The True Story of Santa Claus

Christopher Columbus even named a port in Haiti for him on December 6, Jacksonville, Florida was originally named St. Nicholas Ferry by the Spaniards. Unfortunately, the Protestant Reformation took a dim view of saints and tried to stamp out long-held St.

However, because the common people loved St. Nicholas so much, his traditions survived. Nicholas as a man who arrived from the North with a sleigh and flying reindeer. Nicholas day, either stockings are hung or shoes are set before the fireplace. This is because in the story of St. Nicholas helping by tossing the dowry money through the window, it landed in a stocking set before the fire to dry. In many countries, St. Shoes and stockings are left overnight for St. Nicholas to fill with small gifts, fruit or nuts, and special Nicholas candies and cookies.

These gifts are meant to be shared, not kept for oneself. Orange or tangerines are also traditional St. Nicholas gifts as the gold dowry money is usually shown as gold balls. Candy canes are really candy croziers, which is one of St. The stockings or shoe are filled while children are sleeping. Nicholas did his gift giving secretly as he wanted those he helped to give thanks to God, not to him.

I encourage you to revive these beautiful traditions and celebrate the Feast of St. Nicholas with your children in your homes. This was traditionally considered a lucky day to make large purchases or to get married. By the Renaissance, St. Nicholas was the most popular saint in Europe. Even after the Protestant Reformation, when the veneration of saints began to be discouraged, St. Nicholas maintained a positive reputation, especially in Holland. Nicholas made his first inroads into American popular culture towards the end of the 18th century.

In December , and again in , a New York newspaper reported that groups of Dutch families had gathered to honor the anniversary of his death. The background of the engraving contains now-familiar Santa images including stockings filled with toys and fruit hung over a fireplace.

Stores began to advertise Christmas shopping in , and by the s, newspapers were creating separate sections for holiday advertisements, which often featured images of the newly-popular Santa Claus. In , thousands of children visited a Philadelphia shop to see a life-size Santa Claus model. In the early s, the Salvation Army needed money to pay for the free Christmas meals they provided to needy families. They began dressing up unemployed men in Santa Claus suits and sending them into the streets of New York to solicit donations.

Those familiar Salvation Army Santas have been ringing bells on the street corners of American cities ever since. It is Nast who gave Santa his bright red suit trimmed with white fur, North Pole workshop, elves, and his wife, Mrs. Nicholas-inspired gift-giver to make an appearance at Christmastime.

Similar figures were popular all over the world. Christkind or Kris Kringle was believed to deliver presents to well-behaved Swiss and German children. Nicholas on his holiday missions. In Scandinavia, a jolly elf named Jultomten was thought to deliver gifts in a sleigh drawn by goats. Pere Noel is responsible for filling the shoes of French children. Later, she felt remorseful, but could not find the men to undo the damage. In one village, Bishop Nicholas heard the sorrowful tale of a poor old man and his three young daughters.

It seemed the man could no longer feed his daughters, and he feared he would have to send them away from him. Nicholas knew he could help this family.

That night, while the whole village slept, Nicholas crept up to the hut where the three sisters lived. He climbed up to the rooftop to find the chimney.

• The Man Behind the Story of Father Christmas/Santa Claus.
• Voice of Stones (The Roc and The Griffon Book 3).
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There Nicholas dropped three bags of gold, one by one, down through the chimney stack. Earlier that day, the three sisters had hung their newly washed stockings by the fireplace to dry. Each small bag of gold that Nicholas dropped fell into one of the stockings below. The next morning, the girls were overjoyed to find gold coins in their stockings.

As the story of these three sisters spread from village to village, other people began to hang their stockings by the fire, hoping to find a secret gift when they awoke the next morning. Though this was Bishop Nicholas' most famous gift, it was not his first good deed. And it would certainly not be his last.

Bishop Nicholas enjoyed surprising people. He began to deliver his secret gifts of hope and joy only at night, while his friends were asleep.

What is the Amazing True Story of Santa Claus?

For all of his good deeds, Bishop Nicholas was named a saint. He is honored as the saint who looks after all children. Like other saints, St.