The Swedish hustomte (house elf/gnome) is a quiet little guy, dressed mostly in gray and red, living at your house or farmsted helping out by taking care of things around the house and keep everyone safe. You better be nice and serve him rice pudding on Christmas eve!” That’s the intro text to our pinterest board “Tomtar“. In the mid 17th century, the quiet Swedish tomte also took on the role as Father Christmas and became the Tomte with capital T. At dusk on Christmas Eve, the Tomte walks around to deliver gifts – in person! – to all nice kids.
The other day, I looked at our Pinterest tomte board just after putting down the book “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking” by Susan Cain. (If you haven’t read the book, you should, or at least listen to Susan’s TED talk. Whether extrovert or introvert, it will give you an additional set of glasses through which to see the world and your near and dear through.) All of a sudden a lightbulb went off as I realized that the Swedish tomte is introvert while Santa is a fine example of the American extrovert ideal.
Search for images of “Santa” and you will find an abundance of photos and drawings of Santa where he looks straight into the camera, happily smiling and waving. He loves to be the center of the universe and knows all his power poses.
A search for the “tomte” gives mostly drawings and paintings of a quiet guy, an observer who is busy with his chores or gazing up on the stars pondering the universe. He is rarely aware that he is being portrayed – or perhaps just not interested in interacting with the viewer.
The Tomte lives in the forest, where he cares for his family, the forest critters and surrounding nature. On Christmas eve, he walks around the neighborhoods with a faint lantern in his hand and a bag of gifts on his back or on a little sled. He knocks on doors and asks if there are any nice children in the house. Of course, every child is nice that night and receives a few gifts. Santa lives at the North Pole, where he is surrounded by busy elves in his factory-like workshop. Before dawn on Christmas day he zips through the sky at rocket speed to deliver gifts to stockings hung by the chimenys, accompanied by HoHoHo’s and jingle bells.
Extrovert Santa
It is hard to find images where Santa is not aware of the observer. Look at these images of Santa reading, or should I say “reading”. On the leftmost, he looks straight into the camera. The next one is rare; Santa is actually looking at the text in the book, but he is obviously posing. Who reads comfortably with the book in the air like that? The two Tomtar to the right seem more focused on actually reading and – with the nose in the book – forgetting the world around them.
These two characters have been shaped by stories, images, movies and cartoons over the years and reflect the culture in which they have been created. Some recent images of the Tomte depicts him very similar to Santa, but they are not as identical as you first might think. Look for the body language instead of outfits!
The Finns are generally no more extrovert than the Swedes, so they turn to Britain for their Santa’s: Here is part of a job description found on www.student-jobs.co.uk: “Candidates must fit the stereotypical resemblence of Santa. You must be extrovert, enjoying talking to children, be able to place yourself within the magic that is created around the character of Father Christmas.”…”During the operational period the role will involve long working hours with little breaks or time off therefore endurance and the ability to work under pressure while presenting a jolly and festive demeanour at all times is crucial.” No kidding, you certainly need to be an extrovert to enjoy that! Job descriptions for Tomten includes “liking people” but are more focused on “sharing the Christmas Joy”.
You can find more on the analysis of Santa Claus’ personality based on literature in these two blog posts: www.shonaneff.com/?p=2872, and www.preludecharacteranalysis.com/blog/the-personality-of-santa-claus
The Quiet Swedish Tomte Hiding From the World is Trending
Super cute Tomte figurines, where only the nose and beard peak out under the hat, appeared in gift stores a couple of years ago. I just thought it was very cute and very Swedish, but it is of course also super introvert to hide from the world like that. There are a lot of them at the Swedish American Museum gift shop in Chicago.
By the way, did you know that Swedish-American kids who speak both languages, get visits from both Tomten and Santa!
Have a wonderful Christmas,
Elisabeth
Update: Excited to see this analysis quoted in a Slate article by Amanda Hess in 2015. However, my view of the Tomte is more in line with Rolf Lidberg (check out is amazing books) than Amanda’s dark picture 🙃
