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2004
People
(December 2004)
The
person of the month is Santa Claus for December 2004. For
his popularity all over the world, this introduction is
relatively brief compared to his huge contributions to make
every Christmas joyful.
In
looking for the historical roots of Santa Claus, one must
go very deep in the past. One discovers that Santa Claus
as we know him is a combination of many different legends
and mythical creatures. The basis for the Christian-era
Santa Claus is Bishop Nicholas of Smyrna (Izmir), in what
is now Turkey. Nicholas lived in the 4th century A.D. He
was very rich, generous, and loving toward children. Often
he gave joy to poor children by throwing gifts in through
their windows. In the Protestant areas of central and northern
Germany, St. Nicholas later became known as der Weinachtsmann.
In England he came to be called Father Christmas. St. Nicholas
made his way to the United States with Dutch immigrants,
and began to be referred to as Santa Claus in the 17th century.
There
are many legends of St. Nicholas, but this is the most famous
legend and it includes elements of today's Santa:
A nobleman
who lived with his three daughters had fallen on hard times.
The daughters had no chance of marriage, since their father
could not pay their dowries. One night, St. Nicholas threw
a sack of gold through a window of the nobleman's shabby
castle, which was enough for one daughter's marriage. The
next night, he tossed another sack of gold through the window
for the second daughter. But on the third night, the window
was closed. So, St. Nicholas climbed onto the roof and dropped
the sack down the chimney. The next morning, the daughters
found the gold in the stockings they had hung to dry by
the fireplace. Hence leaving the stockings out for Santa
Claus. He will deliver gifts through chimney to children
in the house at the Christmas Eve.
If you
think you know everything about Christmas and Santa Claus,
try the following questions:
-
When did people start to celebrate Christmas Day and what
was the purpose?
- What
does Santa do when a house does not have a chimney or
there is a fire burning in the fire place?
- What
is Mrs. Claus' first name?
- What
are the names of Santa's reindeer?
- What
do Santa and Mrs. Claus do during the spring and summer?
For
answers, please go to santaclaus.com's
FAQs section. In addition, there're other useful and fun
websites, such as northpole.com,
claus.com,
and etc. Not only you can find more information on Santa
Claus and Christmas traditions, but also there are games
and musics for kids. One can even send an email to Santa
for the wishing gift. However, you have to be a good kid
to get the gift you want!
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