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Saint Nicholas – The Real Santa Claus
Saint Nicholas is commonly known as the original Santa Claus, that said, we actually know very little about him. All we can say for sure is that he probably lived in the country we now call Turkey in around the 4th century. Also it is plausible that he died on December 6th which was celebrated as his feast day in the medieval church calendar.
One of the earliest legends that was attached to his name tells how St Nicholas heard of a man who could not afford the dowries for his three daughters, with the result that he intended – regretfully – to send them to the brothel to work. St Nicholas saves them from this fate by throwing three bags of gold through their window at night: it is this tale which is often identified as the root of St Nicholas’s reputation as a gift-giver. Whether or not this event, or something like it, really happened is entirely uncertain; however, it is more credible than some of the other tales told of St Nicholas. In this context it ought to be noted that, in the course of the development of his legend, St Nicholas does appear to have taken on some of the qualities/roles that originally belonged to the pagan deities Artemis and Poseidon.
The story continues…..
During the medieval period the tale of Saint Nicholas continued to spread and develop extraordinarily. As well as becoming the patron saint of sailors, old saint Nick became known for the first time as the patron saint of children. This important development was a direct consequence of the popular tale of him rescuing three children who had were being pickled for dinner by an innkeeper. When added with his reputation as a generous gift-giver, all the main elements were in place for the transformation from the old saint Nick tale into the modern day Santa Claus fable.
The English Father Christmas
The English father Christmas has an entirely different origin than Sinterklaas. He personified Christmas and functioned as more of a Yule-tide visitor than a gift-giver like saint Nicholas. The earliest mention of the English father Christmas comes from the mid-fifteenth century, when Sir Christemas appeared in a carol, although most discussions start with Ben Johnson’s early seventeenth-century old orCaptaine Christmas. Father Christmas benefited from the general Victorian revival of Christmas and can be found in, for example, Dickens’ Christmas Carol. However, from the 1870s on-wards Father Christmas became increasingly like the American Santa Claus.
The American Santa Claus
The American Santa Claus is generally credited as an invention of Washington Irving and some other early 19th century New Yorkers. This new version of Santa Claus was hugely inspired by the Dutch gift-giving tradition called “Sinterklaas”. He arrives at Christmas (rather than December 6th) and dresses in furs rather than bishops robes. He is fat rather than skinny and rides flying reindeer rather than a flying horse. To begin with his image was somewhat open to interpretation but Thomas Nast’s illustrations for Harpers Weekly in the 1800′s helped to create a figure who looked fairly similar to the modem Santa Claus. The figure was adopted by many advertisers including Coca-Cola resulting in the now “standard” version of Santa Claus that has largely replaced the traditional image.
Did you still think Christmas has anything to do with religion? I suppose there is one main similarity, they are both made up by rich scumbags to keep you poor.
