Santa Claus

Teacher

end of the year, children all over the world are

writing their letters to Santa asking for gifts and looking forward to his visit on December 25th; however, do we really know who is Santa Claus and how he become associated with Christmas?

Miss Macarena Arévalo - English Teacher

Viejito Pascuero, are different names from different countries for the

same figure.
This merry man is a figure with a legendary, historical and folkloric origins, from the Dutch Sinterklaas mixing up elements of the god Odin and finally brought up together by modern advertisements.

Miss Macarena Arévalo - English Teacher

in Lycia, a province of the Byzantine Empire, now in Turkey.
Nicholas

was famous for his generous gifts to the poor and widely recognized for his generosity.

Miss Macarena Arévalo - English Teacher

Dutch were responsible for preserving the tradition of the feast

of Saint Nicholas on December 6th (date of his death) after European countries tried to abolish it after the Protestant Reformation.

Miss Macarena Arévalo - English Teacher

to Christianization, the Germanic peoples (including the English) celebrated a midwinter

fest called Yule. During this period, a supernatural and ghostly event called Wild Hunt happened.
The Wild Hunt was a ghostly procession through the sky whose leader was god Odin  the "long-beard“.

From him the modern figure has his long beard and the horse he rides at night.

character of Santa Claus is also known. He is known

as de Kerstman in Dutch ("the Christmas man") and Pere Nöel  ("Father Christmas") in French. But for children in the Netherlands Sinterklaas is the predominant gift-giver in December at Sinterklaas day, Christmas is used
by another half of the Dutch population to give presents.

Miss Macarena Arévalo - English Teacher

almost all of them, on Sinterklaas day. On Christmas Day,

everybody receives presents, but often without Santa Claus's help. In the Netherlands Sinterklaas' helper is Swarte Piet not an elf
After the XVII century, Dutch people emigrated to the United States. On several decades after, the custom of celebrating the Feast of Saint Nicholas spread to the United States and Sinterklaas became Santa Claus for Americans.

Miss Macarena Arévalo - English Teacher

back as far as 16th century in England during the

reign of Henry VIII.
He was pictured as a large man in green or scarlet robes lined with fur. He represented the spirit of good cheer at Christmas, bringing peace, joy, good food and wine.
British didn't keep Saint Nicholas Day on December 6th, so Father Christmas celebration was moved to December 25th to coincide with Christmas Day.  

of Christmas included Father Christmas as the emblem of 'good

cheer‘. 
His physical appearance inspired by one famous image: the illustration of the "Ghost of Christmas Present" in Charles Dicken´s book “A Christmas Carol” (1843) .
Father Christmas is now widely seen as synonymous with the Santa Claus figure.

version of the image of Santa Claus were published in

United States.
However in 1822, a dentist wrote a poem titled “A visit from Saint Nicholas”. In his description Santa Claus was a small person like fairy and he rid a sled and giving present to well behave children.

attributes are established in this poem: he is riding in

a sleigh that lands on the roof, entering through the chimney, and having a bag full of toys.
St. Nick is described as: "chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf" with "a little round belly", that "shook when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly", in spite of which the "miniature sleigh" and "tiny reindeer" still indicate that he is physically diminutive.

Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Dunder and Blixem (Dunder

and Blixem came from the old Dutch words for thunder and lightning, which were later changed to the more German sounding Donner and Blitzen)

was portrayed in dozen of drawings in different styles:
XX Century

drawings

1920s, a standard American Santa had emerged from the work

of N. C. Wyeth, J. C. Leyendecker, Norman Rockwell and other popular illustrators. Santa now was life-sized in a red, fur-trimmed suit.

in 1931 by Haddon Sundblom when Coca-Cola published its thirty-five

years advertisements using Santa´s image as its center.

a poem by Robert L. May of the Montgomery Ward

Company.

Miss Macarena Arévalo - English Teacher

from the 4th Century Saint Nicholas Bishop of Myra to America's

merry Santa Claus.
Even though modern Santa has became a commercial figure, he is still Nicholas, who expressed his devotion to God in extraordinary kindness and generosity to those in need, whose caring surprises continue to model true giving and faithfulness.

Miss Macarena Arévalo - English Teacher