2023-11-14 11:09:38
Under Santa’s red coat hides this year the writer of suspense novels Michel Bussi, who has sharpened his pen to respond to the million letters that children will send via La Poste, a tender role that no one had previously taken on. no personality since Françoise Dolto in the 1960s.
It all began in 1962 when postal workers discovered missives addressed to Santa Claus in the mail being delivered. Moved, they then decide to answer it, “of their own accord”hidden “in an attic”the law strictly prohibits opening mail, says David Resse, head of the Santa Claus secretariat based in Libourne (Gironde).
A million letters per year
The initiative reached the ears of the psychoanalyst and pediatrician Françoise Dolto, sister of the then Minister of PTT, who found the approach “great”, continues David Resse. She thus writes the “very first letter” type which will be returned to the children, with “a little educational touch”. The Santa Claus secretariat, managed by La Poste, was born.
The first response from “Santa Claus” to a child, written by child psychiatrist Françoise Dolto, in 1962. (ALEXIS ARADES / FRANCEINFO)
Since then, its success has continued, with more than a million letters sent per year. This represents “30 to 40,000 letters per day to process (…), an absolutely considerable figure” because “families attach a lot of importance to this first writing”rejoices David Resse.
On the envelopes received at Santa’s secretariat, we find “writings everywhere, in every direction”drawings, stickers, and fanciful addresses such as “Avenue des Rennes”, “Aurores boréales” or even “In the clouds”, testifies David Resse who says he “touch”. “What (the children) remember is the moment when they write it, decorate it, talk about it”agrees Walid Mezazra, 40-year-old human resources manager and father of two children.
“I am proud to have been chosen”
This year, Santa’s secretariat opens on November 14. After Françoise Dolto, the task was entrusted to the marketing department of La Poste, and in 2023 the writer of suspense novels Michel Bussi takes over.
“This year, Santa Claus was exceptionally assisted by the bestselling author Michel Bussi in writing his answers,” rejoices the La Poste group on Tuesday in a press release.
The writer of suspense novels Michel Bussi “is very active with young audiences: he wrote a Christmas story for the Red Cross and regularly speaks for Secours Populaire. Since 2018, he has written for young people, one of his most read works is The Tales of Waking Up in the Morning“La Poste explained.
“I am very proud to have been chosen”confides to AFP the author, whose “the magic and melancholy of childhood” surround the novels, and who wrote for children’s literature. For Michel Bussi, the idea of the letter is not “just making a gift list”but let the children think, make people talk “their imagination, their fantasy, their humanity”.
And responding to them constitutes “enormous pressure”adds the author who evokes “a colossal draw” of the standard letter. But it is also a “pretty” style exercise, with “something short, (which has) genre constraints” and who must pass “a positive message without being completely moral”, lists the writer. Michel Bussi had to craft a second letter, intended for adults who “still believe in Santa Claus” and who write to him, he says. David Resse confirms that the phenomenon, “marginal“, exists, adults seeking “an attentive ear”.
Elena Frigioi, a 43-year-old interior designer, fears the moment when her children will know that Santa Claus does not exist: “Finding the truth is the ugly part…” In the meantime, with her children, Antoine, seven years old, and Marie, four years old, she makes the beautiful letter and leaves it “in the red mailbox” installed by its town hall, as certain municipalities do in parallel with the La Poste initiative. But without ever receiving a response, because in these cases there is no dedicated secretariat… Elena then leans towards Marie: “This year, we are going to put the letter in the yellow mailbox.”
Employees of the Santa Claus secretariat, a postal service created in 1962 to respond to letters sent by children, Libourne (Gironde), December 10, 2020 (THIBAUD MORITZ / AFP)
Children can write to Santa in two ways, opting for a traditional letter or going electronic. David Resse insists: there is no need to put a stamp but mention the child’s address so that the response can reach them and deposit the letter in the La Poste box circuit. They can also go to the dedicated space from the post office, “Write to Santa Claus”
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