The Onymous November-December 2013, issue 7 | Page 9

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Issue 7 November-December 2013

ALL ABOUT
SANTA CLAUS

… and his connection with Christmas—even though he really doesn’t
have anything to do with Christmas.
By Jacob Timothy Lange
Santa Claus – the legendary old
man who brings presents to children at Christmas, dressed in a red
suit and pulled in a sleigh… by
reindeer. Pulled by reindeer
through the air, sliding down the
chimneys of, in just a single night,
millions of homes to give presents
to children. If all of this is true,
then there’s still one thing I wonder about: How on earth does he
keep his suit clean while sliding
down all those chimneys? He must
have a few thousand spare suits, a
washing mashine, and a changing
room on board his fabled sleigh.
I’m sure it wouldn’t be too much
additional weight or space, because
he already has to carry millions of
presents. What a sleigh that must
be! It’s like magic! Wait, maybe it is
magic… whatever.

liefs about how he got to be the
character he is now. Some people
even say he wears his red coat because of Coca Cola’s commercials!
The Legend of Saint Nicholas
It all started with a real person
named Nicholas who is believed to
have been born either in Patara or
Lycia, in Asia Minor. At age 19
Nicholas became a priest, and became the bishop of Myra at age 30.
According to legend, Nicholas was
an extremely generous and helpful
man. The most popular story is
that he gave three girls dowries so
that they could get married. History accounts tell us that he was
well-loved by the people. Whichever of the things thought about
him are true, the legend became
popular
of Saint
Nicholas as a man
who brings presents.

But where did this
guy come from, and
how is he connected
to Christmas? Here’s
a history of the legendary man. Not everything here about him
From a woodcut by Alexanis solid fact – there are
der Anderson done for the
a lot of different be- New York Historical Society.

After his death, said
to have been on December 6th, A.D. 343,
he was made a saint.
Saint Nicholas Day is
on December 6th.