Santa Claus

Santa Claus the favorite Christmas character for the kids simply completes the religious festivity of Christmas. Santa, though is a fun figure to be with for kids but to trace his origins one comes across the great Saint Nicholas. About Santa Claus there are numerous legends on circulation and various countries have their own unique versions and stories. Christmasonnet.com attempts to provide you with an interesting account about Santa Claus. Santa Claus all over the world is also known by a variety of names like Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, and Kris Kringle etc. In fact as the story goes that the popular name of

Santa emerged from the Dutch version of Sinterklaas which is actually the contracted form of Sint Nicolaas (Saint Nicholas). Santa Claus offers a common appearance wearing a red robe with white sleeves, collar, and belt and in the mid-to-late 19th century US is credited with popularizing and commercializing this figure. In fact the primary inspiration leading to the figure of Christmas Santa Claus is drawn from Saint Nicholas of Myra who was famous for his generous gifts to the poor and was known to be very religious from an early age and devoted his life to Christianity.

Germanic folklore before the Christianization of the Germanic people had stories about the god Odin, who had a great hunting party each year and used to be accompanied by his fellow gods at Yule. Children filled their boots with carrots, straw or sugar, near the chimney for Odin's flying horse, Sleipnir, to eat those and then Odin used to reward them for their kindness by replacing Sleipnir's food with gifts or candy. This practice became associated with Saint Nicholas after the adoption of Christianity in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. Kids till date, keep their straw filled shoes every winter night waiting for Saint Nicholas to rewards them with candy and gifts. The Netherlands tradition states that Saint Nicolas was aided by slaves, known as Zwarte Piet who used to list kid's wishes for Boxing Day.

Dating back to 17th century in Britain Santa Claus is associated with the image of Father Christmas, focusing him as the bearded man, well-nourished and dressed in a long, green, and fur-lined robe. In Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol this character of Father Christmas has also been portrayed as the 'Ghost of Christmas Present'. St. Nicholas's feast day or Santa season is more popularly celebrated on 6th December when the poor kids get their desired gifts from Santa. Saint Nicholas, according to a popular consensus, after his death had shifted his bones from his grave. He grew a beard, and as believed by few sailors, Nicholas, rescheduled his flight for December, as he donned heavy winter clothing and mounted a flying horse.


According novelist Washington Irving Nicholas's satire of Dutch culture titled Knickerbocker History was referred to Santa with white beard and flying horse. On the other hand Dr. Clement Moore's account in his book focuses on Santa descending through chimneys with eight reindeer while the Bavarian illustrator Thomas Nast portrayed Santa as a gnome-like figure wearing a frock and his home was in North Pole while his workshop was full of elves including the list of good and bad children of the world. Lastly Coca cola in 1931 appointed Haddon Sundblom to create a coke-drinking Santa. He created a Santa wearing a fur trimmed bright red colored suit and gave him the look which is a blend of Christian crusader, pagan god, and commercial idol. To know more about Santa Claus browse through the following links and www.christmasonnet.com is here to offer more interesting information about Santa Claus.