Where did Santa Claus come from?

The legend of Santa Claus appeared in Scandinavia thousands of years ago. In Nordic mythology, Odin is the god of wisdom, art, poetry, and war. In the cold winter, he rides on his eight-legged horse and gallops to the ends of the earth, punishing evil, promoting good, and distributing gifts. At the same time, his son, the God of Thunder, dressed in red and using lightning as a weapon, fought fiercely with the gods of ice and snow in darkness, and finally defeated the cold. According to pagan legend, Santa Claus is a descendant of the god Odin. There are also legends that Santa Claus came from Saint Nicholas, so Santa Claus is also called St. Nicholas. Because most of these stories promote the spirit of Christianity, their origins and storylines are mostly forgotten. However, Santa Claus is always present in people's spiritual world.

Every Christmas (Christmas is the day of the birth of Jesus in Western Christian legends, equivalent to the Chinese Spring Festival), Santa Claus rides on a reindeer, and the Holy Child comes to the world holding a Christmas tree. Over time, writers and artists began to depict Santa Claus as the red-suited, white-bearded figure we are familiar with today. At the same time, different countries and cultures also have different interpretations of Santa Claus. In Germany, legend has it that he dressed as a holy boy and put nuts and apples in children's shoes. He roams around in a two-wheeled carriage and observes people's behavior, especially children. If he behaves well, he will get apples, nuts, candies and many other prizes. Bad boys get a whip. Parents suddenly adopted this legend to encourage their children to be obedient. It greatly surpasses the New Year and becomes a national festival. Santa Claus has become a favorite symbol and tradition of Christmas. The image of the jolly old elf driving his reindeer and pulling a sleigh filled with toys and gifts from door to door to deliver gifts to every child has been deeply etched in people's memory.

Santa Nicholas

The first theory

Santa Claus, who wears a thick red and white robe, was not actually born in the cold North Pole Circle, but the town of Denley on the Mediterranean coast, so if he appeared in his hometown wearing this outfit, he would definitely be unbearable in the heat.

It is reported that the story of Santa Claus is derived from the religious figure Saint Nicholas. In the fourth century AD, he served as the bishop of Denre, a small town in Turkey where the sun always shines. He was a philanthropist. Later, people added some mythical stories to his life story, and finally evolved into the band that everyone is familiar with today. Santa Claus with gifts and smile.

Legend has it that there was a poor family in the town who had no money to buy dowries for their three daughters. When Saint Nicholas found out about it, he threw a bag of gold into the family through the window one night. , and the next day he lost another bag. But on the third day, the windows were closed, so Saint Nicholas had to climb up to the roof and drop the bag of gold from the chimney, which happened to fall into the socks that the girl had put in to dry in the fireplace. This eventually evolved into hanging socks on Christmas Eve. , the tradition of waiting for Santa Claus to deliver gifts.

The second theory

Santa Claus’s original name was Nicholas. He was born in the city of Badala in Asia Minor in the fourth century. His family was wealthy and his parents were very wealthy. An ardent Catholic, unfortunately his parents died young. When Nicholas grew up, he donated all his rich property to the poor and pitiful people. He became a monk, dedicated himself to the church, and served the society throughout his life. Nicholas later became a priest and was promoted to bishop. He did a lot of charity work throughout his life, and his favorite thing was helping the poor in secret. Santa Claus was his later nickname. The name came from the story of him secretly sending money to help three girls.

It is said that not far from Nicholas, there lived three beautiful girls, they were twenty, eighteen, and sixteen years old respectively. My father was a poor scholar who often relied on loans to make a living. Once, because he was unable to repay a debt, he had no choice but to sell his beautiful and healthy third daughter to the creditor and take her to Africa to work as a maid. When the three daughters found out about this, they hugged each other and cried sadly. You can imagine the sadness in the family. Nicholas learned about this and ran to their home to comfort them. At night, Nicholas filled three stockings of gold and secretly hung them in the windows of the three girls. They had gold and paid off their father's debt, and the third daughter was freed from the fate of being a maid. The next day was Christmas, and they knew it was Nicholas who had done the good deed, so they invited him to celebrate and thank him. Every Christmas from now on, these three girls will tell this story. The children were very envious after hearing this and hoped that Santa Claus would come and give him a sock gift.

Later, the smart parents, who didn’t know which family, began to give their children a sock gift in the name of Santa Claus. As a result, this habit became popular throughout Europe and the United States. Nicholas later became the bishop of Mira. Because he was also an orphan when he was a child, he became a special protector of orphans. After his death, the church canonized him as a saint. His spirit of caring for orphans and helping the poor has been passed down with Christmas. Later, many kind-hearted people in the world followed Nicholas's spirit of kindness and donated a large number of items, using the name of Santa Claus to bring love to the poor, the poor old people and orphans. Every year when Christmas comes, Santa Claus always appears all over the world, bringing warmth and happiness to thousands of children, lonely old people, and abandoned children.

We hope that all the wealthy friends in the world will be Santa Claus, not just at Christmas, but even in ordinary times, and spread the light of love to every corner of the world within their ability.

The American version of Santa Claus

The American version of Santa Claus, his image and name come from a Dutch legend, which was brought to New York by immigrants in the 17th century.

"Santa Claus" appeared in American newspapers in early 1773. This was the first time that best-selling American author Washington Irving introduced information about the Dutch version of Nicholas (Santa Claus) as an American. According to New York History, Irving, writing in an 1809 newspaper under the pseudonym Diedrich, described the arrival of Nicholas on horseback (without Black Pete accompanying him).

Different legends about Santa Claus in the Northern Hemisphere

The origin of Santa Claus goes back to the last century. As we know, he is a combination of different legends and mysterious human figures.

The predecessor of Santa Claus was Bishop Nicholas of Izmir, a port city in western Turkey. He lived in the 4th century AD and was a kind, generous and rich man who was very good to children. The Orthodox Church respects Nicholas as a miracle worker.

In central and northern Germany, Nicholas was known as "Santa Claus", in the UK as "Father Christmas", and later as "SantaClaus" by Dutch immigrants in the United States.

Children want to know where Santa Claus lives and when will they receive their presents? The answer is usually that Santa Claus lives at the North Pole and produces Christmas gifts in his workshop. In 1927, Markus Rautio, a children's program host known to children as "Uncle Markus", revealed for the first time that Santa Claus lived in Korvatunturi, Lapland.

An ear similar to that of a hare was found in Korvatunturi, located on the eastern border of Finland. It is actually Santa Claus's ear, which is used to listen to children's wishes. Scandinavian legends tell the history of Santa Claus and his helper elf.

At the end of the last century, different legends about Santa Claus in the northern hemisphere were summarized into the same version? The old man with a white beard distributed gifts to the children, and then returned to Kornatunturi in Finnish Lapland.

Since 1950, Santa Claus has stayed happily in Napapiiri, communicating with children and young people in addition to Christmas. More and more people are visiting Santa Claus regularly. In 1985, he built his own workshop. Santa Claus comes to the office every day to listen to children's Christmas wishes and communicate with them. Santa Claus Village is Santa's main post office and receives letters from children all over the world.