A story of inspiration from the next generation

It may be the start of February 1st, but it’s never too early (or too late) to share a Christmas-themed story. ??

In December 2024, Louth Library Service invited me to speak about the ‘Secret Science of Santa Claus’ at a number of libraries in Louth.

Among them was Dunleer library, which had recently moved to the old Bank of Ireland premises on Main Street in Dunleer.

It was a rainy Irish morning in early December when I arrived at the library to deliver my Santa Claus show. And as it turned out, I was the first official event or show to be hosted at the new library!

The room for my talk was situated on the frontside of the library. As I set up my props and my laptop I could hear the students approaching the library from outside. Their excitement and laughter grew ever louder as they neared the library.

No sooner had I finished setting up everything than the students entered the room. The group in question were 2nd class students from Scoil?Bhríde Lann Léire (Dunleer National School).

"What's that?" and "What do you have Lego on the table?"

After each grabbing a cushion from the corner of the room, the 18 or so students arranged themselves in orderly rows in front of me.

Even before my talk began the students were full of questions. “What’s that?”, “Why do you have Lego on the table?”, “Are we going to talk about Santa today?”. I had a feeling that I was going to enjoy the conversations with the students.

From stories to the question

My talks are built around stories, and I tell several interconnected stories. In between the stories I invite questions and comments, and in Dunleer that morning there was no shortage of insightful questions from the students.

I had just finished a section on where Santa has workshops around the world, and I was about to move onto the science of Santa’s flying sleigh.

After fielding two questions on Santa’s workshops, a young girl in the corner of the room put up her hand. I turned to her and invited her to ask her question, which was “Why does Santa wear red?”

I stopped for a moment. This was a question not only about the fashion and style choices of Santa Claus, but also about the scientific justifications behind Santa’s garments colours. After pausing for a moment, I gave an answer, and then moved on with the rest of the show.

By the end I had answered dozens of questions on the science behind Santa’s Christmas Eve journey. After saying goodbye to the enthusiastic students, I quickly started to pack away my experiments and laptop. However, something was not sitting right with me as I reflected on the show in those moments after it.

I wasn’t happy with my answer to the question “Why does Santa wear red?”. I knew that I had delivered an answer with scientific substance, but I felt that my answer needed more. I vowed in that moment to address the shortfall in my answer once I got back to the Netherlands.

Writing and video

Fast forward to a few days later in the Netherlands and a quiet Saturday late afternoon. I had just come back from a run, and I was about to watch a TV series to relax. However, in that moment, I realised that I had a better idea for the answer to the question “Why does Santa wear red?”, as asked by the young girl in Dunleer.

I rushed out to the kitchen, opened my laptop, and started writing. Within 40 minutes or so I had a text, a more conclusive answer to the brilliant question that I was asked in Dunleer. The next thing to do was to share the answer with the world.

In that moment, I realised that I had a better idea for the answer.

So, I quickly sent an email to RTE Brainstorm – a platform where academics and researchers alike can reflect on the world around us and share new perspectives and thinkings on societally relevant topics – to see if they would be interested in the story.

Two days later I received an email from the editor of RTE Brainstorm saying that they would be very interested in the story. I sent it immediately, and within minutes it was approved for publication.

But I wasn’t done there. I decided I needed a video-based representation of my answer, so I made a video for my YouTube channel. And the video “Why does Santa wear red?” exists – and it’s a video that’s even been shared by Santa Television itself!

Thank you for the question!

To many, the question “Why does Santa wear red?” may not seem the most complex question. However, this question proved a major source of inspiration to me at the end of 2024 in my scientific thinking about the adventures of Santa Claus at Christmas Eve.

And the question came from an 8-year-old girl from 2nd class in Scoil?Bhríde Lann Léire (Dunleer National School).

I want to say thank you to that 2nd class group for the energy they brought that day to my show at the new Dunleer library.

And special thanks to that 8-year-old girl for asking such a brilliant question about Santa Claus and the colour that he wears at Christmas. Your question has proven to be inspirational in more ways than I could have imagined! Thank you!

And that’s my story of inspiration from the next generation.

Inspiration can come from anyone, anytime, anywhere.

BWF.