The legend behind Santa

Tweet

Santa plays an important gift giving role in Christmas. He is considered as the friend of children and they eagerly wait for Santa to give them nice presents. Most children and even adults think of Santa as the merry, old man in red and white clothes who comes on eight flying reindeers to give away presents to children on the night of December 24th. There is a common belief that Santa enters the house through chimneys and fills socks and stockings with presents. But do you know this mythical character? The legend of Santa Claus can be traced back to hundreds of years to a monk called St. Nicholas who lived in Patara, near Myra in the modern-day Turkey. It is believed that he gave all his wealth helping the poor and the sick. He was known as the protector of children and sailors. The name Santa Claus evolved from St Nicholas’s Dutch nickname Sint Nickolaas. St. Nicholas came to be known in America by the end of the 18th Century. Saint Nicholas-inspired gift giver made the appearance not only in America but in many other countries across the world on Christmas. Similar figures became popular all over the world. In Germany, Christkind gave away gifts to well behaved children and in Scandinavia, a merry elf named Jultomten was thought to deliver Christmas gifts to children. He used to come in a sleigh drawn by goats. In Russia, an elderly woman named Babouschka visits Russian children leaving gifts at their bedsides on January 5th. In Italy, a woman called La Befana, delivers toys into the stockings of lucky children.