When
you’re out and about during the month of December, you are sure to come across
Santa Claus. While today Santa is a fairly well-known figure, he wasn’t always.
Have you ever wondered where he came from? Then look no further - the library
has the answers.
One
of the most well-known origin stories is that St. Nicholas became Santa Claus. We
don’t know a whole lot about St. Nicholas the man beyond a few basics, like
that he was born in Asia Minor around 280 AD. He came from a wealthy family,
but ended up giving a lot of his money to charity and becoming a bishop at a
young age. When the Roman Emperor Diocletian declared himself a god, St.
Nicholas and the other Christians were imprisoned for refusing to worship him. When
Diocletian resigned several years later, the new Emperor, Constantine, released
them. So how did a holy man like Nicholas become Santa Claus? After his death,
people began telling stories about his generosity and the miracles he
performed. In one story, he anonymously gave a man money for his daughters’
dowries. In another, he flew through the sky to calm a storm and save a ship. Even
the name “Santa Claus” comes from the Dutch word for St. Nicholas
(“Sintaklaas”). All of this and more can be found in James Cross Giblin’s book The Truth About Santa Claus.
St.
Nicholas isn’t the only gift-giver who evolved into Santa Claus. If you flip
through George Ouwendijk’s Santas of the World,
you’ll discover a whole bunch, including the Finnish Joulupukki, the French
Pere Noel, and Japan’s Hoteiosho. One particularly interesting gift-giver is
the German Christkindl. Germans believed that gifts were brought by the Christ
child. Over time, the Christkindl’s name became simplified to Kriss Kringle,
which was later associated with Santa Claus thanks to the movie Miracle on 34th
Street.
Another
interesting Santa-figure is Father Christmas. The original figure of Father
Christmas became popular in England after people there stopped worshipping St.
Nicholas. While you may think this makes Father Christmas a relatively new
gift-giver, he is in fact older than St. Nicholas! Father Christmas comes to us
from the Roman god, Saturn, who presided over their winter feast. Over time he
evolved into Father Christmas, who in turn is evolving to resemble the modern,
North American version of Santa Claus.
Santa
Claus isn’t the only Christmas figure who has evolved. Before Santa had his elves,
reindeer, or his wife, he was followed by Black Peter in Holland. Black Peter
was believed to be the devil, who was defeated by St. Nicholas and had to serve
him. He carried a trunk for St. Nicholas full of presents for the good children
and birch rods for the bad children. Black Peter is similar to the German
Knecht Rupprecht, who was also known as Pelznickle or Ru-Klas. In Austria,
there is a similar figure, known as Krampus. Krampus was originally a demon who
wandered the Austrian forests. But he became the companion of St. Nicholas, who
punished the bad children with his wooden stick. Luckily St. Nicholas is
compassionate and will spare any children the wrath of Krampus if they promise
to be good.
Of
course, these facts are just the tip of the iceberg. If you flip through either
Santas of the World or The Truth About Santa Claus, you’ll find far more than
I’ve mentioned here. And we have many other books on how Santa Claus came to be,
including Santa
Claus: a Biography by Gerald Bowler on Overdrive, The Autobiography of Santa
Claus by Jeff Guin on Hoopla, and The Story of Santa Klaus by
William Shepard Walsh in Reference.
Shauna
Kosoris
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