HISTORY OF SANTA CLAUS

One of the traditions of Christmas is Santa Claus, a contraction for Saint Nicholas, who was born in the 3rd century. He became a bishop in Greece and gained distinction in the councils of the church, being especially famed for unexpected gifts, and later associated with the giving of presents during the season at the end of the year. Many stories are told of his kindness, such as the one of the poor man and his three daughters. To save the daughters from being sold into prostitution for want of doweries, St. Nicholas dropped a bag full of gold down the man's chimney. It landed in one of the stocking the eldest daughter had hung up to dry. Now she could be married.The other two daughters quickly hung up stockings for St. Nicholas to fill with gold, so that they, too, could soon be married. By the way, the three gold globes of the pawn shop are attributed to this story.

He seems to have been adopted by the Netherlands as the patron saint of children, and there, on St. Nicholas Eve, they leave their wooden shoes, or sabots, filled with hay for the Saint's white horse. He is real to children the world over, under various names as Kris Kringle, La Befana, Yule Tomten, and Christkindli.

In 1809 Washington Irving, under the pen name Diedrich Knickerbocker, wrote 'A History of New York', wherein Saint Nicholas, a jolly personage smoking a Dutch pipe, skimmed over the treetops in a wagon and dropped presents down the chimneys. A few years later, in 1822, Clement C. Moore wrote a poem for his own children which is most often called 'The Night Before Christmas'. Its correct title, however, is 'A Visit from St. Nicholas'. Many are unaware that Moore never once uses the term Santa Claus, although the reindeer are there, a part of the legend undoubtedly developed in America, probably by Scandinavians in the United States. At last, in 1863, Thomas Nast, the cartoonist, drew a picture of Santa Claus pretty much as he is known today.

Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian