The purpose of the essay is to investigate how eight students at Linnaeus University perceive Santa Claus and whether there are similarities and differences between their perceptions of Santa Claus in adulthood compared to their childhood. The study also aims to investigate in what ways the Santa Claus figure in students’ stories about Christmas celebrations exhibits ritualized behavior and what types of social functions Santa Claus fills today.  The theory used to interpret the students’ replies is Catherine Bell’s ritual theory. The results of the study show that when students perceive Santa Claus they tend to create links to memories of their celebrations of Christmas in childhood and ascribe to Santa Claus various social and emotional functions such as creating happiness and bringing families together. From the analysis it is possible to see that Santa Claus fulfills almost all of Catherine Bell’s criteria except sacral symbolism, which was only expressed by three of the informants.

Abstract Introduction: This master’s thesis examines how narrative development is socialized in Swedish letters and postcards to Santa Claus. The letters are from the previously unanalyzed archive collection Letters to Santa, and the years between 1960s and 1970s have been analyzed. A part of the collection consists of work materials and letters written to Santa Claus by Swedish children and adults. The collection was coordinated by the organizationPosttomten which was led by Elsa Holst.Method: The study uses a narrative and socialization analysis. Which is combined with an observation of the areas where the organization was active during the 1960s and 1970s. Analysis: The thesis has studied six volumes with Swedish letters and work materials from the 1960s and 1970s from Postmuseums archive, newspaper articles from the same time period, Posthuset on Skansen and Östra Varvsgatan 4 in Djurgårdsstaden Stockholm where the organization was active. This subjects have also beenobserved and discussed in the analysis. The theories narrative and socialization are used to explain how the sender perceives Santa Claus, what general rules they use in their letters, how they write to get in contact with him, how he is used by the organization, individuals, and other groups.Results: Why someone are using or want to contact Santa Claus depends on what they want to achieve. Adults want to help or learn thier child the basic structures and general rules to write a letter or a postcard to Santa Claus. This is a way for adults to keep the lie of Santa Claus alive for thier children. Some adults even thank the people behind Posttomten for thier work, in the letters. The child on the other hand. They write their letters or postcards to get Christmas presents. Tell him that they have been kind. Admiting mistakes and remind Santa Claus about their existence so that he does not forget them. The letters and postcards are also a way to get an answer if Santa really exists. Different groups also use Santa Claus in the media to improve their own reputation. For example the organization behind Posttomten and the Swedish Post Office use Santa Claus to tell everybody about thier own organization. For instance, to tell about what company they are, give proof that Santa Claus exists and to give the organization a better reputation. Conclusion: The letters and postcards, news articles, work materials and the two observations. They expose a narrative and socialization, that gives Santa Claus many different sides. For example where does he live? What is his name? What does he look like? His personality? These are important elements in making Santa to a real person when Posttomten and Santa Claus are perceived as the same person. The natural way is namely to give Elsa Holst the title as the real Santa Claus. This because she fits in the social expectation and ideal to the narrative that Santa Claus has been given. With the help from parents, the Swedish post office, media and teachers itbecomes possible to make the conclusion that they made it possible for everybody to discover that Santa Claus was Elsa Holst. The effect of knowing that Elsa Holst was Santa Claus made it easier for the organization to get assistance and a positive opinion about Santa Claus, When she died it becomes clear that the organization was depended on Elsa Holst too much. Because no one else was ready to take over the role as Santa Claus or the leadership in the organization all the work was ended. The Swedish post office took the control over Santa Claus. The result lead to a negative backlash in the Swedish community because the narrative, the ideals and the tradition did not fit in the Swedish post office organization. That could had been the end but it did not stop the organization and Posttomten to continue their work in a new place in the beginning of the 1980s. This is a two years master's thesis in Archival science.