Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus

The other day I was searching a list of Christmas movies and specials. Among all the most famous films, I spotted this title: "Yes, Virginia". Since it was something that had to do with Christmas and it held my name, I couldn't help searching for more information. It turned out to be quite an interesting story. In the United States it is widely known, and it's part of Christmas folklore, but I've never heard of it in Italy before. So, here it is. [Do not get scared by the length, it's actually quite quick to read and certainly worth it!]

In 1897 eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon asked her father Dr. Philip O’Hanlon whether Santa Claus really existed. Dr. O’Hanlon suggested she write to The Sun, a prominent New York City newspaper at the time, assuring her that "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." 

One of the paper's editors, Francis Pharcellus Church replied, rising above the simple question, and addressing the philosophical issues behind it. Church was a war correspondent during the American Civil War, a time which saw great suffering and a corresponding lack of hope and faith in much of society.

Although the paper ran the editorial in the seventh place on the editorial page, its message was very moving to many people who read it. More than a century later it remains the most reprinted editorial ever to run in any newspaper in the English language.

Is There a Santa Claus? was the title of this editorial appearing in the September 21, 1897 edition of The Sun and it included the famous reply "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus".

Is There a Santa Claus?

We take pleasure in answering at once and thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:  

"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.

"Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.

"Papa says 'If you see it in The Sun it's so.'

"Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

            "VIRGINIA O'HANLON

"115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET."                    

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge. 
Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

One last thing: "Yes, Virginia" is the title of a CBS Animated Holiday Special.