Ok, I'll add some more background on some further points.

* It was an old custom to hang stockings on the chimney, so that Santa could put the presents in there. The tradition was that Santa threw coins down the chimney to help the poor. Nowadays, chocolate coins have replaced them.

* Striped Candy Canes is confectionary that kids love to crunch. Once, they were straight white sticks of sugar candy. According to traditional folktales, the candies were first bent at the end in the 1600s, in Cologne, Germany, to give them the look of a shepherd's crook, thus making them fit in more with the Christmas spirit.

* The girl in the picture combines the above two in her candy stockings; although it may be hard for some to see the Christmas spirit in this, it does fit in well with the cheerful spirit of Libertaria and the jolly Santa who likes his helpers. This is also where 'Kissing under the Mistletoe' fits in. The tradition follows the Norse fable in which Frigga, goddess of love and beauty, wanted to make the world safe for her son, Balder. She made sure nothing could do him harm but she overlooked the mistletoe. Loki, an evil spirit, made an arrow from the mistletoe's wood and killed Balder. Frigga's tears became the plant's white berries and revived her son. In her gratitude, Frigga promised to kiss anyone who passed under the mistletoe, just as we do today. Similarly, Libertaria holds the promise that kissing, love and beauty should be safe and should not be regarded as evil, but should instead be cherished.

Ho, Ho, Ho!

Have you picked up on the discussions to adopt Santa as Libertaria's helper? There's further discussion on Elves, presents and things like trees, holly and other decorations. Here's some background on that.

• Elves
  
  Elves are Santa's helpers, making it possible to magically produce all the presents for all children in the world. In Libertaria, elves stand for the almost magical way in which free markets and competition work, making items ever cheaper to obtain, at higher quality and with ever more features.

• Giving Presents
  
  Just like the celebration of the shortest day, giving presents was also a pagan custom at least dating back to the Romans. Again, the presents represent the trend of items becoming ever cheaper, to the extent that they can easily be given away, merely to enhance the pleasure or the status of the giver.

• Decorations
  
  People in Northern Europe have a long tradition of bringing evergreens into the home during the longest winter days. In America, the custom that dates at least back to the 16th century, when German immigrants decorated pine trees in their homes. Money doesn't grow on trees, but in Libertaria the trees and the holly stand for the fruit that grows for free on trees. The mistletoe is another story.

I look forward to further thoughts!

Ho, Ho, Ho!

The URL of the Libertaria group is:
http://groups.google.com/group/libertaria

Google has a new groups service - has anyone joined the Libertaria group there?

Season greetings!
All the best wishes for 2003

Welcome to Libertaria