Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus 🎅: Message Perhaps More Important Today Than It Was In 1897

The most accurate, poignant description of who Santa Claus is, his message of the joy of giving, and the lessons for our time was published in 1897, and has been reprinted more times than any other letter to the editor in the English language.

The story of the poem is beautiful, and can help us to understand just how important the message it contains is. You can learn more about it on Wikipedia.

In September of 1897, eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon asked her father, Dr. O’Hanlon, if there really was a Santa Claus. Unlike other parents, her father didn’t want to let his daughter down by telling her there was no Santa, even though he no longer believed. Instead, he advised his daughter to write to the New York Sun, in a Letter to the Editor in their Questions and Answers section, asking if Santa Claus was real.

The letter was answered by Francis Church, a man who had once been a famous reporter, but at this time was answering letters from people like Virginia. The two letters, Virginia’s and the response by Mr. Church, was so deeply moving and completely perfect that the letter was reprinted by newspapers all over New York and all over the world since that day.

In fact, this is the most widely reprinted editorial in the English language. This year, we continue in joining this wonderful tradition, by reprinting the letter from Virginia and Mr. Church’s response in its entirety. We hope you enjoy this timeless Christmas message.

The letter and editorial response appear below:

DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
Papa says, ‘If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.’
Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

VIRGINIA O’HANLON.
115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET.

The Editorial Page, Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Banner Image: Santa Claus and child. Image Credit – Mike Arney

Staten Islander News Service Staff Writer

This byline indicates that this article was penned by a member/members of the Staten Islander News Organization office team. Our staff writers are the backbone of our newspaper, performing all sorts of important tasks like conducting interviews, investigating leads, besides writing the news stories you see.