The Young Chronicle: For 4th Graders December 19th, 2014 | Page 3

YOUNG CHRONICLE

November 28th , 2014

How Did Santa Claus Come About
St. Nicholas was a 4th century Greek Christian bishop of Myra, now in
Turkey. He was famous for his generous gifts to the poor and was very
religious from an early age and devoted his life entirely to Christianity. In
Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, and Germany, St. Nicholas is usually
portrayed as a bearded bishop in canonical or priestly robes.
During the Middle Ages (5th to 15th Century), St. Nicolas’s Name Day was
celebrated on 6th December. A Name day is a tradition in many countries in
Europe and Latin America that consists of celebrating the day of the year
associated with one’s given name. In those days many believers were
named after saints. On this day, they would celebrate that Saints name day.
So St. Nicholas’s name day was 6th December. The night before this day
was when children were bestowed with gifts.
During the course of Protestant reformation, and opposition to the respect
and reverence granted to saints, many countries shifted this gifting day to
24th and 25th December. It is said that King Martin Luther, the first,
suggested that children be gifted on Christmas eve, rather than on St.
Nicholas’s Day. He first suggested that the Christkind, but Nicholas
remained popular as the gifts bearer for people.
St. Nicholas
became popularly
known as Santa
Claus as an
American
interpretation of the Dutch Pronunciation of St. Nicholas as
Sinterklaas. Later, in the English and later British colonies of
North America, US, the British and Dutch versions of the gift
giver merged further, Making Sinterklaas, Santa Claus. It was
1773 when the new name first appeared in the press.
Sinterklaas had lost his bishop’s apparel and was pictured as
a thick bellied Dutch sailor with a pipe in a green winter coat.
St. Nicholas’s Portrait from the 13th Century

‘A Visit from St. Nicholas’ a poem, better know as ‘The Night
Before Christmas’ is also responsible for the modern
description of Santa. Visions such as chubby Santa riding on a
sleigh, entering through the chimney with a bag full of toys,
have been propagated by the poem. The Raindeer were also
named: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid,
Donner, and Blitzen. Santa’s modern image is attributed to
Thomas Nast, an American Cartoonist in the 19th centur