Santa – The Legend

Santa – The Legend

Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary character originating in Eastern Christian culture who is said to bring children gifts on Christmas Eve of toys and candy or coal or nothing, depending on whether they are “naughty or nice”. He is said to accomplish this with the aid of Christmas elves, who make the toys in his workshop at the North Pole and flying reindeer who pull his sleigh through the air
The modern character of Santa is based on traditions surrounding the historical Saint Nicholas, the English figure of Father Christmas, and the Dutch figure of Sinterklaas.
Santa is generally depicted as a portly, jolly, white-bearded man, often with spectacles, wearing a red coat with white fur collar and cuffs, white-fur-cuffed red trousers, red hat with white fur, and black leather belt and boots, carrying a bag full of gifts for children. He is commonly portrayed as laughing in a way that sounds like “ho ho ho”. This image has been popular worldwide and is accepted to be the version of Santa that is in prevalence
However, the Greek Bishop St Nicholas upon whose memory the legend of Santa Claus was built on looked nothing like the jolly, potbellied, heavy-set Santa that we see in the TV commercials these days. He was in reality a thin austere man who was given to charitable activities and made sure that Christmas was a time when the poor and hungry were given food and gifts. He is believed to have been the Bishop of Myra, situated in modern-day Turkey.
The English in typical fashion created Father Christmas and moved the feast of St Nicholas to the Christmas day, and this can well be considered the birth of modern day Santa. However even this Father Christmas was a kind person given to good deeds, love and revelry but hardly the big fun loving Santa of today. The modern Santa, arguably was more a commercial creation of the Americans in the eighteen hundreds and with the coming of TV, became the rotund and immensely popular Santa we know today. It is probable that the Santa land North Pole, his flying sleigh, Rudolf the reindeer, his elves etc. were all created during this period.
Today, the whole world celebrates Christmas with Santa, and even non-Christians accept the Jollities of the legend.