After his death on December 6, a tradition of gift giving was begun in his honor. Nicholas Day is still observed on December 6 in many countries, but in others, America included, the practices associated with the day were combined with Christmas. It seemed natural to many Christians that a holiday celebrating giving would merge with the birth of Christ, the greatest gift ever given to the world.
However, the merger happened to the dismay of many Christian leaders who thought that St. Nicholas started to draw too much attention away from Christ. In Germany, parents were encouraged to teach their children that the Christ Child was the gift-giver. Nicholas, St. In Middle Age art, St.
Nicholas was typically depicted as a tall, thin, bearded cleric. So how did he evolve into the Santa that we know today in America? Though the modern Santa Claus has devolved into a secularized figure surrounded by fantasy, his image can serve to help us remember the real St.
Nicholas, a man who devoted his life to serving God and inspiring others to do the same. The purpose of all saints all Christians is to bring glory to God, not to detract from him. At Christmas, we celebrate that God himself came in bodily form, in real flesh and blood, to earth. By all accounts, St. Nicholas lived a life that helped others to see the reality of Christ. How can we follow his example and help others to see Christ in us in real flesh and blood this Christmas?
In honor of St. Nicholas the gift giver, Christians began to celebrate December 6 his feast day by giving presents. The tradition developed over time. For good boys and girls, St. For bad boys and girls St. Nicholas was to be feared. In highly Catholic parts of Europe, St.
Nicholas became a deterrent to erring young children. In Germany, he was often accompanied by Knecht Ruprecht farmhand Rupert who threatened to eat misbehaving children.
In Switzerland, St. Nicholas threatened to put wicked children in a sack and bring them back to the Black Forest. In the Netherlands, St. In parts of Austria, the priest, dressed up in Christmas garb, would visit the homes of naughty children and threaten them with rod-beatings. Over time, Saint Nicholas became the patron saint of nations like Russia and Greece, cities like Fribourg and Moscow, and of children, sailors, unmarried girls, merchants, and pawnbrokers the three gold balls hung outside pawn shops are symbolic of the three bags of gold.
Not surprisingly, the Reformers were less than friendly towards the traditions that had been built up around the saints. If you love Christmas with all the trappings of Santa Claus and stockings and presents, thank the Dutch.
The Puritans had done away with St. Nicholas and banned Christmas altogether. But the Dutch held on to their tradition and brought it with them to the New World.
In the Netherlands Sint Nicolaas was contracted to Sinterklaas. Many consider Black Pete a racist stereotype derived from slavery, although others claim he is black because he goes down the chimney and gets a face full of soot. At any rate, it is easy to see how Sinterklaas evolved in America to Santa Claus. Throughout the book there were several dozen references to a "Sinter Klaas" - an adaptation of "Sint Nikolaas" - accompanied by details of him flying across the sky in a wagon and dropped presents down chimneys for good little girls and boys.
Washington's wild, endearing description of the saint very quickly became known to New Yorkers. The English settlers enthusiastically adopted the joyful Dutch celebrations of St.
Nicholas' Day, and gradually began to combine them with their own traditions of celebrating Christmas and the new year.
Clement Clarke Moore was a friend of Washington Irving, and another important contributor to the picture of Santa we have today. Teresa Chris, author of the book The Story of Santa Claus , wrote that in , Moore sat down to write his children a Christmas poem, having been inspired by Irving's tales.
Nicholas , soon became known as the classic The Night Before Christmas and was so popular that within a decade it had become canon with regard to the Santa legend. The horse drawn sleigh with its bells was a common means of transport for the English, and substituting horses with reindeer added an element of mystery to Saint Nick, as though he was from an ice-capped Northern land, where few people had traveled, somewhere secluded from the world.
He allegedly even refused to admit he was the author. Despite his objections, the poem wound up printed anonymously in the New York Sentinel on December 23, The mythology connecting Santa with the Christmas period had been well and truly established by this stage, but there was still some discrepancy around what exactly Santa looked like.
May, a copywriter at the Montgomery Ward department store. In , May wrote a Christmas-themed story-poem to help bring holiday traffic into his store. Montgomery Ward sold almost two and a half million copies of the story in When it was reissued in , the book sold over three and half million copies. It was recorded by Gene Autry and sold over two million copies. Since then, the story has been translated into 25 languages and been made into a television movie, narrated by Burl Ives, which has charmed audiences every year since But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us!
Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. Christmas is celebrated on December 25 and is both a sacred religious holiday and a worldwide cultural and commercial phenomenon. For two millennia, people around the world have been observing it with traditions and practices that are both religious and secular in nature.
Christmas traditions around the world are diverse, but share key traits that often involve themes of light, evergreens and hope. Probably the most celebrated holiday in the world, our modern Christmas is a product of hundreds of years of both secular and religious traditions The history of Christmas trees goes back to the symbolic use of evergreens in ancient Egypt and Rome and continues with the German tradition of candlelit Christmas trees first brought to America in the s.
Discover the history of the Christmas tree, from the earliest winter At a time when the Cold War raged and Soviet fighter jets routinely Today in the United States, leaving out a plate of cookies Oreos and classic chocolate chip are popular choices and a glass of milk for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve is a well-established tradition among children. According to one theory, the Long before there was a Grinch who stole Christmas, there was Krampus, the devilish half-man, half-goat that helps out jolly St.
Nicholas by stuffing naughty Austrian children in sacks and dragging them to hell. Yes, the true history of Christmas is as colorful The War on Christmas begins around the same time each year, when stores start peddling plastic Christmas trees and giant Santa Claus inflatables.
Depending on which media talking head is speaking, the war is either a subversive effort by left-wing liberals to erase all traces of Saturnalia, held in mid-December, is an ancient Roman pagan festival honoring the agricultural god Saturn. Saturnalia celebrations are the source of many of the traditions we now associate with Christmas.
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