Christmas Shopping: What is the prototype of Santa Claus?

Santa Claus originated from European folklore. Usually parents will explain to their children that the gifts they received at Christmas were from Santa Claus.

Santa Claus is a mysterious figure who brings gifts to children. This concept originated from Saint Nicholas. Nicholas was a kind bishop who lived in Asia Minor in the 4th century. The Dutch will imitate him in giving gifts on Saint Nicholas' Day (65438+February 6th).

In North America, the Dutch and British colonists integrated this tradition into Christmas celebrations, and Dutch-speaking Sinterklaas was introduced into English to become Santa Claus, which correspondingly became the image of Santa Claus. In Anglo-American tradition, Santa Claus always comes to Christmas Eve happily in a sleigh pulled by reindeer. He climbed into the house from the chimney, left gifts for the children and ate the food left by the children. He is busy making gifts and monitoring children's behavior at other times of the year.

The image similar to Santa Claus in France is Father Noel, who is almost identical to Santa Claus. His red and white clothes once inspired Coca-Cola Company to draw the image of Santa Claus spread all over the world in the1930s. In some cultures, Santa Claus is accompanied by Knecht Ruprecht or a guy named "Zwarte Piet". In some versions, gnomes in toy workshops make holiday presents, and sometimes Santa Claus and his wife are husband and wife. During Christmas, in many supermarkets in North America and Britain, children can ask Santa Claus for presents.

In Icelandic legend, there is not only one Santa Claus, but nine Santas. Everyone has a different personality, some have lively skin and some are kind and gentle.

Santa Claus186365438+1October 3, featured by Thomas Nass, was published by Harper Weekly. In many countries, on Christmas Eve, children will prepare empty containers so that Santa can put some small gifts, such as toys, candy or fruit. In America, children hang Christmas stockings on the fireplace on Christmas Eve, because Santa Claus said he would come down from the chimney and put presents in Christmas Eve socks. In other countries, children leave their empty shoes outdoors so that Santa can give presents on Christmas Eve (or on the eve of Saint Nicholas's Day on February 5, 65438).

The description of Santa Claus in the Arctic subtly reflects people's impression of industry. At the beginning of the 20th century, some images of Santa Claus showed him making toys with his hands, just like a craftsman in a small workshop. Later, the impression became that there were many elves making toys under Santa Claus, but the toys were handmade by various elves in the traditional way. By the end of the twentieth century, the western public had fully accepted the reality of large-scale machine production. Modern people's description of Santa's residence reflects this: people humorously say that his residence is a highly mechanized production facility, equipped with the most advanced manufacturing technology, managed by elf and manager Santa Claus. There are many TV commercials that turn this scene into a company comedy, depicting the elf as a disgruntled employee, joking and playing tricks on the boss.

hometown

American tradition thinks that Santa Claus comes from the North Pole, but Nordic countries think that they are the hometown of Santa Claus. At the 40th world santa claus congress, Greenland, a Danish territory, was recognized as the real hometown of Santa Claus.

[Edit this paragraph] Legend

The legend of Santa Claus appeared in Scandinavia thousands of years ago. In Norse mythology, Odin, the god of wisdom, art, poetry and war, rode his eight-legged horse around the ends of the earth in winter to punish evil and promote good and distribute gifts. At the same time, his son Thor, dressed in red, used lightning as a weapon to fight the god of ice and snow in the dark and finally defeated the cold. According to pagan legend, Santa Claus is a descendant of Odin. There is also a legend that Santa Claus comes from Saint Nicholas, so Santa Claus is also called Saint Nicholas. Because most of these stories promote the Christian spirit, their origins and story plots are mostly forgotten, but Santa Claus lives in people's spiritual world forever.

Every Christmas (Christmas is the day when God Jesus was born in the western Christian legend, which is equivalent to the Spring Festival in China), Santa Claus rides reindeer and Santa Claus comes to the world with a Christmas tree. With the change of the world, writers and artists began to describe Santa Claus as a familiar image today, dressed in red and with a white beard. At the same time, different countries and cultures have different interpretations of Santa Claus. In Germany, it is said that he dressed up as a holy boy and put nuts and apples in children's shoes. He travels around in a two-wheeled carriage, observing people's behavior, especially children. If he behaves well, he will get many prizes, such as apples, nuts and sugar. Bad boys get whipped. Parents had a brainwave and used this legend to encourage their children to obey. It has greatly surpassed the New Year and become a national holiday. Santa Claus has become the most popular symbol and tradition of Christmas. The image of a happy old elf driving a reindeer and pulling a sleigh full of toys and gifts to give gifts to every child from house to house has been deeply left in people's memory.

[Edit this paragraph] Nicholas Santa Claus

The first statement

Santa Claus in a thick red and white robe was not born in the cold Arctic Circle, but in the town of Deng Lei on the Mediterranean coast, so if he shows up in his hometown in this dress, he will definitely be too hot.

It is reported that the story of Santa Claus originated from the religious figure Saint Nicholas. In the 4th century, he became the bishop of Deng Lei, a sunny town. He is kind and charitable. Later, people added some fairy tales to his life story, and finally he became a familiar Santa Claus with gifts and smiles.

Legend has it that there is a poor family in the town who has no money to buy dowry for his three daughters. When Saint Nicholas knew this, one night he threw a bag of gold into the house through the window, and the next day he lost another bag. But on the third day, when the window was closed, Saint Nicholas had to climb on the roof and throw the golden bag down the chimney. As a result, it just fell into the socks that girls put in the fireplace to dry, and finally evolved into the tradition of hanging socks on Christmas Eve and waiting for Santa Claus to give gifts.

The second statement

Santa Claus, whose original name was Nicholas, was born in patara in Asia Minor in the 4th century. His family is very rich and his parents are very enthusiastic Catholic friends. Unfortunately, his parents died young. When Nicholas grew up, he donated all his wealth to the poor, became a monk himself, and devoted his life to the church and served the society. Nicholas later became a priest and was promoted to bishop. In his life, he has done a lot of charity work, and he likes to help the poor in secret. Santa Claus was his later nickname, which came from the story that he secretly sent money to help three girls.

It is said that there are three beautiful girls living not far from Nicholas. They are twenty, eighteen and sixteen years old. My father is a poor scholar and often lives by borrowing money. Once, because she was unable to pay her debts, she had to sell her beautiful and healthy third daughter to a creditor and take her to Africa as a maid. When the three daughters learned about this, they hugged each other and cried. The sad situation at home can be imagined. Nicholas knew about it and ran to their house to comfort him. In the evening, Nicholas put gold in three stockings and hung them in front of the windows of three girls. When they got the gold and paid off their father's debts, their third daughter was spared the fate of being a maid. The next day was Christmas. Knowing that Nicholas had done something good, they invited him to celebrate and thank him. Every Christmas, these three girls tell this story. Hearing this, the children are very envious and hope that Santa Claus will give him a sock gift.

Later, I don't know which clever parents began to give socks to their children in the name of Santa Claus. As a result, this habit became popular in Europe and America. Nicholas later became the bishop of Milla. Because he was an orphan when he was a child, he became a special protector of orphans. After his death, the church listed him as a saint. His spirit of caring for orphans and helping the poor has been passed down with Christmas. Later, many kind people in the world followed Nicholas's spirit of love and donated many things in the name of Santa Claus, bringing love to the poor, the poor elderly and orphans. Every year when Christmas comes, Santa Claus always appears all over the world, bringing warmth and happiness to millions of children, lonely old people and abandoned children in Qian Qian. We hope that all the friends who live well in the world are Santa Claus, and spread the glory of love to every corner of the world within our power, not only at Christmas, but even at ordinary times.

American version of Santa Claus

The American version of Santa Claus, whose image and name come from Dutch legends, was brought to new york by immigrants in the17th century.

1773, "Santa Claus" appeared in American news newspapers, which was the first time that washington irving, an American best-selling author, introduced the information of the Dutch version of Nicholas (Santa Claus) as an American. According to the historical records of new york, Owen described the arrival of Nicholas riding a horse (without the company of black peat) under the pen name Diedrich in the newspaper 1809.

Different legends about Santa Claus in the northern hemisphere

The origin of Santa Claus can be traced back to the last century. We know that he is a combination of different legends and mysterious figures.

The predecessor of Santa Claus is the Bishop Nicholas of Izmir, a port city in western Turkey. He lived in the 4th century A.D. and was a kind, generous and very kind person to children. The Orthodox Church regards Nicholas as a miracle worker.

Nicholas was called "Santa Claus" in central and northern Germany, "Santa Claus" in Britain and "Santa Claus" by Dutch immigrants in America.

The children all want to know where Santa Claus lives and when they will receive presents. The answer is usually that Santa Claus lives in the North Pole and his workshop produces Christmas presents. 1927 Markus Rautio, a host of children's programs called "Uncle Marcus" by children, revealed for the first time that Santa Claus lives in Tunturi, Korva, Lapland.

Korvatunturi, located in the eastern border area of Finland, found a rabbit-like ear. In fact, it is Santa Claus's ear, which is used to listen to children's wishes. Scandinavian legends tell the history of Santa Claus and his assistant, the Elf Gate.

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

From 65438 to 0950, Santa Claus stayed happily in Papiri, and communicated with children and young people after Christmas. More and more people visit Santa Claus regularly. 1985, he set up his own studio. Every day, Santa Claus comes to the office to listen to the children's Christmas wishes and communicate with them. Santa Claus Village is Santa Claus's main post office, receiving letters from children all over the world.

Santa's reindeer

Santa always has twelve reindeer, six on each side.

The first one is called Dasher, which means dash.

The second one is called comet, which means comet.

The third one is called Cupid, Cupid.

The fourth is called a dancer, a dancer.

The sixth one is called prancing and jumping.

The seventh one is Vixen, the female fox.

The eighth one is Donna, which is Dutch for Ray.

The ninth one is called Blitzen, which is also Dutch, lightning.

The tenth one is called fireball, fireball.

The eleventh is called olives, olives.

The twelfth is Rudolf Rudolf.

Santa Claus originally had only nine reindeer, but it was only in later generations that there were three more, a full twelve. Santa Claus reindeer as we know it today.

The most famous name of the red-nosed elk is Rudolf.

Rudolph was born with a red nose. He was teased by other elk. But once on Christmas Eve, the snow was so heavy that the elk couldn't see the road clearly and got lost. The red-nosed elk uses its red nose as a signal to gather the lost elk. Later, Santa Claus asked the red-nosed elk to take the lead so that other elk could follow.

As for Rudolph, it should be named by Santa Claus ~ ~ ~

In addition, I provide a gossip: the eighth "Thunder" is actually Rudolph's father! !

Santa Claus in various countries

Legend has it that Santa Claus appeared in Scandinavia thousands of years ago. In Norse mythology, Odin, the god of wisdom, art, poetry and war, rode his eight-legged horse to the ends of the earth in the cold winter to punish evil and promote good and distribute gifts. At the same time, his son Thor wore red clothes and used lightning as a weapon to fight against the god of ice and snow in the dark, and finally defeated the cold. According to pagan legend, Santa Claus is a descendant of Odin. Some people say that Santa Claus comes from Saint Nicholas, so Santa Claus is also called Saint Nicholas. It is said that he was originally the bishop of Mela City in Asia Minor, named Saint Nicholas, and was honored as a saint after his death. He is an old man with a white beard, wearing a red robe and a red hat. Every Christmas, he comes from the north in a sleigh pulled by deer, enters every house through the chimney, puts Christmas presents in socks and hangs them on the children's beds or in front of the stove. Therefore, when westerners celebrate Christmas, parents will put Christmas gifts for their children in socks and hang them on the bedside of Christmas Eve. The next day, the first thing the children woke up was to look for a gift from Santa Claus by the bed. Nowadays, Santa Claus has become a symbol of good luck, not only Christmas, but also an indispensable person to celebrate the New Year. In a word, Santa Claus will always live in the spiritual world, because most of his stories carry forward the Christian spirit.

165438+ Religious soldiers from Italy brought the relics of Saint Nicholas back to Italy at the end of the 20th century and built a church in the port city of Bari to commemorate him. Soon, Christians from all over the world flocked to worship the saint. These pilgrims brought the story of saint nicholas back to their homeland, so the legend about Santa Claus has its own characteristics in different countries.

/kloc-in the 0/2 century, St. Nicholas's Day appeared in Europe, with giving gifts and charitable activities as the main activities. Germany, France and the Netherlands take 65438+February 6th as a religious memorial day to give gifts to children and the poor. When the Dutch colonists came to America, they took their bishop Cindy Glass with them. Sintirklass is wearing a red cassock and riding a white horse. Cindy glass's American image has gradually evolved into a happy old elf. At first, American writer washington irving described him as a round and fat Dutch old man in his comedy The History of new york.

1823, the poet Clement Moore continued to dramatize the image of Cindy glass/St. Nicholas in his poem Impression of St. Nicholas, that is, Santa Claus you saw at the beginning of this article. Thomas Nash was a cartoonist in 1960s. He drew a fat and kind Santa Claus as an illustration of Harper's Week. The image of Santa Claus began to take root in the hearts of Americans. With the passage of time, the image of Santa Claus has been transmitted back to Europe, South America and the whole world. Many countries have kept their own customs and legends about Santa Claus. According to Dutch legend, Santa Claus Sintirklass arrived by boat on February 6, 65438 with an assistant named Black Peter. He brought a big book describing the performance of all Dutch children in the past year. A good boy gives them presents, and a bad boy is taken away by his assistant. German Santa Claus also took an assistant named Knecht ruprecht, Krampus or Pelzer Bok, with a big bag of gifts on his shoulder and a stick in his hand. A good boy can receive his gifts, and a naughty boy will teach him some sticks.

Santa Claus is called La Befana in Italy and Santa Claus in France is called Santa Claus or Santa Claus. Santa Claus in Switzerland is called Christkindl or Christchild. Santa Claus in Scandinavia is called julenisse or Juletomite. Like France, Santa Claus in Britain is also called Santa Claus. His image is more solemn and thinner than other Santas. Santa Claus in North America rides a sleigh pulled by reindeer to give presents to children and add joy to the festival. Nowadays, the western Christmas faith has gradually spread to China. On Christmas Eve in February and June, 5438, there was a Christmas tree on the roadside, but Santa Claus in the window became a symbol of joy.

[Edit this paragraph] Other

Every year near Christmas, children (who believe in Santa Claus) always write letters to Santa Claus, for example, telling them what Christmas presents they want to receive. In some post offices, in order not to disappoint them, people will reply to these letters.

The definition of "Santa Claus" in Chinese-English dictionaries;

1. Santa Claus; Santa Claus; the Santa Claus

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