Christmas Holidays » santa claus http://www.thechristmasholidays.com Find the perfect Christmas holidays for your family and friends with The Christmas Holidays Fri, 04 Nov 2011 04:00:06 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 The Origins of Santa Claus http://www.thechristmasholidays.com/christmas-time/the-origins-of-santa-claus.html http://www.thechristmasholidays.com/christmas-time/the-origins-of-santa-claus.html#comments Wed, 02 Nov 2011 16:22:40 +0000 admin http://www.thechristmasholidays.com/?p=145 The original Santa Claus, St. Nicholas, was living in the 4th century in an area in the present day Turkey. He was a generous man who loved children. He was very generous and popular, so his reputation rose constantly. Eventually people started to believe that he could perform miracles, thus devotion to him greatly increased. He became the patron saint of Russia, with his red cape, flowing white beard and his bishop’s mitre.

In Greece he is the patron saint of sailers, and in Belgium he is the patron saint of the children and travellers. After the Reformation, his devotees scattered around in Europe, but his legend remained particularly in Holland where his name was first Sint Nikolaas and then later on Sinteklaas. Eventually his name spread to American in the 17th Century where he then was known as Santa Claus.

Today, Santa Claus is famous all around the world as the kind, old man who brings Christmas gifts to the good children. Santa Claus has been widely used as a commercial eye catcher, particularly after 1930, when Coca Cola used him for the first time in their famous advertisements for their soft drink. In these ads he had a big, white beard, a large red coat, black boots, and an great laughter – just the way we know and love him also today.

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