A 19th-century Father Time with Baby New Year

Father Time is a personification of time, in particular the progression of history and the approach of death. In recent centuries, he is usually depicted as an elderly bearded man, sometimes with wings, dressed in a robe and carrying a scythe and an hourglass or other timekeeping device.

As an image, the origins of "Father Time" are varied. The ancient Greeks themselves began to associate Chronos with the god Cronus, who had the attribute of a harvester's sickle. The Romans equated Cronus with Saturn, who also had a sickle, and was treated as an old man, often with a crutch. The wings and hourglass were early Renaissance additions and he eventually became a companion of the Grim Reaper, personification of Death, often taking his scythe. He may have as an attribute a snake with its tail in its mouth, an ancient Egyptian symbol of eternity.

Father Time on an Irish memorial stone, displaying an empty hourglass to a mourning widow

New Year

Around New Year's Eve, the media (in particular editorial cartoons) use the convenient trope of Father Time as the personification of the previous year (or "the Old Year") who typically "hands over" the duties of time to the equally allegorical Baby New Year (or "the New Year") or who otherwise characterizes the preceding year. In these depictions, Father Time is usually depicted wearing a sash with the old year's date on it.

Time (in his allegorical form) is often depicted revealing or unveiling the allegorical Truth, sometimes at the expense of a personification of Falsehood, Fraud, or Envy. This theme is related to the idea of veritas filia temporis (Truth the daughter of time).

In the arts

Father Time is an established symbol in numerous cultures and appears in a variety of art and media. In some cases, they appear specifically as Father Time while in other cases they may have another name (such as Saturn), but the characters demonstrate the attributes which Father Time has acquired over the centuries.

Art

Visual art

Chronos and his child by Giovanni Francesco Romanelli, National Museum in Warsaw, is a 17th-century depiction of Titan Cronus as "Father Time" wielding the harvesting scythe
Father Time statue atop a grave at Mount Moriah Cemetery

Sculpture

Books

  • Old Father Time appears in the fantasy novel series Nightside by Simon R. Green, as an elderly character tending to peoples' needs for time travel—and in some cases—guidance.
  • Father Time appears in the fairy tale themed short story, written by L. Frank Baum. Entitled "The Capture of Father Time". That Father Time was captured by the son of an Arizonian cowboy named Jim because of his foolishness.
  • Time is one of the Incarnations of Immortality in Piers Anthony's series of the same name. Time (also referred to as "Chronos") appears in several of the books and is the main character of Bearing an Hourglass. For most of the series he appears as a middle-aged man in a blue robe (which has the power to age to oblivion anything which attacks him) and bearing an hourglass which he can use to control the flow of time and move through both time and space.
  • Father Time is painted in the ceiling of the dungeon, in the Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Pit and the Pendulum".
  • In Mitch Albom's book The Time Keeper, Dor, the central character, is Father Time. He is freed from exile and sent to Earth on the condition that he teaches two people on Earth the true importance of time, a teenage girl who does not wish to live anymore, and a dying old billionaire who wishes to live forever.
  • "Little Father Time" is a character in Jude the Obscure, a novel by Thomas Hardy. The name is given to Jude Fawley's son, who is dreadfully melancholy and who commits suicide and kills his siblings at a young age.
  • Father Time also appears in C. S. Lewis' novels The Silver Chair and The Last Battle which are the final two novels (chronologically) in the series The Chronicles of Narnia.
  • In Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, he is referred to as Time and is responsible for making the Hatter and his friends to have an endless tea party as punishment.

Comics, magazines and periodicals

  • Father Time made numerous appearances in the classic comic Little Nemo in Slumberland, both as a general representation of time and as a symbol of the new year.
  • A Norman Rockwell painting of Father Time appeared on 31 December 1910 cover of The Saturday Evening Post.
  • Father Time is a recurring character in Tatsuya Ishida's webcomic Sinfest, often appearing as an infant immediately on or after the Western New Year, and as an old man fated to die during the end of the year.
  • Father Time appears in Neil Gaiman's graphic novel The Sandman: Overture, depicted as father to the Endless – seven embodiments of natural forces – through marriage to Mother Night.

Film, Television and Video Games

  • Father Time appears in The Blue Bird played by Thurston Hall.
  • The scythe and the hourglass are referenced by the character Johannes in Ordet.
  • Father Time appears in Our Mr. Sun voiced by Lionel Barrymore.
  • Father Time appears in The Blue Bird played by Robert Morley.
  • Father Time appears in the television special Rudolph's Shiny New Year voiced by Red Skelton. He is depicted as an old friend of Santa Claus and serves as the narrator of the special.
  • Father Time appears as a recurring character in The Smurfs voiced by Alan Oppenheimer. His workshop is depicted as being underground. Father Time's Reverse Clock was responsible for turning Nat, Snappy, and Slouchy into Smurflings and he can't undo the transformation because of how time works.
  • Father Time appears as one of the main characters in Histeria! voiced by Frank Welker.
  • In Flint the Time Detective, the Old Timer is depicted as a Father Time-like character.
  • Father Time appears in The Santa Clause 2 and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause portrayed by Peter Boyle. He is shown as a member of the Council of Legendary Figures alongside Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, Cupid, Mother Nature, the Sandman, the Tooth Fairy, and Jack Frost.
  • In the Wizards of Waverly Place episode "You Can't Always Get What You Carpet", Justin Russo (David Henrie) says "It's 8:00" and Jerry Russo (David DeLuise) retorts "Who are you, Father Time?"
  • Father Time appeared in The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy episode "The Halls of Time" voiced again by Alan Oppenheimer. He's inspired by the aforementioned Rudolph's Shiny New Year portrayal as he also works with a baby that represents Happy New Year.
  • Father Time appeared in Regular Show episode called "It's Time" voiced by Alan Sklar. He appears to be made out of clocks and wears a purple hat.
  • A song in the animated version of Charlotte's Web is titled "Mother Earth and Father Time".
  • Father Time (The Sage of Time) is the leader of the Tapestry of Nations parade at Epcot during the Walt Disney World Millennium Celebration.
  • Father Time is a character that appears in The Fairly OddParents episode "Timmy's Secret Wish!" voiced by Jeff Bennett.
  • A ghost in Danny Phantom is similar to Father Time and is named Clockwork (voiced by David Carradine). He is known as the master of time and is depicted as a child, young man, and old man in a constantly changing cycle. Clockwork also has a variety of timekeeping devices on his person, and wields a staff that can be transformed into a scythe. He first appeared in the special episode "The Ultimate Enemy".
  • Father Time appeared in a version of YooHoo & Friends produced by David Feiss where he is voiced by rapper Flavor Flav). He was depicted as a blue Viking-like ogre who had transformed five business executives into cute animals.
  • Father Time appears in season 3, episode 3 of Boardwalk Empire at Nucky Thompson's New Year's Eve party.
  • Father Time appears in the Star vs. the Forces of Evil episodes "Freeze Day", "Mathmagic", and "Beach Day", voiced by Jim Gaffigan.
  • In Alice Through the Looking Glass, Sacha Baron Cohen portrays Time, a human/clockwork humanoid who controls all of Wonderland's timeline and has possession of a device called the Chronosphere.
  • Ouro Kronii, AKA the Warden of Time, a member of Hololive EN's 2nd Generation (AKA HoloCouncil) is based on Father Time.
  • Father Time is a character which appears in Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. As he discovered, founded & rescued Sly Cooper-who got lost in the land of Ancient Egypt.

Music

See also

  • Hall, James, Hall's Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art, 1996 (2nd edn.), John Murray, ISBN 0719541476

External links

  • Media related to Father Time at Wikimedia Commons