i actually agree that seven is way too old for santa, and if your kids are still talking about santa at seven you should be ashamed of yourself, as a parent.

my parents tried to pull that shit on me too, but i didn't fall for it for a second. i was the kid that pointed out that we don't have a chimney, and the story doesn't even add up. flying reindeer? what?

but, what i'm more interested in here is this thing we say to kids.

"do you believe in santa?"

...because that is the same thing as asking "do you believe in odin?".

despite christian attempts at burying it, santa claus as we understand it is actually an example of how chistianity tended to absorb local elements everywhere it went. christianity is not only deeply syncretic at it's core, a stew of mystery religions and socratic philosophy, but was constantly changing as it colonized new areas. nothern europe (including england, the netherlands, scandinavia, northern france and germany) had a shared pantheon of indo-european gods that we refer to as 'germanic', with odin at the top of it. odin was not exactly zeus, and not exactly hermes (the etymology of the latin term german), and not exactly mercury, although he was certainly mercurial, taking the shape of talking birds, amongst other things. but, he was the main god.

if the germans were to sacrifice a prisoner of war, they would sacrifice him to odin.

so, does your child believe in odin? well, that's perhaps less the point. what i'm trying to point out is that the question of belief in the indigenous religions of northern europe is being infantilized by the ritual, in favour of the invading jewish doctrine.

odin is for kids - and they'll grow out of it.

and, what that really is is colonization.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/south-carolina-girl-7-who-spoke-to-trump-about-santa-says-she-still-believes