The tradition of gift giving around Christmas is becoming an ever more global celebration. That isn’t to say however there isn’t some quirky variations, quite the opposite in fact. Many countries hang on to their own alternatives to Santa. Here are three variations you might not have heard of…

Ded Moroz

Ded Moroz translates pretty much directly as ‘Grandfather Frost’ and you’ll find him doing his rounds in many of the former Russian states of Eastern Europe. He’s a lover of a jolly red costume and also has a large white beard, just like Santa but it is his history that’s interesting. He was once an evil sorcerer who has now reformed and gives gifts to children as a way of making up for all his evil deeds, which included kidnapping little ones and demanding presents as ransom.

Now however, he typically delivers his gifts over New Year’s, though it isn’t unusual for him to turn up at parties and hand out gifts in person. He also has a side kick to help him, his granddaughter who is referred to as ‘The Snow Maiden’.

La Benafa

La Benafa hails from Italy and while her modus operandi is very much in line with that of the Santa Claus we know, her appearance is quite different. For a start she’s a woman, and although her back story is variable, the most common version suggests that she offered shelter and food to the three wise kings as they travelled to see the infant Jesus.

Her appearance is actually more in line with that of a traditional Halloween witch, flying around with a bag of presents on a broomstick. She also enters houses via the chimney as a way of delivery and is more than happy to leave a lump of coal for a child that’s been naughty. Interestingly she is thought to be heck of a housekeeper and demonstrates this by sweeping the hearths as she leaves the way she came in.

Yule Lads

These guys are a group of thirteen tricky gnome-like little creatures that have taken on the gift giving duties in Iceland. There mischievous ways have led to them having some more negative incarnations throughout their history though now they tend to be seen as spirited and playful types, each with a preferred, often bizarre, speciality. For example the Yule Lad known as Stekkjastaur is said to hassle sheep while wandering about on wooden legs.

They do also give presents to kids, helped out by a yuletide cat, a grizzly creature who deals with the extra naughty. The Yule lads leave small gifts in the shoes of good children, whereas those less well behaved awake to find their footwear filled with potatoes.

These are just three of the weird and wonderful variations to Santa that as we speak are gearing up to their busiest time of the year… which means if you happen to be in Iceland, be good, unless you want a shoe full of root vegetable.

David James researches and writes about the weird and quirky for novelty Christmas gifts retailer Find Me A Gift.

It’s Christmas soon, and I like Christmas. That’s not an alternative view to take I know; in fact most people will probably agree with me. What I love most about Christmas is the traditions. The idea that a family will get together through better or worse, to share each other’s company, as well as a nice meal, is always an idea that comforts me when the winter months roll in.

It’s the little individual traditions that often make Christmas unique. For example, every year my family will sit down for a friendly game of Bingo. This is a choice influenced by my mother’s strong love of Bingo. It all started when she visited a local bingo hall, later joining one of the larger clubs, and now she enjoys online bingo. She actually meets quite a lot of people playing bingo, and has gained quite a lot of new friends. It’s great to see a retired individual continuing to be social. It was her passion for the game that led my mother to the decision a few years ago that she would introduce the idea of playing bingo, and we enjoyed it so much that we’ve played it every year since. You could say it’s become part of our lives.

The main reason we still enjoy bingo as our Christmas tradition is because it brought us together. See, bingo is a game which is designed around the social aspect.  It provides competition, which is always an excellent stimulus for conversation, without the elements of gloating that could come with other games like, let’s say, Monopoly. In Monopoly players compete to have control over an entire city, to monopolise, as it were. It’s a great skill-based game, but it can often lead to jealousy and bickering when players are over achieving (at least with my family anyway). In bingo, you rely on luck. If your sister has won more games than you, it’s not really her fault, she couldn’t help it. It’s not at all like that time she ruthlessly stripped you of your remaining assets when you landed on Park Lane with a hotel. In bingo, before you know it, you could be the one on a winning streak.

With the atmosphere at Christmas, staying in, with a few drinks and your close ones to enjoy a little fun, doesn’t get much better. In many ways, I look forward to playing bingo with my family more than the actual meal on Christmas Day. Sometimes it’s the little things that make the difference, and bingo is definitely one of those little things that can make a big difference.

If you’ve never played bingo before, I suggest you give it a go with your family this Christmas. It doesn’t have to be grand, a few cards and a bag of numbered balls will do the trick. You’ll definitely be thankful, and maybe you’ll end up like my mum, who loves to play because of the friends she has gained, finding a whole lot more through life in the process.

About the Author

Thom Milson, Online Researcher
Search Laboratory Ltd – Global Search Marketing

by Stephanie Jolly
Source: Suite 101

If you’re like most holiday revelers, you’ve got a few parties to attend this season. Odds are that upon walking through the door, you’ll come face-to-face with a large bowl of murky liquid known as eggnog.

Your first reaction may be one of confusion, but try to keep it together. Although eggnog isn’t much to look at, it’s impossible to get away from. Around the holidays, sales of this gelatinous liquid skyrocket, and so do the Web searches.

By CLARKE CANFIELD, Associated Press
Source: Yahoo

PORTLAND, Maine

Lobster fishermen are known for bragging about who has the fastest boat or the biggest pickup truck.

Now, some of the top lobster-fishing ports in New England are claiming bragging rights about who has the biggest and best Christmas tree created from lobster traps. As the holiday season gets into full swing, a new lobster trap tree in eastern Maine is stirring the pot.

Gloucester, Mass., started the trap-to-tree tradition 12 years ago, and Rockland, Maine, followed five years later. Both are threatening to be upstaged this year by the small lobstering town of Beals, Maine, which is getting into the act with a monster tree that stands 50 feet tall.

Albert Carver, a seafood distributor who helped spearhead Beals’ upstart effort, couldn’t resist taking a poke at Rockland and Gloucester.

“They’re nice beginner trees,” Carver said when asked about the trees in Rockland and Gloucester. “I mean, they are a little small.”

The groups that put up the trees say they draw attention to the ports’ maritime heritage, bring people together and raise money for good causes.

The tree in Beals helps raises money for the Beals-Jonesport Fourth of July festivities and the one in Gloucester benefits a nonprofit devoted to the arts. In Rockland, the tree is major fundraiser for Rockland Maine Street Inc., a nonprofit that oversees the tree and sells $50 raffle tickets for a chance to win 100 traps.

When it comes to lobster, nobody tops Maine, where fishermen last year harvested 78 million pounds of the state’s signature seafood. Massachusetts fishermen caught about 11.6 million pounds.

Despite that gap, Gloucester was the first fishing port to erect a towering tree-shaped pile of traps adorned with lights and lobster buoys as ornaments. The downtown tree is about 30 feet high with several hundred traps topped with a 5-foot star made out of lobster trap wire.

Rockland, which is Maine’s lobster capital, followed with a tree of its own with traps manufactured by a local lobster trap company. This year’s tree is 38 feet tall with 152 traps, more than 125 lobster buoys, 480 feet of garland and 3,000 white lights, topped with a 5-foot fiberglass lobster.

Last month, a new trap tree appeared.

At 50 feet high with a base 27 1/2 feet across, the tree in Beals is the biggest of them all. It’s topped with a mannequin dressed as a fisherwoman wearing yellow oilskins, looking out to sea as if waiting for her fisherman husband to return home.

The Beals tree may be the biggest, but the Rockland tree is lit with spotlights that illuminate it from the inside out, and is built using a “secret” engineering formula, said Lorain Francis, executive director of Rockland Main Street Inc.

Besides, the Discovery Channel sent a film crew to Rockland — not Gloucester or Beals — to take footage of the tree for a future episode on extreme Christmas trees, she said.

“Maybe ours isn’t the biggest, but we do have some things that I think makes ours the best,” she said.

David Brooks, who’s overseeing the Gloucester tree this year, said Beals may have the tallest tree and Rockland may have the fanciest, but Gloucester’s tree is truly a reflection of the city’s working fishermen.

The tree is made from used lobster traps, some of which are falling apart at the seams. Volunteers had to run around town collecting them, he said, rather than have a trap manufacturer make them.

“I guess there’s a little bit of a rivalry, but our tree is more hard-core,” he said.

When last year’s tree went up, a blog called Good Morning Gloucester ran a poll asking viewers which trap tree was best: “The colorful vibrant unique Gloucester one, or the crappy unimaginative Rockland one?” In the end, the Gloucester tree won the survey 64 percent to 36 percent.

Joey Ciaramicato, a lobster broker in Gloucester who writes the blog, said he’s having fun rattling a few cages to draw attention to the trees.

He describes the Rockland tree as “sterile.”

“You can put together a bunch of brand new traps and stack them to the moon, but it’s not going to have the heart and soul of our tree,” he said.

Source: All Things Christmas

Popular Christmas carols symbolize everything that Christmas stands for: They gather the family, bring joy, spread the word about Christmas, and make everyone feel the Christmas spirit. Try to hum the melody of “Jingle Bells”, and most people in the northern hemisphere will immediately imagine seeing snowflakes, angels, and Christmas bells.

Even if you are neither religious nor a regular churchgoer, you will surely remember fond childhood memories after hearing Christmas carols.

The world’s most widely known Xmas carol is ”Silent Night”, which is sung in many languages all over most of the globe. The song originates from Austria, but enjoyed great recognition as early as the First World War, when soldiers on each side of the frontline laid down their weapons on Christmas Eve and sung the carol, “Silent Night”, across no man’s land.

The lyrics go like this:

‘Silent Night’
Silent night, holy night.
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin-mother and child.
Holy infant so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.

Searching through a list of popular Christmas carols, we also find ”O Come, All Ye Faithful”. The song is said to have a very long history, but the truth is, it most likely originated from the 1700’s and was written by John Francis Wade (1711 – 1786). The most popular version dates back to 1852 and goes like this:

‘O Come, All Ye Faithful’
O come, all ye faithful,
Joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem;
Come and behold him
Born the king of angels:
O come let us adore him, Christ the Lord.

Many people probably also think about modern songs like ”White Christmas”, when they think of Christmas carols. However, there is actually a difference between a “Christmas carol” and a “Christmas song”. Christmas carols can often be sung by a choir and usually have simple and straightforward rhythms. This is rarely the case for pop and rock songs, which often have more complex compositions.

Here are some examples of popular, modern Christmas carols and songs:

1. Here Comes Santa Claus – Gene Autry
2. The Christmas Song – Nat King Cole
3. Rudolph,the Red-nosed Reindeer – Gene Autry
4. Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy – Bing Crosby & David Bowie
5. White Christmas – Bing Crosby
6. A Holly Jolly Christmas – Burl Ives
7. My Little Drum – Vince Guaraldi (Charlie Brown Christmas)
8. Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town – Bruce Springsteen
9. Christmas Shoes -Newsong (or Alabama)
10. Last Christmas – Wham!

The history of Christmas Carols

The most fantastic explanation of the term, “Christmas carol”, originates from England. According to this English story, a young girl named Carol got lost in the streets of London on a cold winter night. In an attempt to find her, her friends went from house to house similar to the way we do during Christmas. After this episode, the term “Christmas carol” became widespread.

The more pragmatic explanation is that the word, “carol”, comes from the Greek dance, “Choraulein”, which is accompanied by flutes. Later, the Frenchmen replaced the flutes with singing and named it, “caroller”, which means, “to dance around in a circle”.

The tradition of singing carols can be traced back to the monk, St. Francis of Assisi. He introduced the singing of carols in church ceremonies. Today, each country has its own traditions in connection with Christmas carols. In many places, people walk from house to house and sing at Xmas time; in other places, Christmas carols are sung in church.

Did you know that…

There is a distinction between a Christmas carol and a Christmas song. A Christmas Carol has a fairly rapid, regular beat, which would, therefore, exclude a meandering, crooning song such as “White Christmas”.

The world’s most famous Christmas carol is “Silent night”.

“Jingle Bells” was originally named, “One-Horse Open Sleigh”, and was written for Thanksgiving, not for Christmas.

Charles Dickens’s story, “A Christmas Carol”, is the world’s most read Christmas story.

In 2003, the Austrian Trade Union Federation, representing 100,000 workers, claimed that the non-stop playing of Christmas carols in shopping malls was “psychological terror”.

Source: Christmas2010.net

Christmas is one of the most popular holidays of the year. It’s a time for family and friends to get together for wonderful food, gifts and entertainment. Most of all though, it’s about spending time with each other, and what better way to do that this year than with an amazing Christmas themed party!

It’s the perfect opportunity to spruce up your holiday, especially if your family Christmas traditions are feeling a little dull and outdated. Here are a few great ideas for Christmas parties this year:

Tree Decorating Party

If you’re a new couple celebrating your first Christmas together or maybe you just moved into a new place, consider throwing a Christmas tree decorating party. Have all of your guests bring an ornament to contribute to the tree and help decorate when they arrive. Have plenty of hot chocolate and Christmas themed desserts on hand for a warm and cozy evening!

Gingerbread House Party

Who says kids have all the fun? Get everyone involved this year and invite your guests to bring something edible to your Gingerbread house party! Giving your guests something to do is the perfect icebreaker and will soon have everyone in the Christmas spirit. You can build your gingerbread houses from scratch or buy one of the many kits that are widely available. After everyone has built their beautiful (and delicious) gingerbread house, they will have a wonderful gift to take home.

Fire, Ice and Everything Nice Party

This Christmas party idea is sure to be a big hit with your guests. Unfortunately, it only works if you live somewhere with a snowy climate. If you do, you’re in luck! Invite all your friends and family over for an action packed day of snowball fights, sledding, ice skating and snowman building contests. Once everyone has gotten a little color in their cheeks, pile inside and enjoy a roaring fire, hot chocolate and some delicious comfort food like a hearty stew, warm pie and other fresh baked goods.

Tour de Lights Party

One of the best Christmas traditions are the holiday displays and lights. At night they are truly a beautiful sight. This year, invite all of your friends over for a “Tour de Lights” of the best decorated neighborhoods in your area. If you have a bunch of friends, consider renting a stretch limo so that you can all go together, or if you’re feeling brave you can all hit the streets on foot and enjoy the sights at your own pace. Afterwards, everyone can head back to your place to warm up with hot chocolate and home baked goodies.

Or, if you really want to take this idea to the next level, combine the Tour de Lights with a progressive dinner party! By combining these two ideas, you will be able to enjoy the beautiful holiday lights all over town and all the holiday food you can eat! This works best if you have five stops:

1st stop — cocktails and appetizers
2nd stop — soups and salad
3rd stop — the main course
4th stop — coffee, tea and dessert
5th stop — cheese, wine or holiday themed drinks

Christmas traditions don’t have to be boring. This year, start a brand new and exciting tradition that everyone will enjoy! Merry Christmas!

Source: Christmas2010.net

Unique Christmas Trees

Christmas is a wonderful holiday and it’s no surprise that people around the world anxiously await its arrival each year.

But sometimes Christmas traditions can begin to feel a little stale and boring.

This year, try starting a new tradition by replacing the classic Christmas tree with one of these exciting designs:

Pre-Lit Christmas Tree

Pre-lit trees make a wonderful choice, especially if you don’t have the time or money to get a real Christmas tree year after year. They’re easy to assemble, they never need watering, and best of all the built in lights make decorating a snap! This is a popular choice for families looking for a easy to manage Christmas tree that will last from year to year.

Fiber Optic Christmas Tree

If you want to take pre lit trees to the next level, consider a fiber optic Christmas tree. These beautiful trees put on a dynamic light display that will really bring your holiday decorations to life. Available in traditional green to snow effect white, a fiber optic tree offers something different.

Spiral Christmas Tree

If you’re looking for an unusual design this year, try a spiral Christmas tree. With beautiful flowing lines and many colors available, both lit and un lit, these trees will look amazing in any home, especially around modern décor.

Colored Christmas Tree

Really want a Christmas tree but don’t want it to clash with your décor? Consider a colored Christmas tree! They are available in colors ranging from blue to black to silver, purple and everything in between.

Miniature Christmas Tree

Let’s face it, some of us simply don’t have room for a full size Christmas tree, or the room to store one after the holidays. Maybe you live in a dorm or a small apartment and free space is at a premium. But that doesn’t mean you can’t show your holiday spirit. Consider getting a miniature tabletop Christmas tree! Because of their small footprint, these work very well on dining room tables, side tables, dressers and many other places.

Tropical Christmas Tree

Most Christmas trees are fir, spruce or pine, but who says you have to stick to tradition? Go for a tropical Christmas tree this year! Palm trees work especially well and will look amazing in your home.

Upside Down Christmas Tree

These unconventional and whimsical trees are definitely one of a kind, and will put any traditional Christmas tree to shame. Imagine the look on your guest’s faces when they drop by for the holidays this year!

Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

Otherwise known as the “lonely tree,” this movie classic with sparse branches makes a great conversation piece for your holiday guests. If you’re looking for something different this year, give this poor and lonely looking Christmas tree a chance to brighten your holiday spirits!

Festivus Pole (tree?)

Finally, if you’re a Seinfeld fan, why not go for a Festivus pole this year? It’s the anti-Christmas tree: no lights, no ornaments and no tinsel — just a bare aluminum pole. This hilarious Festivus tradition is sure to get a laugh out of even the biggest Grinch this holiday season.

If your Christmas traditions are starting to feel a little old and boring, try one of our amazing Christmas tree ideas to bring new life to the holidays! Merry Christmas!

By Barbara Crews

Some form of the Advent Calendar has been used for more than 150 years and becomes increasingly popular every year. From traditional calendar to calendars that feature popular collectibles and themes, there is a calendar for everyone.

The origin of the calendar, like so many of our Christmas traditions, started in Germany in the 19th century. Different methods of counting down the days to the celebration of Christmas were used.

Drawing a chalk line to mark off the days, later lighting a candle every night or putting up small religious pictures marked each day until Christmas. The first printed calendar was produced by Gerhard Lang in Germany. When he was a child, his mother attached little candies to a piece of cardboard and each day Gerhard would take one off. His first (printed) calendar consisted of miniature colored pictures that would be attached to a piece of cardboard each day in December. Later Advent calendars were made with little doors to open on each day. The child might find a small piece of candy, a Christmas picture, a religious picture or a bible verse.

The German calendars were sold until World War II, at which time production was stopped due to the war shortages. After the war, the production of calendars resumed in 1946 by Richard Selmer. Selmer credits President Eisenhower with helping the tradition grow in the United States during his term of office. A newspaper article at the time showed the Eisenhower grandchildren with The Little Town Advent calendar. His company still produces calendars today and can be ordered online. Check out the online museum to see some of their early designs.

The first Advent calendars were based on 24 days with Christmas Eve as the last night to either put up a picture or take a candy. Today, the traditional German calendars still show 24 days, but in the United States, it’s not uncommon to also find ones with 25 days — the last opening to occur on Christmas Day.

Advent Calendars can be found everywhere Christmas is celebrated and have been made with many different themes. There are permanent ones with little drawers that are opened every day, felt pieces to decorate a tree, religious icons behind the different doors and lots of pop-culture/character Advent calendars. The traditional ones are still a paper/cardboard piece with a small treasure behind the doors. The treasures can range from a beautiful miniature religious picture, perhaps a little wooden toy or even a piece of candy (sure to cause problems when there is more than one child in the household).

In our family we have a tradition that dates back to 1969, when I found a wooden tree Advent Calendar. There are painted wooden ornaments and each day another ornament is chosen to be added to the tree. On Christmas day, the star tree topper is finally added. The tree has grown a little shabby and the ornaments are getting tattered, but it’s still a tradition looked forward to every December.

It’s not too late to start a tradition like this for your family, one that will become a real treasure in the years to come.

Source: TLC

All over the world, Christmas celebrations reflect local culture and traditions. The festivities can be startlingly different from country to country, focusing on different aspects of the nativity story. But whether you’re celebrating Sheng Dan Jieh in China or awaing Pere Noel in France, you’re sharing in the wonder and magic of the Christmas season. Here is an overview of Christmas traditions throughout the world.

• Christmas Traditions in Australia
  In Australia, December 25 falls during summer vacation, so many of the country’s Christmas festivities take place outdoors. The most popular event of the Christmas season is called Carols by Candlelight. People come together at night to light candles and sing Christmas carols outside. The stars shining above add to the sights and sounds of this wonderful outdoor concert.
• Christmas Traditions in China
  The small number of Christians in China call Christmas Sheng Dan Jieh, which means Holy Birth Festival. They decorate their homes with evergreens, posters, and bright paper chains. Families put up a Christmas tree, called a “tree of light,” and decorate it with beautiful lanterns, flowers, and red paper chains that symbolize happiness. They cut out red pagodas to paste on the windows, and they light their houses with paper lanterns, too.

• Christmas Traditions in England
  It is cold, wet, and foggy in England at Christmastime. The day before Christmas is very busy for families in England. They wrap presents, bake cookies, and hang stockings over the fireplace. Then everyone gathers around the tree as someone tells a classic holiday story, “A Christmas Carol.” Children write a letter to Father Christmas with their wishes and toss their letter into the fire so their wishes can go up the chimney. After the children fall asleep on Christmas Eve, Father Christmas comes to visit.
• Christmas Traditions in Ethiopia
  Ethiopia follows the ancient Julian calendar, so Ethiopians celebrate Christmas on January 7. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church’s celebration of Christ’s birth is called Ganna. It is a day when families attend church. Everyone dresses in white. Most Ethiopians don a traditional shamma — a thin, white cotton wrap with brightly colored stripes across the ends. Twelve days after Ganna, on January 19, Ethiopians begin the three-day celebration called Timkat, which commemorates the baptism of Christ.
• Christmas Traditions in France
  Christmas celebrations France begin on December 5, which is St. Nicholas Eve, but Christmas Eve is the most special time in the French celebration of Christmas. Church bells ring and voices sing French carols, called noels. On Christmas Day, families go to church and then enjoy an abundant feast of wonderful dishes, ending with the traditional buche de Noel, a rich buttercream-filled cake shaped and frosted to look like a Yule log.
• Christmas Traditions in Germany
  German families prepare for Christmas throughout cold December. Four Sundays before Christmas, they make an Advent wreath of fir or pine branches that has four colored candles. They light a candle on the wreath each Sunday, sing Christmas songs, and eat Christmas cookies. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, homes are filled with the delightful smells of baking loaves of sweet bread, cakes filled with candied fruits, and spicy cookies called lebkuchen.
• Christmas Tradtions in Holland
  Dutch children in Holland, or the Netherlands, eagerly await the arrival of Sinterklaas on St. Nicholas Day on December 6. Sinterklaas is a kindly bishop. He wears red robes and a tall, pointed mitre on his head. Sinterklaas travels by ship from Spain to Amsterdam’s harbor every winter. He brings his white horse and a huge sack full of gifts for the children. Families celebrate St. Nicholas Eve at home with lots of good food, hot chocolate, and a letterbanket, a “letter cake” made in the shape of the first letter of the family’s last name.
• Christmas Traditions in Italy
  The Christmas season in Italy begins on the first Sunday of Advent, which is four Sundays before Christmas. Christmas fairs feature fireworks and bonfires along with holiday music. Families go to the Christmas markets to shop for gifts and new figures for the manger scene. Some families set up a Christmas tree and decorate it. Families set up their presepio, or manger scene, on the first day of the novena. They gather before the presepio each morning or evening of novena to light candles and pray.
• Christmas Traditions in Mexico
  The weather is warm and mild in Mexico during the Christmas season. Families shop for gifts, ornaments, and good things to eat in the market stalls, called puestos. They decorate their homes with lilies and evergreens. Family members cut intricate designs in brown paper bags to make lanterns, or farolitos. They place a candle inside and then set the farolitos along sidewalks, on windowsills, and on rooftops and outdoor walls to illuminate the community with the spirit of Christmas.
• Christmas Traditions in Spain
  The Christmas season begins in Spain on December 8, with a weeklong observance of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Evergreens decorate the churches and outdoor markets throughout the Christmas season. Tambourines, gourd rattles, castanets, and miniature guitars are offered for sale to enliven the singing and dancing in the streets. Children go from house to house reciting verses or singing carols for sweets, toys, or small instruments.
• Christmas Traditions in Sweden
  In Sweden, the Christmas festivities begin on December 13 with St. Lucia’s Day, which celebrates the patron saint of light. The eldest daughter gets up before dawn and dresses as the “Queen of Light” in a long white dress. She wears a crown of leaves. Singing “Santa Lucia,” the Lucia Queen goes to every bedroom to serve coffee and treats to each member of the family. The younger children in the family help, too. The whole family helps to select the Christmas tree just a day or two before Christmas.

Source: History.com

The Legend of St. Nicholas

The legend of Santa Claus can be traced back hundreds of years to a monk named St. Nicholas. It is believed that Nicholas was born sometime around 280 A.D. in Patara, near Myra in modern-day Turkey. Much admired for his piety and kindness, St. Nicholas became the subject of many legends. It is said that he gave away all of his inherited wealth and traveled the countryside helping the poor and sick. One of the best known of the St. Nicholas stories is that he saved three poor sisters from being sold into slavery or prostitution by their father by providing them with a dowry so that they could be married. Over the course of many years, Nicholas’s popularity spread and he became known as the protector of children and sailors. His feast day is celebrated on the anniversary of his death, December 6. This was traditionally considered a lucky day to make large purchases or to get married. By the Renaissance, St. Nicholas was the most popular saint in Europe. Even after the Protestant Reformation, when the veneration of saints began to be discouraged, St. Nicholas maintained a positive reputation, especially in Holland.

Sinter Klass Comes to New York

St. Nicholas made his first inroads into American popular culture towards the end of the 18th century. In December 1773, and again in 1774, a New York newspaper reported that groups of Dutch families had gathered to honor the anniversary of his death.

The name Santa Claus evolved from Nick’s Dutch nickname, Sinter Klaas, a shortened form of Sint Nikolaas (Dutch for Saint Nicholas). In 1804, John Pintard, a member of the New York Historical Society, distributed woodcuts of St. Nicholas at the society’s annual meeting. The background of the engraving contains now-familiar Santa images including stockings filled with toys and fruit hung over a fireplace. In 1809, Washington Irving helped to popularize the Sinter Klaas stories when he referred to St. Nicholas as the patron saint of New York in his book, The History of New York. As his prominence grew, Sinter Klaas was described as everything from a “rascal” with a blue three-cornered hat, red waistcoat, and yellow stockings to a man wearing a broad-brimmed hat and a “huge pair of Flemish trunk hose.”

Shopping Mall Santas

Gift-giving, mainly centered around children, has been an important part of the Christmas celebration since the holiday’s rejuvenation in the early 19th century. Stores began to advertise Christmas shopping in 1820, and by the 1840s, newspapers were creating separate sections for holiday advertisements, which often featured images of the newly-popular Santa Claus. In 1841, thousands of children visited a Philadelphia shop to see a life-size Santa Claus model. It was only a matter of time before stores began to attract children, and their parents, with the lure of a peek at a “live” Santa Claus. In the early 1890s, the Salvation Army needed money to pay for the free Christmas meals they provided to needy families. They began dressing up unemployed men in Santa Claus suits and sending them into the streets of New York to solicit donations. Those familiar Salvation Army Santas have been ringing bells on the street corners of American cities ever since.

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas

In 1822, Clement Clarke Moore, an Episcopal minister, wrote a long Christmas poem for his three daughters entitled “An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas.” Moore’s poem, which he was initially hesitant to publish due to the frivolous nature of its subject, is largely responsible for our modern image of Santa Claus as a “right jolly old elf” with a portly figure and the supernatural ability to ascend a chimney with a mere nod of his head! Although some of Moore’s imagery was probably borrowed from other sources, his poem helped popularize the now-familiar image of a Santa Claus who flew from house to house on Christmas Eve–in “a miniature sleigh” led by eight flying reindeer–leaving presents for deserving children. “An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas” created a new and immediately popular American icon. In 1881, political cartoonist Thomas Nast drew on Moore’s poem to create the first likeness that matches our modern image of Santa Claus. His cartoon, which appeared in Harper’s Weekly, depicted Santa as a rotund, cheerful man with a full, white beard, holding a sack laden with toys for lucky children. It is Nast who gave Santa his bright red suit trimmed with white fur, North Pole workshop, elves, and his wife, Mrs. Claus.

A Santa by Any Other Name

18th-century America’s Santa Claus was not the only St. Nicholas-inspired gift-giver to make an appearance at Christmastime. Similar figures were popular all over the world. Christkind or Kris Kringle was believed to deliver presents to well-behaved Swiss and German children. Meaning “Christ child,” Christkind is an angel-like figure often accompanied by St. Nicholas on his holiday missions. In Scandinavia, a jolly elf named Jultomten was thought to deliver gifts in a sleigh drawn by goats. English legend explains that Father Christmas visits each home on Christmas Eve to fill children’s stockings with holiday treats. Pere Noel is responsible for filling the shoes of French children. In Russia, it is believed that an elderly woman named Babouschka purposely gave the wise men wrong directions to Bethlehem so that they couldn’t find Jesus. Later, she felt remorseful, but could not find the men to undo the damage. To this day, on January 5, Babouschka visits Russian children leaving gifts at their bedsides in the hope that one of them is the baby Jesus and she will be forgiven. In Italy, a similar story exists about a woman called La Befana, a kindly witch who rides a broomstick down the chimneys of Italian homes to deliver toys into the stockings of lucky children.

The Ninth Reindeer

Rudolph, “the most famous reindeer of all,” was born over a hundred years after his eight flying counterparts. The red-nosed wonder was the creation of Robert L. May, a copywriter at the Montgomery Ward department store.

In 1939, May wrote a Christmas-themed story-poem to help bring holiday traffic into his store. Using a similar rhyme pattern to Moore’s “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas,” May told the story of Rudolph, a young reindeer who was teased by the other deer because of his large, glowing, red nose. But, When Christmas Eve turned foggy and Santa worried that he wouldn’t be able to deliver gifts that night, the former outcast saved Christmas by leading the sleigh by the light of his red nose. Rudolph’s message—that given the opportunity, a liability can be turned into an asset—proved popular. Montgomery Ward sold almost two and a half million copies of the story in 1939. When it was reissued in 1946, the book sold over three and half million copies. Several years later, one of May’s friends, Johnny Marks, wrote a short song based on Rudolph’s story (1949). It was recorded by Gene Autry and sold over two million copies. Since then, the story has been translated into 25 languages and been made into a television movie, narrated by Burl Ives, which has charmed audiences every year since 1964.