Hi everyone. Merry Christmas! Oh yes, it's that time of year when Santa Clause gives presents to children. But, who is Santa Clause?
The story is that every 24th of December, children around the world put out milk and cookies in hope that a magic fat man will bring presents to the children. How did such a odd tradition start?
You can pretty much say Northern Europe. Back in the day where in the wintertime there were little to no sunlight, they started making imaginary characters to enlighten the mood by bringing them presents. These characters ranged from elves to animals to gods, but two really stood out.
The first was St. Nick in the Netherlands. St. Nick is thin, sometimes a bit stern, but still brings presents to children. He dresses like a pope in red and white, wields a staff, and sometimes rides a horse. St. Nick is called "Sinterklaas" in Dutch (notice the resemblance between the pronunciation of Sinterklaas and Santa Clause).
The second was Father Christmas from England. He was big, jolly, and dressed in green. Traditionally, he is less concerned of children than he is with food, wine, and celebrations. When European colonies sailed to America, all of those characters mixed up became Santa Clause. Santa Clause is the "Americanization" of Sinterklaas. However, there are still people that call him St. Nick, Father Christmas, and Kris Kringle (what German people call it). In the old world, all of these names came from individuals, but now, they mixed it all together (which is why Santa Clause has many other names).
But remember, some people in the Netherlands still have St. Nick as Santa Clause. Plus some countries don't celebrate Christmas. Oh, and by the way,
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Merry Kwanzaa too!
Intresting fact of the day: Did you know that E=mc² is not complete?
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