Santa Claus w/ Emily VanDerWerff

When you think of Santa Claus, what do you picture? The big guy in red is this malleable, larger than life figure that has origins that might surprise you. Luckily, we have Emily VanDerWerff to guide us through the labyrinth of who Santa is. Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of illness, racism, religious persecution, violence, child death, cannibalism, family dysfunction, economic anxiety, and sex. Guest Emily VanDerWerff is Critic at Large for Vox and co-creator of the podcast Arden . Follow her on Twitter @Emilyvdw . Housekeeping - MERCH! Get the Mothman Crewneck at spiritspodcast.com/merch ! - Recommendation: This week, Amanda recommends The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood - Books: Check out our previous book recommendations, guests’ books, and more at spiritspodcast.com/books - Call to Action: Have you heard about the MultiCrew ?! This is our membership program that lets you help us invest in Multitude as we try weird new stuff. Plus, you get a members-only weekly podcast: Head Heart Gut, our weekly friendly debate show. Join for as little as $5 a month at multicrew.club and get access to Head Heart Gut! Sponsors - Doordash is a fast, conve…