would the real santa please stand up
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A brief outline of the history of gift givers at ChristmasTRANSCRIPT
Santa ClausSanta Claus in one form or
otheris a familiar figure to people allover the world, but the weight advantaged, red suited, old manvariety is of comparative recent origin.
Giving gifts during the festiveSeason is however an old andtreasured custom. Modern Santa is a mixture of
manyhistorical and cultural traditions.
St Nicholas of MyriaSt Nicholas of Myria was born circa 280
ADIn Patara (now Turkey) and is the patronsaint of sailors, merchants, wronglyaccused, endangered travelers and
farmers.
One of his gracious deeds was to give goldTo a poor man with three daughters. Thismeant the girls could have dowries andmarry well.
St Nicholas wanted to remain anonymousand threw three bags of gold down thechimney. The gifts landed in the girlsstockings and henceforth we hang upChristmas Stocking on Christmas Eve.
Father ChristmasDuring the reign of Henry VIII, FatherChristmas was depicted as a large
manin green or scarlet robes lined with fur.
He typified the spirit of good cheer atChristmas, bringing peace, joy, goodfood and wine and revelry.
England no longer kept the feast day of
Saint Nicholas on 6 December, and Father Christmas celebration was moved to 25 December to coincidewith Christmas Day.
The ChristkindThe Christkind is a sprite-like childdepicted with blond hair and angelicwings. He is the traditional Christmasgift-bringer in many European andHispanic Countries
Martin Luther openly discouraged St. Nicholas, and after the ProtestantReformation changed the gift bringerto the Christ Child or Christkindl. The Date of giving gifts also changed fromDecember 6 to Christmas Eve.
Christkindl or Christkindel arediminutive versions of
Christkind.
SinterklaasModern Santa probably cameFrom North America (via
Holland) andis likely to be only 200 hundred
yearsold. He first appeared in
literatureabout 1822 in the famous
children'sPoem.
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
Many historians believe Santa came from a mispronunciation
ofSinterklaas.
Thomas Nast’s SantaIn 1863, a picture of Santa illustrated bycaricaturist and political cartoonist,Thomas Nast appeared on the cover ofHarper’s Weekly.
The character was first introducedDuring the civil war and the image ofSanta Claus continued to evolve overthe next two years.
The story that Santa Claus lives at theNorth Pole may also have been a Nastcreation.
Père Noël In France the legend is PèreNoël (Father Christmas) wasso cold one Christmas Eve,he burnt the clogs of a littlegirl to keep himself warm. As
acompensation he left gifts.
French children lay out theirshoes (traditionally sabots) inthe anticipation Père Noël(Father Christmas) who will fillthem with presents.
BalthazarIn Spain, Christmas is traditionally aReligious festival and the Spanish still donot recognise Santa Claus. Children dohowever look forward to gifts duringThis season.
One Spanish tradition was for children toleave their shoes on the windowsill stuffedfull of straw, carrots, and barley to feed
theHorse and donkeys of the Wise Men.
Balthazar is a welcome visitor for he is theSpanish Santa and on Christmas morningchildren's shoes are filled with gifts.
Babouschka and La Befana The Russian Christmas gift giver is a
womancalled Babouschka and like her Italian Counterpart La Befana, portray an old ladieswho failed offer help and food to the WiseMen on their journey to the baby Jesus.
For penance the women search in veinCarrying gifts which they give to well
behavedchildren.
In Italy the Christmas gifts are given on Epiphany Eve (the night of January 5). InBelgium children get their presents on the
6th
December i.e. St Nicholas Day
Coca-Cola SantaThe Coca-Cola Company began its Christmas advertising in magazines
in the1920’s.
The first Santa ads used a strict-looking
Claus, in the vein of Thomas Nast. In 1930,
artist Fred Mizen painted a department
store Santa in a crowd drinking a bottle of
Coke.
Later they commissioned illustratorHaddon Sundblom to develop Santaimages. For inspiration the artist
took"'Twas the Night Before Christmas"
andbased the character upon his friend.
Rockwell’s SantaAmerican artist NormanRockwell had done a
numberof paintings with SaintNicholas wearing red andWhite including A Drum
forTommy which appeared
onthe cover of The CountryGentleman in 1921.
Commonwealth of Australia
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