children today would not at all recognize the st. nick who brought gifts to european children hundreds of years ago except perhaps for his cascading white beard. he made his rounds in full red-and-white bishop's robes, complete with twin peaked miter and crooked crozier. he was pulled by no fleet footed reindeer, but coaxed in indolent donkey. and he arrived not late on christmas eve, but on his christian feast day, december 6. the gifts he left beside the hearth were usually small: fruit, nuts, hard candies, wood and clay figurines.
during the protestant reformation of the sixteenth century, st. nicholas was banished from most european countries. replacing him were more secular figures, who in general were not at center stage at that point in history..the dutch kept the st. nicholas tradition alive. as the "protector of sailors," st. nicholas graced the prow of the first dutch ship that arrived in america. and the first church built in new york city was named after him. the dutch brought with them to the new world two christmas items that were quickly americanized.
in sixteenth century holland, children placed wooden shoes by the hearth the night of st. nicholas's arrival. the shoes were filled with straw, a meal for the saint's gift laden donkey. in return, nicholas would insert a small treat into each clog. in america, the shoe was replaced with the stocking, hung by the chimney.
the dutch spelled st. nicholas "saint nikolass," which in the new world became "sinterklass". later changed to "santa claus".
much of modern day santa claus lore, including the reindeer drawn sleigh, originated in america. dr. clement clarke moore composed "the night before christmas" in 1822, to read to his children on christmas eve. the poem might have remained privately in the moore family if a friend had not mailed a copy of it (without authorial attribution) to a newspaper and became part of the santa legend.
it was in america that santa put on weight. the rosy-cheeked, roly-poly santa is credited to the influential nineteenth-century cartoonist thomas nast. from 1863 until 1886, nast created a series of christmas drawings for harper's weekly. these drawings, executed over twenty years, exhibit a gradual evolution in santa from the pudgy, diminutive, elf-like creature of dr. moore's immortal poem to the bearded, potbellied, life-size bell ringer familiar on street corners across america today. nast's cartoons also showed the world how santa spent his entire year constructing toys, checking on children's behavior, reading their requests for special gifts. his images were incorporated into the santa lore.
santa is known throughout the world in many different names, such as:
saint nikolaas (sinter klaas), from the dutch father christmas, from the english kris kringle, from the germans befana, from the italians bobouschka, from the russians (a grand motherly figure instead of a male)
聖誕老人的傳說在數千年前的斯堪的納維亞半島即出現。北歐神話中司智慧，藝術，詩詞，戰爭的奧丁神，寒冬時節，騎上他那八腳馬坐騎馳騁於天涯海角，懲惡揚善，分發禮物。與此同時，其子雷神著紅衣以閃電為武器與冰雪諸神昏天黑地惡戰一場，最終戰勝寒冷。據異教傳說，聖誕老人為奧丁神後裔。也有傳說稱聖誕老人由聖·尼古拉而來，所以聖誕老人也稱st.nicholas.因這些故事大多弘揚基督精神，其出處，故事情節大多被淡忘，然而聖誕老人卻永駐人們精神世界。
每年聖誕日，聖誕老人騎在牡羊星座上，聖童手持聖誕樹降臨人間，隨著世事變遷，作家和藝術家開始把聖誕老人描述成我們今日熟悉的著紅裝，留白鬍子的形象。同時不同的國度和文化對聖誕老人也有了不同的解釋。在德國，傳說他扮成聖童把堅果和蘋果放在孩子們鞋裡。他乘雙輪馬車四處漫遊，觀察人們的行為，尤其是小孩，如果表現好，將會得到蘋果、堅果、糖等諸多獎品。壞孩子則得一鞭子。家長們靈機一動紛紛採用此傳說來鼓勵孩子們聽話。大大超過了新年，成為一個全民的節日。聖誕老人已經成為聖誕節最受喜愛的象徵和傳統。他趕 著馴鹿，拉著裝滿玩具和禮物的雪橇挨家挨戶給每個孩子送禮物的快樂老精靈的形象已深深地留在人們的記憶中。