Santa Claus

Family, not genetics

Good influence on Haralson

The truth about a man named Santa Claus

Santa Claus By Mike Johnston
Staff Writer

"Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus right down Santa Claus lane." We all know these words very well.

Christmas is coming and we eagerly await Santa Claus to bring us all sorts of junk we'll never use. But, where did Santa Claus come from? Here's your answer.

According to Joan Garvey Hermes in "A Santa Claus to Believe In,"legend has it that during the fourth century a poor farmer could not provide dowries to his three young daughters. Saint Nicholas of Myra waited outside their house and threw a bag of gold through the window.

The charitable nature of Saint Nicholas during the fourth century was perfectly in line with what a "proper Christian" is supposed to do. Of course, Saint Nicholas was already a religious man devoting his life to Jesus Christ in Asia Minor.

Apparently, the tradition of altruistic giving was upheld in various ways until the Dutch introduced Santa into their culture. St. Nicholas also became the patron saint of sailors. In this guise, Nicholas arrived in New Amsterdam as a figurehead placed on most of the ships. Naturally, another theory says he arrived on a UFO from Mars.

Despite this, the modern Santa Claus did not mature to what he is today until Washington Irving introduced him in the "Knicker-bocker's History." From this point forward, Santa evolved.

"A visit from St. Nicholas‚" or "The Night Before Christmas," written in 1822 by an Episcopal clergy member led to the image of a fat Santa with a sleigh pulled by reindeer. With his red coat, jolly cheeks and white beard, this Santa is a bit far from the humble Saint Nicholas that gave when he could.

Some blame the Protestant Reformation for the huge deviation of Saint Nicholas's mysterious drift to Santa Claus. However, the only thing the Protestants did was create a figure they could visualize easier than Saint Nicholas. By the 1500's the popularity of Saint Nicholas created nearly 3,000 churches dedicated to his name in Europe (Joe Woodard, "Enduring Power of Saint Nicholas").

Santa Claus sometimes also goes by the name Kris Cringle or Father Christmas.

The exact birthdate of Christ is open to speculation. In many of the studies, the date of his death was used as a starting point. These researchers surmised that Christ lived for exactly 33 years and thus arrived at the birth date being Dec. 25. Saint Nicholas died on the Dec. 6, 343 years later.

Combined with any pre-existing "pagan" celebrations, the church at that time found a new figure to transpose to non-Christians. "Join the church right now and you can have Saint Nicholas too."

Today, many would say that Christmas is far too commercialized. If Christmas is supposed to be about the birth of Christ, why does Santa Clause sit at every mall each year for a month?

Blame for the current over-commercialization of Christmas doesn't rest with just one person, but many. During the Civil War Thomas Nast created elaborate portraits of the mythical Santa Claus and even President Benjamin Harrison said, "I myself will dress up as Santa Claus"(Woodard).

The few connections between Christ and Santa Claus are they are from the same area of the world, Christ was born in the same month St. Nicholas died and both encouraged charity. Santa Claus must be easier to believe in, without commitment, than Jesus Christ.

The subject of Santa Claus is actually much broader than what a few minutes of reading can offer. There are layers upon layers of myth, fact and conjecture to it.