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Santa Claus has become a ubiquitous figure in various cultures, a jolly old man who distributes gifts to children on Christmas Eve. He is also known as Father Christmas in many countries and most little children believe that he is real.
According to a common belief, Santa Claus is known to be based on the prominent historical figure of Saint Nicholas, a bishop in the place, which is Turkey today. He was a passionate man and was frequently seen distributing gifts among children. By Renaissance he became the most celebrated saint in Europe and his feast was celebrated on the 6th of December and was called |
‘Sinterklaas’. The English settlers in New Amsterdam mispronounced Sinterklaas and thus emerged Santa Claus!
Origins of Santa Claus
In 1822, an Episcopal minister, Clement Clarke Moore, wrote a poem for his three daughters titled ‘An account of a visit from St. Nicholas.’ The poem is primarily responsible for most of our modern perspective of Santa Claus as a jolly, rotund figure who could climb into chimneys with ease and lived in the North Pole for the rest of the year. The poem helped popularize the story of how Santa flew from house to house on his sleigh pulled by eight reindeers and left gifts for deserving children, on Christmas Eve. The cartoonist Thomas Nast was responsible for giving Santa his red and white suit and long beard and also the house in the North Pole and Mrs. Claus!
Santa Claus Rituals
Over the years many Santa Claus rituals have emerged, the most popular amongst them being the practice of children writing letters to Santa Claus. These letters are usually addressed to ‘Santa Claus, North Pole’ and contain a list of gifts that they would like Santa to leave for them on Christmas Eve and many a times the letter also contains a justification of how they have been good all year round so Santa should not miss their house that year. Children hang up stocking on their fire place on Christmas Eve so that Santa can leave their gifts in the stocking or under the Christmas Tree . They also clean out the chimneys so that he can easily fall through it.
Another popular Santa Claus ritual is the practice of making grown men dress up in Santa suits to entertain children. This is particularly seen in malls where these ‘Santas’ hand out small gifts to children as their parents do the Christmas Shopping. Many a time fathers dress up as Santa Claus and give Christmas gifts to their kids so that they may know that Santa dint forget them.
HO! HO! HO!
Ho, ho, ho is used to portray how Santa laughs, ‘ Ho, ho, ho Merry Christmas!’ The laughter of Santa Claus has been an important attribute by which the character is defined. The poem ‘An account of a visit from St. Nicholas’ states-:
. . a little round belly
That shook when he laugh'd, like a bowl full of jelly
Some popular Santa Claus songs are ‘Santa Claus is coming to Town’and ‘I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus’. There also a Santa Claus movie.
Santa Claus Indiana
Santa Claus Picture
Letter To Santa Claus
Santa Claus Game
History Of Santa Claus
Santa’s Grotto
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