Santa Claus-origin

Origin of Santa Claus.

   

Christmas is coming, so now I write about the true origin of the character that cheers celebration.

The home of St. Nicholas, better known as Santa Claus, is located in Anatolia, Turkey, this character was inspired by St. Nicholas of Myra, patron and saint of sailors and children, lived and died there almost 18 centuries ago.

Nicholas was the son of a wealthy family, but he stood out for his simplicity and service to others. After a plague that killed his parents, the boy, moved by the misfortune divided his property among the needy and assigned to religion to be ordained as a priest.

The story goes that Nicholas secretly gifted a bag full of gold coins to three women whose father did not have the resources when they reached the age of marriage. It is said that the priest came in through a window and put the gold bag inside the girls' socks, which hung on the chimney to dry them.

They also highlight stories of miracles and goodness with poor people. Such was the admiration they felt for him that he became the patron saint of Greece, Turkey, Russia and Lorraine (France). 

The change.

According to the BBC, it was in the 17th century that the image of Santa Claus arrived in the United States from Holland, a country where Sinterklaas or St. Nicholas is worshiped, a character who brings gifts to children on December 5.

  

In 1809 the writer Washington Irving deformed the name of the Dutch saint Sinterklaas in the vulgar pronunciation Santa Claus. 

Then the poet Clement Clarke Moore made his contribution in a poem where he speaks of Santa Claus as a dwarf, who gives toys on Christmas Eve to the children and travels in a sleigh pulled by nine reindeers including the leader, Rodolfo.

  

The story and celebration began to spread from the hand of Santa Claus, with its large, bearded and red character following an illustration made in 1870 by German-American cartoonist Thomas Nast based on a poem by Clement Moore. 

 

It was thanks to an American announcement from the Lomen Company, a US refrigeration company, which incorporated the tradition that Santa would come from the North Pole; And reindeer Christmas would be popular as a means of transportation Santa Claus.

Finally, in 1930 Coca Cola acquired the rights to this living object and in its advertising began to use it. Until that date there was no concrete assignment to the color of the Santa Claus dress, so the soda marketers took the opportunity to dress it red and white, as we know it today.