Each year, over a million children write to Santa Claus.

The letters are received at the secretariat of Santa Claus, created in the 1960s by the State but whose origins date back to the previous decade, at the instigation of a Norman employee of La Poste. 

Ordering from Santa Claus is a tradition.

For most children, this is done with the good old letter sent to Santa Claus, specifically to Santa's secretariat.

But how was this famous secretariat born, today based in Libourne, near Bordeaux?

The team of the show La France Bouge, on Europe 1, tells you this beautiful story a few days before Christmas Eve.  

A Norman who wanted to respond to children in the 1950s  

Brigitte Dasseux, communication manager of the La Poste group, tells the story of the birth of the secretariat of Santa Claus.

"It starts out a bit like a real tale: once upon a time in the 1950s. In fact, a catcher from Normandy saw letters passing by that were addressed to Santa Claus and she felt that Santa Claus should answer the children. Between 1950 and 1958, so she did it with her letter carrier, who knew everyone, and other people from the village. The teacher was also in the loop, and the parents too. "

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Set up at the state level by Jacques Marette, brother of François Dolto 

But in France, the state does not laugh with Santa Claus.

In 1962, Jacques Marette, the Minister of PTT, took up the subject and officially created the secretariat of Santa Claus, attached to La Poste.

Jacques Marette, in addition to being a minister, was also the brother of the famous pediatrician and psychoanalyst Françoise Dolto.

"He questioned Françoise Dolto so that she wrote the first reply card from Santa Claus to the children. And that's how the secretariat of Santa Claus, which is located in Libourne, was born."

This year, children are also talking about the coronavirus 

Based in Libourne, around thirty kilometers from Bordeaux, Santa Claus' secretariat responds to some 1.2 million letters from children he receives each year.

And La Poste takes its role very seriously.

"It is often the first letter that children write. It is also one of the reasons why La Poste is invested in this subject. For us, mail is obviously important. Writing is important, we respond to a request from the children. Children, in writing, very often with all their heart, take their prettiest pencil, the finest paper. ".

The letter to Santa Claus is also a reflection of the news seen through the eyes of children.

And this year, the Covid is no exception.

The children feel very concerned.

"There are children who ask Santa to take care of their grandmother, or who tell Santa to take good care of him and to be masked. They also ask him not to be sick to bring them. gifts, "says the communications manager of La Poste. 

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- In their letters to Santa Claus, "the children ask for the end of confinement and a vaccine"

Santa Claus, one of the two people to whom you can send a letter without putting stamps 

If the secretariat is in Libourne, the children can write the address they want: in heaven, rue des clouds or simply Santa Claus.

The letter will always arrive at its destination.

And in France, know that there are only two people to whom you can send a letter without putting stamps.

We write to them so that they can do miracles, even gifts and that life is more beautiful: Santa Claus and also the President of the Republic.

However, not sure if the answer is the same.