A Norwegian newspaper issued an apology after an obituary for "Father Christmas," aka Santa Claus, was published last week.
"A mistake in Aftenposten internal procedures led to a fictional obituary of Santa Claus being published in our digital systems,"
the paper stated on Friday.
"Aftenposten has strict guidelines for both the content and use of symbols in our obituaries. This ad is a violation of these and should never have been published," it said further,
the BBC reported. "We will find out what has happened."
The country’s second-largest paper removed the offending obituary, which did not describe the cause of Santa Claus' supposed death, but did say he lived to be 227 years old. Not a bad run.
The obituary claimed that good ole Saint Nick, born Dec. 12, 1788, had kicked the bucket on Dec 3. In Nordkapp, Norway's northernmost point. It also provided details about the funeral service that was to be held for Mr. Kris Kringle, saying it would take place Dec. 28 at the "North Pole Chapel."
New York magazine observed, quite astutely, that, "With a major Norwegian newspaper formally confirming Santa Claus’s death was a hoax, there’s only one logical conclusion to draw here: Santa Claus is alive and well. If the news implied it, it must be real."
"And thank goodness for that, because no one wanted to read the inevitable hot takes on how Santa was an overrated fake altruist whose legacy will be tainted by commercialism and labor violations," the magazine added.
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