The legend and origin of Santa Claus

The legend and origin of Santa Claus

Santa Claus’s original name was Nicholas. He was born in Badala, Asia Minor in the fourth century. He lives in the city, his family is wealthy, and his parents are very ardent Catholics. 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. From now on, these three girls will tell this story every Saint Yan's Day. The children were very envious after hearing this and hoped that Santa Claus would come and give him a sock gift.

The origins of Santa Claus go back to the last century. As we know him, he is a combination of different legends and mysterious human forms. (Holiday Collection) The predecessor of Santa Claus was Bishop Nicholas of Izmir, a port city in western Turkey. He lived in the 4th century AD. He was a kind, generous and rich man who was very good to children. The Orthodox Church respects Nicholas as a miracle worker. Nicholas was known as "Santa Claus" in central and northern Germany, "Father Christmas" in the UK, and later "Santa Claus" by Dutch immigrants in the United States. Children all want to know where Santa 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, children's program host Markus Rautio, known as "Uncle Markus" to children, revealed for the first time that Santa Claus lived in Korvatunturi, Lapland.

The legend of Santa Claus was about to appear 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 St. 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, but Santa Claus remains in people's spiritual world forever.

Every Christmas, Santa Claus rides on a reindeer, and the Holy Child comes to the world holding a Christmas tree. As things change, writers and artists begin to describe Santa Claus as the familiar red suit and white beard we have today. image. 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. Today, Christmas has become a national holiday. 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.