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e special pages search search appearance donate create account log in personal tools donate create account log in contents move to sidebar hide top 1 predecessor figures toggle predecessor figures subsection 1 1 saint nicholas 1 2 father christmas 1 3 dutch belgian and swiss folklore 1 4 germanic paganism odin and christianisation 2 history toggle history subsection 2 1 origins 2 2 19th century 2 3 20th century 3 in popular culture 4 traditions and rituals toggle traditions and rituals subsection 4 1 chimneys 4 2 christmas eve 4 3 appearance 4 4 laugh 4 5 home 4 6 parades department stores and shopping malls 4 7 letter writing 4 8 tracking 5 criticism toggle criticism subsection 5 1 opposition from some christian denominations 5 2 opposition under state atheism 5 3 symbol of commercialism 5 4 representation to children 6 see also toggle see also subsection 6 1 related figures 6 2 other 7 references toggle references subsection 7 1 citations 7 2 general and cited references 8 further reading 9 external links toggle the table of contents santa claus 116 languages afrikaans alemannisch العربية مصرى অসমীয়া asturianu azərbaycanca bikol central беларуская тарашкевіца беларуская betawi български भोजपुरी বাংলা brezhoneg català cebuano ꮳꮃꭹ کوردی čeština kaszëbsczi cymraeg dansk deutsch ελληνικά esperanto español eesti euskara فارسی suomi føroyskt français frysk gaeilge gàidhlig galego gaelg עברית हिन्दी hrvatski hornjoserbsce magyar հայերեն արեւմտահայերէն bahasa indonesia íslenska italiano ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ inuktitut 日本語 jawa ქართული ಕನ್ನಡ 한국어 коми кыргызча latina lëtzebuergesch lingua franca nova lombard ລາວ lietuvių latviešu मैथिली malagasy māori македонски മലയാളം मराठी кырык мары bahasa melayu مازِرونی nedersaksies nederlands norsk nynorsk norsk bokmål nouormand occitan ਪੰਜਾਬੀ pälzisch polski português română русский sicilianu scots srpskohrvatski српскохрватски සිංහල simple english slovenščina shqip српски srpski svenska kiswahili தமிழ் తెలుగు тоҷикӣ ไทย türkmençe tagalog toki pona türkçe татарча tatarça українська اردو oʻzbekcha ўзбекча vèneto tiếng việt walon winaray 吴语 მარგალური ייִדיש 閩南語 bân lâm gí 粵語 中文 edit links article talk english read view source view history tools tools move to sidebar hide actions read view source view history general what links here related changes upload file permanent link page information cite this page get shortened url switch to legacy parser print export download as pdf printable version in other projects wikimedia commons wikiquote wikivoyage wikidata item appearance move to sidebar hide from wikipedia the free encyclopedia legendary christmas figure santa redirects here for other uses see santa claus disambiguation and santa disambiguation fictional character santa claus 1881 illustration by thomas nast associates elves reindeer attire santa suit aliases saint nicholas saint nick father christmas kris kringle mr claus the man with the bag santa gender male occupation delivering gifts to children on christmas spouse mrs claus home north pole santa s workshop lapland santa claus village santa claus is a legendary figure 1 originating in western christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on christmas eve christmas elves are said to make the gifts in santa s workshop while flying reindeer pull his sleigh through the air 2 3 the popular conception of santa claus originates from folklore traditions surrounding the 4th century christian greek bishop saint nicholas the patron saint of children saint nicholas became renowned for his reported generosity and secret gift giving the image of santa claus shares similarities with the english figure of father christmas and they are both now popularly regarded as the same person 4 santa is generally depicted as a portly jolly white bearded man often with glasses wearing a red coat with white fur collar and cuffs white fur cuffed red trousers a red hat with white fur trim a black leather belt and boots carrying a bag full of gifts for children he is popularly associated with a deep hearty laugh frequently rendered in christmas literature as ho ho ho this image originated in the united states during the 19th century after dutch settlers brought the legend of sinterklaas saint nicholas to 17th century new amsterdam present day new york city the 1823 american poem a visit from st nicholas written by an anonymous author recounts saint nicholas arriving at the author s home on christmas eve in a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer the poem laid the foundation for modern depictions of santa claus strengthening the association between santa claus and christmas over time this connection has been maintained and reinforced through song radio television children s books family christmas traditions films and advertising 5 6 predecessor figures saint nicholas main article saint nicholas a 13th century depiction of saint nicholas from saint catherine s monastery sinai saint nicholas was a 4th century greek christian bishop of myra now demre in the region of lycia in the roman empire today in turkey nicholas was known for his generous gifts to the poor in particular presenting the three impoverished daughters of a pious christian with dowries so that they would not have to become prostitutes 7 he was very religious from an early age and devoted his life entirely to christianity in continental europe more precisely the netherlands belgium austria the czech republic and germany he is usually portrayed as a bearded bishop in canonical robes citation needed in 1087 while the greek christian inhabitants of myra were subjugated by the newly arrived muslim seljuq dynasty and soon after their greek orthodox church had been declared to be in schism by the catholic church ad 1054 a group of merchants from the italian city of bari removed the major bones of nicholas s skeleton from his sarcophagus in the greek church in myra over the objection of the monks of myra the sailors took the bones of saint nicholas to bari where they are now enshrined in the basilica di san nicola sailors from bari collected just half of nicholas s skeleton leaving all the minor fragments in the church sarcophagus these were later taken by venetian sailors during the first crusade and placed in venice where a church dedicated to saint nicholas the patron of sailors was built on the san nicolò al lido saint nicholas s vandalised sarcophagus can still be seen in the st nicholas church in myra this tradition was confirmed in two important scientific investigations of the relics in bari and venice which revealed that the relics in the two italian cities belong to the same skeleton saint nicholas was later claimed as a patron saint of many diverse groups from archers sailors and children to pawnbrokers 7 8 he is also the patron saint of both amsterdam and moscow 9 during the middle ages often on the evening before his name day of 6 december children were bestowed gifts in his honour this date was earlier than the original day of gifts for the children which moved in the course of the reformation and its opposition to the veneration of saints in many countries on 24 and 25 december the custom of gifting to children at christmas was propagated by martin luther as an alternative to the previous very popular gift custom attention on saint nicholas to focus the interest of the children to christ instead of the veneration of saints luther first suggested the christkind as the bringer of gifts but nicholas remained popular as gifts bearer for the people 10 11 the ghost of christmas present as illustrated by john leech for charles dickens s a christmas carol 1843 father christmas main article father christmas father christmas dates to 16th century england during the reign of henry viii when he was pictured as a large man in green or scarlet robes lined with fur he typified the spirit of good cheer at christmas bringing peace joy good food and wine and revelry as england no longer kept the feast day of saint nicholas on 6 december the father christmas celebration was moved to 25 december to coincide with christmas day 12 the victorian revival of christmas included father christmas as the emblem of good cheer 13 his physical appearance was variable 14 with one image being john leech s illustration of the ghost of christmas present in charles dickens s novella a christmas carol 1843 as a great genial man in a green coat lined with fur who takes ebenezer scrooge through the bustling streets of london on the current christmas morning sprinkling the essence of christmas onto the happy populace 12 13 dutch belgian and swiss folklore see also sinterklaas and saint nicholas 1850 illustration of saint nicholas and his servant père fouettard zwarte piet in the netherlands and belgium the character of santa claus competes with that of sinterklaas based on saint nicolas santa claus is known as de kerstman in dutch the christmas man and père noël father christmas in french for children in the netherlands sinterklaas remains the predominant gift giver in december 36 of the dutch only give presents on sinterklaas evening or the day itself 6 december 15 while christmas 25 december is used by another 21 to give presents some 26 of the dutch population gives presents on both days 16 failed verification in belgium presents are offered exclusively to children on 6 december and on christmas day all ages may receive presents saint nicolas sinterklaas assistants are called pieten in dutch or père fouettard in french and they are not elves 17 in switzerland père fouettard accompanies père noël in the french speaking region while the sinister schmutzli accompanies samichlaus in the swiss german region schmutzli carries a twig broom to spank the naughty children 18 germanic paganism odin and christianisation an 1886 depiction of the long bearded norse god odin by georg von rosen prior to their christianisation the germanic peoples including the english celebrated a midwinter event called yule old english geola or giuli 19 with the christianisation of germanic europe numerous traditions were absorbed from yuletide celebrations into modern christmas 20 19 such as the wild hunt frequently attested as being led by the god odin wodan bearing among many names the names jólnir meaning yule man and langbarðr meaning long beard in old norse 21 odin s role during the yuletide period has been theorised as having influenced concepts of saint nicholas and santa claus in a variety of facets including his long white beard and his grey horse for nightly rides compare odin s horse sleipnir or his reindeer in north american tradition 22 23 the folklorist margaret baker maintains that the appearance of santa claus or father christmas whose day is the 25th of december owes much to odin the old blue hooded cloaked white bearded giftbringer of the north who rode the midwinter sky on his eight footed steed sleipnir visiting his people with gifts odin transformed into father christmas then santa claus prospered with st nicholas and the christchild became a leading player on the christmas stage 24 in northern europe the yule goat was an earlier bearer of gifts which has to some degree become conflated with santa claus for instance in the finnish joulupukki tradition 25 history origins early representations of the gift giver from church history and folklore especially saint nicholas 26 merged with the english character father christmas to create the mythical character known to the rest of the english speaking world as santa claus a phonetic derivation of sinterklaas in dutch in the english and later british colonies of north america and later in the united states british and dutch versions of the gift giver merged further for example in washington irving s history of new york 1809 sinterklaas was anglicised into santa claus a name first used in the u s press in 1773 27 but lost his bishop s apparel and was at first pictured as a thick bellied dutch sailor with a pipe in a green winter coat irving s book was a parody of the dutch culture of new york and much of this portrait is his joking invention irving s interpretation of santa claus was part of a broader movement to tone down the increasingly wild christmas celebrations of the era which included aggressive home invasions under the guise of wassailing substantial premarital sex leading to shotgun weddings in areas where the puritans waning in power and firmly opposed to christmas still held some influence and public displays of sexual deviancy the celebrations of the era were derided by both upper class merchants and christian purists 28 associations of the modern western santa s colors and magical attributes with the mushroom amanita muscaria and shamans of the sámi kamchadals or koryaks are unsupported by historical evidence 29 30 19th century illustration to verse 1 of old santeclaus with much delight in 1821 the book a new year s present to the little ones from five to twelve was published in new york it contained old santeclaus with much delight an anonymous poem possibly written by clement clarke moore 31 describing santeclaus on a reindeer sleigh bringing rewards to children some modern ideas of santa claus seemingly became canon after the anonymous publication of the poem a visit from st nicholas better known today as the night before christmas in the troy new york sentinel on 23 december 1823 moore later claimed authorship though others have argued that the author was henry livingston jr although he had never claimed authorship of the piece and died nine years before moore revealed himself as the author 7 32 saint nicholas is described as being 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 the reindeer were also named 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 33 by 1845 kris kringle from christkindl e german for christ child was a common variant of santa in parts of the united states 34 a magazine article from 1853 describing american christmas customs to british readers refers to children hanging up their stockings on christmas eve for a fabulous personage whose name varies in pennsylvania he is usually called krishkinkle but in new york he is st nicholas or santa claus the author 35 quotes moore s poem in its entirety saying that its descriptions apply to krishkinkle too 36 nast s 1863 depiction of santa claus distributing gifts in a union army camp introduced our modern image of santa claus as the years passed santa claus evolved into a large heavyset person one of the first artists to define the modern image of santa claus was thomas nast a german born american cartoonist of the 19th century who immortalised santa claus with an ill...
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