kindness spread over Europe and he became the patron saint of many groups, cities, and even countries. The 5 December, the eve of his death, was commemorated with an annual feast in many European countries. Following the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century, some countries merged the IntroductionImages of the Moon are often used to in-dicate an evening or night scene, not only as illustrations in books (for adults and children), but also on product packag-ing, brochures, greetings cards, gift-wrap-ping paper, in advertising, commercials, as pictograms, etc. A full Moon is often used, partly hidden behind trees or clouds, but a partially lit Moon — half or crescent — also frequently appears. The latter case leaves no doubt as to an image’s identi-fication with the Moon; a full Moon could possibly be mistaken for the Sun. There are two ways of depicting a partially lit Moon: around its first and its last quarters. A cres-cent Moon, on its way towards first quar-ter is called a waxing Moon, and such a waxing Moon can be observed in the af-ternoon twilight and in the evening. Its right hand side is illuminated, for observers in the northern hemisphere (left for observers in the south). The first quarter Moon sets at midnight, a waxing Moon even earlier. A waning crescent Moon (from third quar-ter to new Moon: left hand side illuminated) rises around 3 am, hence can only be ob-served late at night and in the morning twi-light. The full Moon is directly opposite the Sun in the sky, and hence rises at sunset. Moon illustrations are occasionally incor-rect. There are postcards showing artist’s impressions of tropical evenings with both the Sun and the full Moon close to each other. Full Moons sometimes rise around midnight in movie scenes. Illustrations which show Moon crescents are also occa-sionally wrong: third quarter Moons or wan-ing crescents are depicted when the actual scene is in the evening. A 2010 UNICEF Christmas card as well as the opening scene in the 2010 Jacquie Lawson ani-mated Advent e-Calendar — both widely sold items — provided the culmination of several years of frowning (and smiling) about this misconception or ignorance, and triggered the research presented be-low. The UNICEF card, of British design1, shows children decorating an outdoor Christmas tree. Judging from the Moon phase, the scene takes place at 4 am or 5 am in the morning, which is not impos-sible but unlikely. The village scene that opened the 2010 Jacquie Lawson2 digi-tal Advent Calendar depicts a Christmas carol concert, sung in the village square. Whereas the thin waning Moon indicates an early morning event, the artist undoubtedly wants to show us an early evening scene, judging from the people on the square and the lights in the houses, shops and the church. It is just about possible that both artists intended to create Australian scenes with reversed Moon phases, but the pres-ence of snow in both scenes is strongly suggestive of the northern hemisphere in December.... The same misunderstanding is frequently seen on gift-wrapping paper in the Netherlands, displaying Sinterklaas, the predecessor of Santa Claus, distrib-uting presents in the evening with a third quarter or waning Moon in the sky. CAPjournal, No. 12, May 2012Santa and the Moon ReviewsPeter BarthelKapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, The NetherlandsE-mail: pdb@astro.rug.nlKeywordsBooks, Moon Phases, ChristmasSummaryThis article reflects on the use of illustrations of the Moon in images of Santa Claus, on Christmas gift-wrapping paper and in children’s books, in two countries which have been important in shaping the image of Santa Claus and his predecessor Sinterklaas: the USA and the Netherlands. The appearance of the Moon in Halloween illustrations is also considered. The lack of either knowledge concerning the physical origin of the Moon’s phases, or interest in understanding them, is found to be widespread in the Netherlands, but is also clearly present in the USA, and is quite possibly global. Certainly incom-plete, but surely representative, lists that compile occurrences of both scientifically correct and scientifically incorrect gift-wrapping paper and children’s books are also presented.Santa and the MoonThe US research was carried out during November 2010–January 2011, in New England and in Los Angeles: also here roughly two dozen book stores, stationery stores, pharmacies and department stores were visited. In addition, samples of com-mercially available wrapping paper and Christmas cards were inspected on the internet. Thirty-three Moon scene images selected from 30 different books (Table III) provide the pie chart statistic as shown in Figure 4. It is clear that most of the time (70%) a full Moon is drawn, but it should be noted that 17 of the 30 inspected books were renditions by various illustrators of the poem A visit from Saint Nicholas. Inspection of illustrated editions of this poem7 from the 19th and early 20th century indicates that the full Moon is indeed shown very frequently, throughout the lifetime of this poem. Whereas the text does not explic-itly mention the full Moon, that Moon phase may have become implicitly “attached” to its lines over the years: the full Moon more-over provides a nice background for sleigh and reindeer.... Nevertheless, in several American books an incorrect waning or third quarter Moon is seen accompanying stories involving children in evening scenes, or illustrating Santa with a full sleigh, i.e., at the beginning of a night’s work. The book-let, The Night before Christmas in California (Smith & Egan, 1992) displays two different Moons (full and waning) during one and the same evening.... With only a few exceptions, wrapping paper and Christmas cards sold in the USA (book St. Nicholas celebration with Christmas, but others stuck to 5 December. The char-acteristic features of benevolence and the exchange of gifts obviously hark back to legends around St. Nicholas. Local folk-lore was added, which resulted in different flavours for the celebrations in various countries. Dutch settlers in the New World celebrated St. Nicholas’ Eve in the 17th century, and those celebrations evolved through contacts with immigrants of other nationalities. Concerning the transforma-tion to Santa Claus, the importance of the author Washington Irving in 1809 and of the 1823 poem A visit from Saint Nicholas, commonly known as The night before Christmas4, is well documented, as are the drawings of Thomas Nast in the 1860s and the Coca Cola advertisements in the 1930s (e.g., Jones, 1978; Crichton, 1987; and www.stnicholascenter.org).The Dutch Sinterklaas together, with his helpers, is believed to distribute his pre-sents on the evening of 5 December. He may also pay visits during the evenings and nights before 5 December, leaving some candy in shoes set before the fire-place, but the main event is the evening of the 5th. Once delivered, the presents are unwrapped during that same even-ing. Scenes depicting the 5 December  Sinterklaas events should depict waxing, first quarter or full Moon (or no Moon) to be scientifically correct.On Christmas Eve Santa Claus works through the night of 24–25 December to get his job done: the gifts are unwrapped on Christmas morning. If a Moon is shown in a Santa scene that takes place at the beginning of the night, its phase should be waxing, quarter or full, otherwise it can have any phase. The poem, A visit from Saint Nicholas, has the father witnessing Santa’s arrival before going to bed, and thus in the evening. The Moon “on the breast of the new fallen snow” must have been a waxing, first quarter, or full Moon to be scientifically correct. In summary, illustrations should preferen-tially show first quarter or full Moons on  Sinterklaas or Santa Claus scenes, unless it is clear from the text that Santa’s job is nearly done (i.e. he has a nearly empty sleigh...) Any winter evening scene in gen-eral, and certainly those having children around, should have a first quarter or full Moon, if the artist wants to show one. Measurements and resultsDecember eventsAll data were obtained in the months November 2010–January 2011, and can be found compiled in Tables I through IV, which are available online5. In the Netherlands, two dozen book stores and department stores were visited, during November–December 2010. Book illustra-tions depicting Sinterklaas and the Moon were examined, with regard to the Moon phase. Twenty-five images selected from 25 books (Table I) provide the pie chart sta-tistic as shown in Figure 1. It is seen that 40% of the pictures display the last quar-ter Moon, which is incorrect. The Netherlands wrapping paper analysis (20 different designs, from various firms, department stores and book stores) indi-cates an even higher level of misunder-standing. The chart in Figure 2 indicates a 65% occurrence of the incorrect last quar-ter or waning Moon. There is no reason to believe that this statistic is not represent-ative, because examination of a collec-tor’s sample of older Sinterklaas gift wrap6 yields the comparable figure of 67% (six out of nine Moon designs incorrect). It must be concluded that the Dutch are often wrong, both on wrapping paper and in book illustrations; and more often so in the former case. Figure 3 nevertheless pre-sents an example of nice wrapping paper with a correct waxing evening Moon.40%40%20%FIRSTFULLLASTFigure 1. Book statistics from the Netherlands.CAPjournal, No. 12, May 20121465% 10%25% FIRSTFULLLASTFigure 2. Wrapping paper statistics from the Netherlands.Figure 3. Scientifically correct Sinterklaas gift- wrapping paper. Credit: Keyzer Co., Wormerveer,  The Netherlands: type 090011 (reproduced with permission).Peter Barthel is astronomy professor at the Kapteyn Institute, University of Groningen in the Netherlands. In 2008, together with his team, he won the national Dutch science communi-cation contest. Since the International Year of Astronomy 2009 he has been  collaborating with the professional pianists Elies van der Hei-den and Siebert Nix in the project Keys to the Stars, merging astronomy and music.Biography15ReferencesBrown, M. W. & Hurd, C. 1947, and later editions,  Goodnight Moon, London: Harper Collins Crichton, R. 1987, Who is Santa Claus? — the    true story behind a living legend, Edinburgh: CanongateJones, C. W. 1978, Saint Nicholas of Myra,    Bari, and Manhattan: Biography of a Legend, Chicago: University of Chicago PressSmith, C. & Egan, S. 1992, On the night before    Christmas, all down 101..., Salt Lake City: Gibbs Smith Publ.Ungerer, T. 1967, and later editions, Moon    Man, London: Harper Collins Notes1  http://www.unicefshop.nl/p656-kerstfeest.html2 www.jacquielawson.com3  http://www.learner.org/resources/series28.html4  The widely known poem, with credit to Clement Clarke Moore, can be found for instance on http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19286 (retrieved 7 January 2012). The site http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/1312.html (retrieved 7 January 2012) attributes it to Henry Livingston, Jr., following research published in 2000 by Donald Foster. A critical assessment of the authorship case can be read on http://www.common-place.org/vol-01/no-02/moore/(retrieved 7 January 20125  http://www.astro.rug.nl/~pdb/santa.html (retrieved 7 January 2012)6  http://www.Sinterklaaspapier.nl7  http://www.iment.com/maida/familytree/henry/illos/editions/index.htm8  Useful Moon phase education webpages are maintained by NASA and by NOAO: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/education/index.cfm?page=123(retrieved 7 January 2012) and http://www.noao.edu/education/phases(retrieved 7 January 2012). Excellent moon phase activities can be found on http://www.dennisschatz.org/activities.htmlstores, general and department stores, stationery stores and pharmacies: single cards and boxed sets) were found to dis-play full Moons, with or without Santa. The UNICEF card referred to in the Introduction represents one of the incorrect cases. Also a 2010 Holiday Delices set (cookies), sold by a famous (Fifth Avenue) department store, was found displaying a last quarter Moon at the beginning of a night of hard work by Santa and his crew. It must be con-cluded that the Americans are occasionally wrong, but not as frequently as the Dutch. Other eventsOther relevant happy outdoor evening events include Trick-or-treat (Halloween, the eve of Old Hallows) and Sint Maarten (Saint Martin), widely celebrated each year respectively in the USA, the UK, and Canada (31 October) and the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Germany (11 November). Often carrying lanterns and costumed, children go from home to home, begging for candy or money. Short songs about Sint Maarten are performed, whereas trick-or-treat is obviously accom-panied by an innocent threat to the home owner’s property. Given that these are early evening activities, then any Moon depicted should be waxing, first quarter, or full. With reference to Table IV, inspec-tion of eleven American trick-or-treat books indicated five cases (45%) of an incorrect last quarter Moon, one first quarter, and five full Moons. Three Dutch books dealing with Sint Maarten all showed the incorrect last quarter Moon. Two of these, however, were translations from German and Swiss editions: it is conceivable that the misun-derstanding or lack of knowledge is global.Finally, the well known classic children’s book Goodnight Moon (Brown & Hurd, 1947) displays a correct full (evening) Moon, while the various Moon phases are also correctly dealt with in the classic Moon Man (Ungerer, 1967). On a last note, how-ever, several titles in the Good Night Our World boardbook series (www.goodnigh-tourworld.com), where children say good-night to their city or region, display incor-rect waning moons.DiscussionWe have established that illustrators and designers draw Moons ad libitum, ac-cording to their taste, but that these il-lustrations are often astronomically in-correct. The most common mistake is to show the early morning waning Moon in an evening scene. Our research fo-cussed on Sinterklaas, Santa Claus, and Christmas scenes, with a short side trip to Sint Maarten and Halloween. The apparent lack of knowledge concerning the physics of the Moon phases is most likely wide-spread and not just limited to the countries examined here. Further investigations are however outside the scope of the present research. We note in passing that also the psyche could play a role: people may for instance be more inclined to draw Moon crescents which are open to the right, i.e. northern hemisphere waning Moons.Naturally, the question arises: so what, who cares? The errors are innocent, somewhat comparable to incorrectly drawn rainbows, with the red colour at the inside of the arc. Now, watching beautiful natural phenomena like rainbows and Moon crescents is one thing, but understanding them makes them a whole lot more interesting. Moreover, un-derstanding leads to knowledge which lasts. A tiny bit of insight, leading to the conclusion that the full Moon, being opposite the Sun, rises when the Sun sets and sets when the Sun rises, so that first quarter Moon, be-ing at ~90 degrees, sets around midnight, and that last quarter Moon, at ~270 de-grees, rises around that time, is required to avoid making the reported mistakes. The Halloween, Sint Maarten, Sinterklaas, and Santa Claus settings provide wonderful opportunities for Moon phase education8, through simple naked eye observations. If this paper stimulates that education and leads to improved understanding, we would all be pleased. “You better watch out” is of-ten heard in the December month: it should also be taken literally....Acknowledgements The author acknowledges useful com-ments on the manuscript by Drs Andrew Fraknoi, Bob Sanders, Scott Trager, Piet van der Kruit, Gijs Verdoes Kleijn, and par-ticularly three unknown referees. CAPjournal, No. 12, May 2012Santa and the Moon15%70%15%FIRSTFULLLASTFigure 4. USA book statistics.

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