Santa Claus and Saint Nicholas

The earliest legend related to Santa Claus originated from the fourth century. There was a saint named Nicholas who lived in Miletus. (Myra) was born near.

Miles was a busy seaport in the Mediterranean, where Egyptian, Greek, and Roman ships sailed, laden with all kinds of goods.

Nicholas was born into a wealthy businessman's family, but he was not spoiled. His mother and father often taught him to be generous to others, especially those in need.

One day, young Nicholas heard the news: 'A rich man lost all his money because of business failure. ’

The man had three daughters to be married, but he did not have the money needed to marry them. Lacking food, the man desperately prepared to sell one of his daughters into slavery.

On the night when he was about to sell his first daughter into slavery, Nicholas brought a small bag of gold, quietly approached the man's house, and threw the gold into the house through the half-open window. He left immediately.

Early the next morning, my father found the bag of gold, but he didn't know where it came from. So he went around asking his friends and business partners, but no one admitted to having done this.

Nicholas did the same thing for this family twice in the future. The last time, when Nicholas dropped the gold into the house, the father immediately walked out of the house and finally knew that the person who had been helping him was Nicholas.

The father asked: ‘Why did you give us gold? ’

Nicholas said: ‘Because you need it! ’

The father continued to ask: ‘Why don’t you let us know who you are? ’

Nicholas replied: ‘Because it is best to only let God know! ’

When the bishop of Miles died, the priests and neighboring bishops gathered in the cathedral to choose a new bishop. They prayed and sought God's guidance.

God instructed one of them in a dream: 'Tomorrow morning, when you pray, the right person will be the one who enters the cathedral. ’

The next morning, the man who entered the cathedral was Nicholas. Immediately, the people in the church elected this humble man to be their bishop.

As a bishop, Nicholas paid close attention to the needs of the people. He paid special attention to whether families had enough food and lived in good housing. He hopes that children can grow up healthily and the elderly can live with dignity. He also loved sailors who encountered danger while sailing.

Bishop Nicholas loved children very much. Whenever he met a child, he would always give them a small gift - candy or toys. His kindness often surprises children and touches their little hearts, and they also learn from it what beautiful things are.

Later, many people believed that the mysterious Santa Claus was Nicholas, the bishop of Miles.

The Legend of Santa Claus

The legend of Santa Claus appeared in Scandinavia thousands of years ago. In Nordic mythology, Odin is the god of wisdom, art, poetry, and war. In the cold winter, he rides on his eight-legged horse and gallops to the ends of the earth, punishing evil, promoting good, and distributing gifts. At the same time, his son, the God of Thunder, dressed in red and using lightning as a weapon, fought fiercely with the gods of ice and snow in darkness, and finally defeated the cold. According to pagan legend, Santa Claus is a descendant of the god Odin. There are also legends that Santa Claus came from St. Nicholas, so Santa Claus is also called St. Nicholas. Because most of these stories promote the spirit of Christianity, their origins and storylines are mostly forgotten, but Santa Claus remains in people's spiritual world forever.

Every year on Christmas Day, Santa Claus rides on the constellation Aries, and the Holy Child comes to the world holding a Christmas tree. As things change, writers and artists begin to describe Santa Claus as the red suit we are familiar with today, with blank spaces. Beard image. At the same time, different countries and cultures also have different interpretations of Santa Claus. In Germany, legend has it that he dressed as a holy boy and put nuts and apples in children's shoes. He roams around in a two-wheeled carriage and observes people's behavior, especially children. If he behaves well, he will get apples, nuts, candies and many other prizes. Bad boys get a whip.

Parents suddenly adopted this legend to encourage their children to be obedient. It greatly surpasses the New Year and becomes a national festival. Santa Claus has become a favorite symbol and tradition of Christmas. The image of the jolly old elf driving his reindeer and pulling a sleigh filled with toys and gifts from door to door to deliver gifts to every child has been deeply etched in people's memory.

Religious soldiers from Italy brought the relics of Saint Nicholas back to Italy at the end of the 11th century and built a church in his honor in the port city of Bari. Soon Christians from all over the world came to pay homage to this saint. These pilgrims brought the story of Saint Nicholas back to their homeland, so the legend of Santa Claus has its own characteristics in each country.

The Saint Nicholas Memorial Day appeared in Europe in the 12th century, focusing on the exchange of gifts and charity activities. Germany, France, and the Netherlands use December 6 as a religious day to give gifts to children and the poor.

When the Dutch colonists came to America, they brought their Bishop Sintirklass with them. Sintirklass was wearing a red cassock and riding a white horse. The American image of Sintirklass later evolved into that of a jolly old elf. At first, the American writer Washington Irving described him as a round and fat old Dutch man in his comedy "The History of New York". In 1823, the poet Clement Moore continued to dramatize the image of Sintirklass/Saint Nicholas in his poem "Impression of St. Nicholas". This is the Santa Claus you see at the beginning of this article.

In the 1860s, cartoonist Thomas Nash drew a fat, kind Santa Claus as an illustration for "Harper's Week". This image of Santa Claus began to be deeply rooted in the minds of the American people. Over time, the image of Santa Claus spread back to Europe, to South America, and throughout the world.

Many countries have preserved their own customs and legends about Santa Claus. In Dutch legend, Santa Claus Sintirklass arrived on a ship on December 6 with an assistant named Black Peter. He was carrying a big book that described what all the Dutch kids had done over the past year. Children who behave well will be given gifts, and children who behave poorly will be taken away by his assistant.

German Santa Claus also brings an assistant called Knecht Ruprecht, Krampus or Pelzebock, carrying a large bag with gifts on his shoulder and holding a stick in his hand. Good children receive gifts from him, but naughty children have to be taught a few sticks.

Santa Claus in Italy is called La Befana; in France, Santa Claus is called Father Christmas or Pere Noel; in Switzerland, Santa Claus is called Christkindl or Christ Child; in Scandinavia, Santa Claus is called julenisse or juletomte ; The British Santa Claus is also called Father Christmas (Father of Christmas) like the French. His image is more solemn and thinner than other Santa Clauses. Santa Claus in North America rides a sleigh pulled by reindeer to deliver gifts to children.

The hometown of Santa Claus

Lapland is not only the home of Lapp people and reindeer, but also the hometown of the world-famous Santa Claus. "A long time ago, a very old Santa Claus traveled around the world, bringing joy to children. One day, he came to the Labi area near the Arctic Circle and was struck by the beautiful scenery covered with snow and silver. I was fascinated by it and decided to settle in Ear Mountain here. Since then, Ear Mountain in Finland has become the place where Santa Claus lives..." Whenever Christmas comes, the enthusiastic Finns will tell the story over and over to guests from afar. This touching fairy tale. Many children around the world know that Santa Claus lives on Ear Mountain in the Arctic Circle.

The legendary Santa Claus wears a red soft hat with hanging shoulders, a red leather robe, and long boots. He has silver hair and a curly white beard hanging down past his waist.

Every Christmas Eve, he rides a sleigh pulled by eight reindeer to every house and takes out candies from red cloth bags. dessert. Give children toys and other beautifully packaged gifts to enjoy holiday happiness. In the past decade or so, in order to expand tourism resources, many countries have searched for the roots and hometown of Santa Claus in their own countries. The Swedes have held a grand settlement ceremony for Santa Claus; the Norwegians intend to let Santa Claus live there; the Icelanders believe that the ice-covered Greenland is the most suitable place for Santa Claus to live; but the Americans insist that Santa Claus has always lived there. Alaska; even the Japanese consider Hokkaido the home of Santa Claus. In July 1996, the Santa Claus World Conference was held in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. 150 Santa Clauses living in 18 countries around the world were invited to attend this event, but there was no Santa Claus from Ear Mountain. It turns out that the Finns insisted that it was the Finns who first found the hometown of Santa Claus, and that only their own country was the true hometown of Santa Claus. Therefore, they boycotted the conference and refused to gather with the "fake" Santa Claus.

On Christmas Eve in 1995, the then United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Boutros Boutros Boutros wrote to Santa Claus to extend holiday congratulations, saying that the Christmas spirit that Santa Claus spreads among children around the world is just like the Charter of the United Nations. , full of peaceful voices and good wishes. What is gratifying for Finns is that the address of this letter is sent to Rovaniemi, the capital of Lapi Province in northern Finland and the only city in the world located on the Arctic Circle, where the famous Santa Claus Village is built. Finns are proud that Gali's congratulatory letter means that even the United Nations recognizes Finland as the hometown of Santa Claus.

In order to further strengthen the image of Finland as the hometown of Santa Claus, and to attract more domestic and foreign tourists, Tourism Finland and the Labi Provincial Government have jointly formulated a "Christmas" with long-term strategic significance. "Hometown Plan for the Elderly", in 1985, a unique tourist attraction, Santa Claus Village, was established in Rovaniemi. Subsequently, 10 tourist spots named after Santa Claus were successively established throughout the Labi area, including ski resort centers. Reindeer Park and Safari. Now more than 1 million people visit the Labi area every year. In the Labi area, the World Gold Rush and the Golden Trout Fishing Competition are also held every year in the name of Santa Claus. The "Santa Claus Home Tour" event makes northern Finland a tourist hotspot all year round. A famous trademark can be seen on all tourist spots and tourist products: a red boot with a turned-up toe. Those are the boots that Santa Claus cannot live without all year round, and they are also the artistically processed capital letter J - the first letter of the Finnish Santa Claus Joulupukki.

Santa Claus also attracts a large number of passengers to Finnair. Now, Finnair has five flights a day to Rovaniemi, a city on the Arctic Circle. During the Christmas period, the number of flights increases to 10 per day. Many people who are familiar with their country’s Christmas activities come to Santa Claus’ hometown with their children to celebrate the holidays. Every year on Christmas Eve, 20,000 tourists from the UK, Greece, South Africa, Japan, Australia and other countries arrive by chartered flight. The city of Rovaniemi is covered in snow. When they took a group photo with Santa Claus with white beard and white eyebrows in Santa Claus Village, they were all happy; when they saw with their own eyes the vast forest and snow fields in the Arctic Circle, and admired the dots lit in the white snow in the "Polar Night" When the lights are red, they are extremely excited and happy; if they are lucky enough to see the unpredictable Northern Lights, they will be even more excited. Visitors can also take a reindeer sleigh, dog sleigh or modern electric sleigh to Ear Mountain to visit the place where Santa Claus lives. When people sit on the sleigh, the clear and sweet sound of deer bells rings in their ears, and a fairy-tale world of ice and snow appears in front of them, they can't help but feel the fresh and simple wind of enjoying exotic Christmas folk customs in pure nature. Come.

Every December, Finland’s post offices across the country send more than 50 million Christmas cards, ranking first in the world on a per capita basis. However, the busiest post office throughout the year is the Santa Claus Village Post Office on the Arctic Circle. There are always people coming and going here from morning to night every day, and it is extremely busy. The unique Santa Claus Village Post Office in the world is not only a must-visit place for tourists to send letters to all over the world, but it is also the most desirable place for children. Children who do not have the opportunity to visit Santa in person at the Arctic Circle can send greetings to Santa via phone calls and letters. Say hello or ask for a gift.

Santa Claus receives between 600,000 and 700,000 letters from more than 150 countries and regions around the world every year. In the post office, there are more than a dozen "elves" wearing red clothes and red hats all year round to help Santa Claus handle these letters. Especially before Christmas, Santa Claus receives as many as 20,000 letters every day. Faced with letters flying in from all over the world, Santa Claus was overwhelmed and had to temporarily hire 60 assistants to help him open, read and reply letters. With the popularization of computer application technology, the work of Santa Claus Post Office has also been computerized, and Santa Claus uses video phones and computers.

Santa Claus and his assistants enter the names and addresses of all the children who write letters into the computer and store them, and the computer writes a reply to each child in 8 different languages. In addition to holiday greetings, the letter also contains a short Christmas story, and the content of each letter is different. Although Santa Claus is very busy, he still hopes to receive more letters from children. If Chinese children are interested, they can also write letters to Santa Claus. Santa Claus is very trustworthy and will definitely reply to all the children who write letters. If you don’t believe it, just ask Chinese children to write a letter to Santa Claus according to the address below.

Santa CIaus, Post OffiCe

SF 96930 Rovaniemi

Finland

The legend of the Christmas stocking

A long, long time Once upon a time, there was a kind-hearted nobleman. His wife died of illness and left him and his three daughters. The aristocrat tried many failed inventions and ran out of money, so they had to move to a farmhouse and his daughters had to cook, sew and clean.

A few years later, the daughters gradually reached the age of getting married, but the father became even more frustrated because he had no money to buy dowries for his daughters. One evening, after the girls had done their laundry, they hung their stockings in front of the fireplace to dry. After Saint Nicholas learned about their father's situation, he came to their door that night. From the window he saw the family asleep and also noticed the girls' stockings. Immediately, he took out three small packages of gold from his pocket and threw them down the chimney one by one, and they happened to fall into the girls' stockings.

The next morning, the daughters woke up to find their stockings filled with gold, enough for their dowries. The nobleman was able to see his daughters get married and live happily ever after. Later, children around the world inherited the tradition of hanging Christmas stockings. Children in some countries have other similar customs. For example, in France, children put their shoes by the fireplace and so on.