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Santa Claus

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Everyday life

   A Santa Claus doll.
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   A Santa Claus doll.

   Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris
   Kringle, Santy, or simply Santa, is a gift-giving figure in various
   cultures who distributes presents to children, traditionally on
   December 24, Christmas Eve. The popular American form Santa Claus
   originated as a mispronunciation of Dutch Sinterklaas, which is a
   contracted form of Sint Nicolaas (Saint Nicholas).

   Father Christmas is a well-loved figure in many countries and predates
   the "Santa Claus" character. "Father Christmas" is similar in many
   ways, though the two have quite different origins. Using 'Santa' in
   places that predominantly call him 'Father Christmas' is often viewed
   as an Americanism and is quite rare, although they are generally
   regarded as the same character. Father Christmas is also present
   instead of "Santa" in Albania ("Babadimri"), Armenia ("Gaghant Baba"),
   Denmark ("Julemanden"), Hungary ("Mikulás"), Italy ("Babbo Natale"),
   Lithuania ("Kalėdų Senelis"), Brazil ("Papai Noel"), Portugal ("Pai
   Natal"), Romania ("Moş Crăciun"), Russia (" Ded Moroz"), Germany
   ("Weihnachtsmann" or "Nikolaus"), Scottish Highlands ("Daidaín na
   Nollaig"), France and French Canada ("Le Père Noël"), Ireland ("Daidí
   na Nollaig"), Finland (" Joulupukki"), Norway ("Julenissen"), Sweden
   ("Jultomten"), Bulgaria ("Dyado Koleda"), Turkey ("Noel Baba"), Italy
   ("Babbo Natale"), Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina ("Deda Mraz"),
   Spain and Spanish-speaking Latin America ("Papá Noel"), Afghanistan
   ("Baba Chaghaloo"), Iraq and South Africa ("Vader Kersfees"), Chile
   (Viejo Pascuero), Malta ("San Niklaw"), Egypt ("Papa Noël"), Iran
   ("Baba Noel").

Overview

   Santa Claus is a variation of a Dutch folk tale based on the historical
   figure Saint Nicholas, a bishop from Myra in Asia Minor (the greater
   part of modern-day Turkey), who used his whole inheritance to assist
   the needy, the sick, and the suffering. His charity became legend when
   a man lost his fortune and found himself incapable of supporting his
   three daughters, who would not be able to find husbands as they lacked
   dowries. This man was going to give them over to a life of
   prostitution; however, St Nicholas provided them with gold and cookies,
   enabling them to retain their virginal virtues and marry.

   This inspired the mythical figure of Sinterklaas, the subject of a
   major celebration in the Netherlands and Belgium, Germany (where his
   alleged date of death, December 6, is celebrated the evening before on
   December 5), which in turn inspired both the myth and the name of Santa
   Claus. "Santa Claus" is actually a mispronunciation of the Dutch word
   "Sinterklaas" by the English settlers of New Amsterdam (later renamed
   New York). Whilst in those countries Saint Nicholas is celebrated as a
   distinct character with a religious touch separate from Christmas,
   Santa Claus is also making inroads as a symbol during the Christmas
   season.

   He now forms an important part of the Christmas tradition throughout
   the Western world and Japan and other parts of East Asia.

   Santa Claus is traditionally represented in a red cloak with white fur
   trimmings, a reference to St Nicholas, who reputably performed his
   charitable acts dressed in his red bishop's robes.

   In many Eastern Orthodox traditions, Santa Claus visits children on New
   Year's Day and is identified with Saint Basil the Great, Archbishop of
   Caesarea in Cappadocia, Asia Minor (contemporary Turkey), whose memory
   is celebrated on that day. According to the Greek tradition, he is
   supposed to visit children and give presents every January 1. This
   festival is also marked by the baking of Saint Basil's bread (Gr.
   Βασιλόπιτα - Vasilópita), a sweetbread with a coin hidden inside.

   Depictions of Santa Claus also have a close relationship with the
   Russian character of Ded Moroz ("Grandfather Frost"). He delivers
   presents to children and has a red coat, fur boots and long white
   beard. Much of the iconography of Santa Claus could be seen to derive
   from Russian traditions of Ded Moroz, particularly transmitted into
   western European culture through his German folklore equivalent,
   Väterchen Frost.
   Department Store Santa
   Enlarge
   Department Store Santa

   Conventionally, Santa Claus is portrayed as a kindly, round-bellied,
   merry, bespectacled white man in a red coat trimmed with white fur
   (perhaps remotely derived from the episcopal vestments of the original
   Bishop Nicholas), with a long white beard and green or white gloves. On
   Christmas Eve, he rides in his sleigh pulled by flying reindeer from
   house to house to give presents to children. To enter the house, Santa
   Claus comes down the chimney and exits through the fireplace. During
   the rest of the year he lives together with his wife Mrs. Claus and his
   elves manufacturing toys. Some modern depictions of Santa (often in
   advertising and popular entertainment) will show the elves and Santa's
   workshop as more of a processing and distribution facility, ordering
   and receiving the toys from various toy manufacturers from across the
   world. His home is usually given as either the North Pole, in northern
   Canada, Korvatunturi in Finnish Lapland, Drøbak in Norway, Dalecarlia
   in Sweden, or Greenland, depending on the tradition and country.
   Sometimes Santa's home is in Caesarea when he is identified as Saint
   Basil. L. Frank Baum placed his home in The Laughing Valley of Hohaho.
   In the original Dutch tradition, Sinterklaas lives in Spain and is
   accompanied by a great number of black servants, called 'Zwarte
   Pieten', which means Black Petes.

Historical origins

   See also: Christmas gift-bringers around the world and Christmas
   worldwide

Santa Claus in popular culture

   A classic American image of Santa Claus.
   A classic American image of Santa Claus.

Santa Claus rituals

   Several rituals have developed around the Santa Claus figure that are
   normally performed by children hoping to receive gifts from him. See
   main article: Santa Claus rituals.

Ho, ho, ho

   Ho ho ho is the way that many languages write out how Santa Claus
   laughs. "Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!"

   The laughter of Santa Claus has long been an important attribute by
   which the character is identified, but it also does not appear in many
   non-English-speaking countries. The traditional Christmas poem A Visit
   from St. Nicholas relates that Santa has:

          . . . a little round belly
          That shook when he laugh'd, like a bowl full of jelly

   Ho ho ho represents an attempt to write the deep belly-laugh of Santa
   Claus, as opposed to the conventional, higher-pitched ha ha or he he
   that represents the laughter of thinner characters, or the snickering,
   cynical bwa/mwa ha ha! associated with the villains of melodrama.

   Jacob Grimm asserts that "Ho ho ho" was the hunting cry of Odin during
   The Furious Host. Odin being attributal to Santa Claus.

   " H0H 0H0" is a postal code used by Canada Post for routing letters
   sent in Canada to Santa Claus at the North Pole. The alphanumeric
   sequence falls within a grouping associated with the Montreal, Quebec
   area.

Santa Claus's reindeers' names

   Rudolph, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, and
   Blitzen are the most commonly cited names of Santa's nine reindeer. In
   the poem " The Night Before Christmas" (attributed to Clement C.
   Moore), from which the names of the reindeer come, the reindeer known
   today as Donner and Blitzen were originally Dunder and Blixem (the
   Dutch words "Donder" and "Bliksem" stand for "thunder" and "lightning",
   as rendered in English orthography). Dunder was later reprinted as
   Donder, which developed into Donner (the German for "thunder"); while
   Blixem quickly became Blixen and then Blitzen (German for "lightning").
   . All of these reindeer names are recited in the first verse of the
   popular song Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, which in turn has helped
   make Rudolph by far the best known and most popular with children.

   Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was born for the American department
   store chain Montgomery Ward in 1939, and has since entered the public
   consciousness as Santa's ninth and lead reindeer.

   All of the above reindeer have been proven to exist throughout multiple
   theatrical appearances, although in the film The Polar Express only
   eight of the reindeer can be seen pulling Santa's sleigh.

Santa Claus on film

NORAD

   According to the NORAD Santa Tracking website, Santa is tracked every
   Christmas Eve with the same equipment that tracks the presence of
   aircraft entering North American airspace.

Christian opposition to Santa Claus

   Excerpt from Josiah King's The Examination and Tryal of Father
   Christmas (1686), published shortly after Christmas was reinstated as a
   holy day in England. Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C.
   Enlarge
   Excerpt from Josiah King's The Examination and Tryal of Father
   Christmas (1686), published shortly after Christmas was reinstated as a
   holy day in England. Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C.

   Despite Santa Claus's mixed Christian roots, he has become a secular
   representation of Christmas. As such, a number of Christian churches
   dislike the secular focus on Santa Claus and the materialist focus that
   present-receiving gives to the holiday.

   Such a condemnation of Santa Claus is not a twentieth century
   phenomenon, but originated among some Protestant groups of the 16th
   century and was prevalent among the Puritans of 17th century England
   and America who banned the holiday as either pagan or Roman Catholic.
   Following the English Civil War, under Oliver Cromwell's government
   Christmas was banned. Following the Restoration of the monarchy and
   with Puritans out of power in England, the ban on Christmas was
   satirized in works such as Josiah King's The Examination and Tryal of
   Old Father Christmas; Together with his Clearing by the Jury (1686)
   [Nissenbaum, chap. 1].

   Rev. Paul Nedergaard, a clergyman in Copenhagen, Denmark, drew the ire
   of Danish citizens in 1958 when he declared Santa to be a "pagan
   goblin" after Santa's image was used on fundraising materials for a
   Danish welfare organization [Clar, 337]. One prominent religious group
   that refuses to celebrate Santa Claus or Christmas for similar reasons
   are the Jehovah's Witnesses, but several denominations of Christians
   have varying concerns about Santa Claus.

   Some Christians would prefer that the focus of the Christmas season be
   placed on the actual birth of Jesus. Some parents are uncomfortable
   about lying to their children about the existence of Santa. Some
   parents worry that their children might think that if they were
   deceived by their parents about Santa Claus, parents might also be
   deceiving them about the existence of God. Some in this group who still
   wish to participate in the festive gift-giving atmosphere of "Santa
   season" will shop for toys to donate to poor children on St. Nicholas's
   feast day, December 6. This is an opportunity to instill the Christian
   value of secret charity, which Nicholas was known for. Although feast
   days are usually not acknowledged in Protestant denominations, this
   tradition has found acceptance there as well.

   While these viewpoints do not represent the majority of Christians,
   their comments have drawn the attention of critics such as the
   fictional Landover Baptist Church, whose website satirizes and parodies
   this viewpoint. The website specifies that Satan is disguising himself
   as Santa (notice the same letters used in an anagram) to deceive people
   into a materialistic celebration. But some people do not believe that
   because "why would the devil want kids to be nice all year if he is
   evil?".

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
