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Letters starting with Dear Santa … ”, sent to Santa at this address betray the way children around the world have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Through these messages, the children were able to express their main concerns and fears, some of which were also hidden from their parents, is shown in an article published by the Associated Press.
Jim from Taiwan slipped a medical mask into the envelope sent to Santa. Alina, a 5-year-old girl, asked Santa Claus himself to enter the front door when he arrives with a bag full of gifts, as the secondary entrance to the house is reserved exclusively for grandparents, in order to minimize the risk . contamination with the new coronavirus.
“Dear Santa Claus,” writes Lola, 10, “I wish my aunt didn’t get cancer and that this virus didn’t exist at all.”
“My mother works as a social worker and I’m worried about her. Take care of yourself and the goblins”, also reads Lola’s letter.
These are some of the tens of thousands of letters from around the world that arrive at one of Santa’s addresses from a post office in southwestern France, where messages are read, sorted and then replies are written on Santa’s behalf. Christmas.
And the messages reflect how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected children around the world.
Zoe, for example, just wants a music player and a few tickets to an amusement park this year.
“I’m not asking for other gifts, to limit the risk of contagion as much as possible”
Virtually every letter addressed to “Pere Noel”, the French equivalent of Santa Claus, will arrive at the post office in the Bordeaux region of France, which has specialized since 1962 in handling the correspondence of the ubiquitous character who brings gifts to children at night. for Christmas.
“Children have been affected by the COVID crisis more than we could have imagined”
Post office employees (who consider themselves true “goblins” spend the months of November and December opening and reading letters to Santa Claus and keeping the magic of Christmas alive by sending answers on his behalf.
It’s just that this year, since the first letters were opened and read, post office workers suddenly realized how the coronavirus pandemic has affected children: in addition to the usual requests for gifts, children have started to ask for vaccines, to see grandparents. and that life returns to normal before the pandemic.
“Children have been more affected by the COVID crisis than we could have imagined,” Jamila Hajji, head of the Bordeaux post office, told the AP.
“For the children, the letters to Santa Claus are a kind of liberation. All year they spent him in quarantine, away from school, away from grandparents. We can say that, now, the children translate into the words of these letters. all the hardships they have faced during this time, “Hajji said.
“And now we are like elves doing therapy with these children”
The office’s team of 60 employees responds to 12,000 letters daily. Employees believe that, through these letters to Santa Claus, children express their fears that they keep hidden from their parents.
Publisher: Mihnea Lazăr
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