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The story of santa
claus
Santa Claus is
the most
important and
precious symbol
for the
celebration of
Christmas. There
is no evidence
to prove whether
St.Nicholas ever
existed as a
human or not.
There are
however some
facts which
indicates that
the life story
of Saint
Nicholas was
simply taken
form those of
Pagan Gods. His
legends seems to
have been mainly
created out of
myths attributed
to the Greek God
Poseidon, the
Roman God
Neptune, and the
Teutonic God
Hold Nickar. The
Christian church
created a
fictional life
history for St.
Nicholas.
St. Nicholas
became the
subject of many
legends. He
loved children
and threw gifts
to make them
happy from their
windows. He also
saved a sailor
who fell
overboard. The
saint walked on
water, retrieved
the sailor and
carried him back
to the ship. He
also gave away
all of his
inherited wealth
and traveled the
countryside
helping the poor
and sick. One of
the ebst story
about St.
Nicholas is the
one in which he
saves three
daughters of a
poverty strickn
family from
being sold out
in prostituion.
To save them, he
crept in the
house and thre
bags full of
gold coins from
their wondow.
And for the
third daughter
he threw a bag
of gold down the
chimney into her
stocking. Its
from this that
the tradition of
putting stockins
on the eve of
christmas came
over. He also
rewarded
children who
studied
catechism &
behaved well.
Over the course
of many years,
Nicholas's
popularity
spread and he
became known as
the protector of
children and
sailors. His
kindness and
reputation for
generosity gave
rise to claims
he that he could
perform miracles
and devotion to
him increased.
St. Nicholas
became the
patron saint of
Russia, where he
was known by his
red cape,
flowing white
beard, and
bishop's mitre.
It was basically
in America, with
the Dutch
inspiration that
St.Nicholas was
transformed to
SantaClaus. In
the early days
of Dutch New
York, "Sinterklass"
became known
among the
English-speaking
as "Santa Claus.
In 1809
Washington
Irving, a member
of the New York
Historical
Society (which
promoted a Dutch
Saint Nicholas
as its patron
saint), created
a tale of a
chubby,
pipe-smoking
little Saint
Nicholas who
rode a magic
horse through
the air visiting
all houses in
New York. The
elfish figure
was small enough
to slide down
chimneys with
gifts for the
good children
and switches for
the bad ones.
Thus we got our
Santa Claus,
credit to which
goes to the
works of Clark
Moore and the
cartoons of
Thomas Nast. In
1822, Dr. Moore
from New York
wrote a
Christmas poem,
"A visit from
St. Nicholas" to
read out to his
children on
X'mas Eve. The
following year
one Ms Harriet
Butler read the
poem and
requested a copy
from him. Later
she sent it
without Dr.
Moore's consent
for publishing
to Troy, New
York Sentinel.
Consequently it
was published
and became
popular. In 1938
Dr. Moore
revealed that
St. Nicholas was
his creation.
And since then
it has appeared
countless times.
Last but not the
least in
response to the
8-year old
Virginia O'
Hanlon's query
whether there
really was a
Santa Claus,
editor of New
York Sun replied
"Yes, Virginia,
there is a Santa
Claus', and made
Santa living for
ever to the
kids.
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