Santa Claus Fact Or Fable
Santa Claus Fact or Fable? It depends on who or whom one would ask or if a person truly knows how the common name Santa Claus came into existence.
In 280 A.D. ST. Nicholas was born he became the giver of gifts in Myra. The gifts were given after the children went to sleep so that the giver of the gifts would remain secret. St. Nicholas was a Christian priest, who later became a bishop. St. Nicholas was a very wealthy man who gave away gifts and money to the poor and homeless. Although youthful Nicholas was respected by the people, and in the year 303 A.D. the Roman empire diocleatian demanded that all people worship him as a God.
Christian believe in One God and God alone and the diocleatian of the Roman empire told the people if they did not worship him they would be imprisoned. Nicholas believeing in tne Christian God would not obey either , therefor he was imprisoned along with the others for five years due to his beliefs and he did not waiver. In 313 A.D. diocleatian resigned , Constantine came into power and he was given back his position as Bishop until December 6th 343 A.D. at the time of his death. By 450 A.D. he was known as a Saint and churches began to sprout up and were named after him.
Over centuries his popularity grew and people began to create new stories about St. Nicholas so the children would understand who he really was and when the Dutch immigrated to the United States the household name Santa Claus become widely recognized. In England he is known as Father Christmas and in Germany he is known as der Weinachtsmann.
Santa Claus has been a household character since Washington Irving wrote about him in his history of New York in 1809 he would arrive on horseback each Christmas eve unaccompanied by Black Peter. Santa became a full fledged character in 1823 when Clement Clark Moore wrote ' The Night Before Christmas'. Further elaboration was illustrated by Thomas Nast who depicted Santa as robust and large and added ,that Santa had a good list and a bad list for little boys and girls. In 1931 Santa Claus was depicted in a series of illustrations providing a modern version of Santa including a toy shop and elves. Rudolph came into existence in 1939 and was created by a Montgomery Ward advertiser who added him as the ninth reindeer.
It is fact that St.Nicholas truly existed and over the centuries man has re-created him in his own image. Fable is that Santa did not come down chimneys or fly through the air with nine reindeer giving gifts to boys and girls. So long as a person believes what the true meaning of Christmas is there certainly is nothing wrong with children having a little imagination.
Have many forgotten the true meaning of Christmas? So many have but the fault cannot lie in the existence of St. Nicholas the fault can lie within themselves.
The true meaning of Christmas to me is not about how many gifts one recieves it is about the birth of Christ and what he did for all of us. When we decorate our home it is not about Santa coming, it is about Christ and the celebration of his birth. He has given us a gift and in return we celebrate what he has given to us.
Have many forgotten the true meaning of Christmas? So many have but the fault cannot lie in the existence of St. Nicholas the fault can lie within themselves.
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