{"id":4553,"date":"2010-12-01T01:10:16","date_gmt":"2010-12-01T06:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=4613"},"modified":"2010-11-28T19:36:27","modified_gmt":"2010-11-29T00:36:27","slug":"myths-and-legends-journeys-through-time-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2010\/12\/01\/myths-and-legends-journeys-through-time-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Myths and Legends: Journeys Through Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Santa Claus<\/strong><\/p>\n

“You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout I’m telling you why. Santa Claus is coming to town…<\/em>”<\/p>\n

December, the last and most favored month of the year. Although December usually<\/p>\n

associated with cold, winter, ice and snow it’s also associated with one of the most<\/p>\n

famous holiday of all. Christmas. Even more popular than Christmas is the figure that<\/p>\n

represents Christmas. He’s jolly, big, wears red and white, has a snowy white beard,<\/p>\n

glasses and a deep rumbling laugh. He is none other then Santa Claus. Santa Claus is<\/p>\n

the one that in the late hours of Christmas Eve and the early hours of Christmas Day<\/p>\n

goes around delivering presents to all the little girls and boys in the world. He lives in<\/p>\n

the North Pole and his elves work year round in his toy work shop to make presents in<\/p>\n

time for Christmas. Who exactly was Santa Claus though and how did he come to represent<\/p>\n

the season of giving? The idea of Sata Claus is European in origin. In the Netherlands they<\/p>\n

have Sinterklaas<\/em> (Saint Nicholas in Dutch) who comes to the Netherlands from Spain by<\/p>\n

way of steamboat two weeks before his birthday which is on December 6th. He and<\/p>\n

his\u00a0 helper Zwarte Piet<\/em> (Black Pete) would disperse gifts to all of the good Dutch children.<\/p>\n

They would go onshore at night and Sinterklaas <\/em> clad in red, wearing a mitre with a golden<\/p>\n

crosire and a long flowing snowy beard, had a list of all the good children to whom he would<\/p>\n

leave gifts for. Sinterklaas <\/em>and Zwarte Piet<\/em> would gather up all the bad children and take<\/p>\n

them back to Spain. In Germany, Santa Claus or Saint Nicholas as Santa is better known, is<\/p>\n

known by several names. Klaasburr, Sunnercula, Burklaas, Bullerklaas and Rukalas<\/em> are all<\/p>\n

German names for Saint Nichols. In Eastern Gemany he’s also known as Shaggy Goat, Ash Man<\/p>\n

and Rider. These names reflect the Norse mythology into which Christianity was blended.<\/p>\n

Normally Saint Nicholas comes around the 5th or 6th of December which is around his<\/p>\n

birthday, however in more modern times he has been appearing around the 24th and 25th of<\/p>\n

December and has been called Father Christmas more often. The French children know him<\/p>\n

as Pere Noel<\/em> which translates to Father Christmas. He travels with a helper named Pere <\/em><\/p>\n

Fouettard<\/em> who disciplines the bad children with a spanking while Pere Noel<\/em> rewards the<\/p>\n

good children with gifts. Santa Claus is one of those rare mythological figures that are<\/p>\n

actually based on a real person. Saint Nicholas of Myra was born in 271 AD and actually<\/p>\n

died<\/em> on around December 6th in either 342 AD or 343 AD. How he came to be associated with<\/p>\n

gift giving is an interesting story. Nicholas was born wealthy yet was a generous person.<\/p>\n

After he became a priest, there was a girl in his parrish who’s parents were too poor to give<\/p>\n

her a dowry. For her this meant that she would never be married so Nicholas took pity on<\/p>\n

her and made up a bundle of money out of his own family money and donated it<\/p>\n

anonymously to the young lady by throwing it through her window late one night. As the<\/p>\n

story goes, the bundle of money landed in some stockings she had hung by the fireplace to<\/p>\n

dry overnight. His acts of kindess like this became regular occurences and he became known<\/p>\n

for late night gifting and for granting wishes. From these simple origins have risen a<\/p>\n

wonderfully jolly and cheerful figure who’s always keeping an eye on children and coming<\/p>\n

up with ways to reward them…or if they’re bad punish them. In America he’s known as Santa<\/p>\n

Claus and the good kids get gifts while the bad kids…well sadly they get coal. Happy Holidays<\/p>\n

and Blessed Be!!<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.souledout.org\/christmas\/santanicholas\/santanicholas.html<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/holidays.kaboose.com\/christmas\/traditions\/st-nicholas\/xmas-around-stnicholas.html<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Santa_Claus<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Santa Claus “You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout I’m telling you why. Santa Claus is coming to town…” December, the last and most favored month of the year. Although December usually associated with cold, winter, ice and snow it’s also associated with one of the most famous holiday of all. Christmas. Even more popular than Christmas is the figure that represents Christmas. He’s jolly, big, wears red and white, has a snowy white beard, glasses and a deep rumbling laugh. He is none other then Santa Claus. Santa Claus is the one that in the late hours of Christmas Eve and the early hours of Christmas Day goes around delivering presents to all the little girls and boys in the world. He lives in the North Pole and his elves work year round in his toy work shop to make presents in time for Christmas. Who exactly was Santa Claus though and how did he come to represent the season of giving? The idea of Sata Claus is European in origin. In the Netherlands they have Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas in Dutch) who comes to the Netherlands from Spain by way of steamboat two weeks before his birthday which is on December 6th. He and his\u00a0 helper Zwarte Piet (Black Pete) would disperse gifts to all of the good Dutch children. They would go onshore at night and Sinterklaas clad in red, wearing a mitre with a golden crosire and a long flowing snowy beard, had a list of all the good children to whom he would leave gifts for. Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet would gather up all the bad children and take them back to Spain. In Germany, Santa Claus or Saint Nicholas as Santa is better known, is known by several names. Klaasburr, Sunnercula, Burklaas, Bullerklaas and Rukalas are all German names for Saint Nichols. In Eastern Gemany he’s also known as Shaggy Goat, Ash Man and Rider. These names reflect the Norse mythology into which Christianity was blended. Normally Saint Nicholas comes around the 5th or 6th of December which is around his birthday, however in more modern times he has been appearing around the 24th and 25th of December and has been called Father Christmas more often. The French children know him as Pere Noel which translates to Father Christmas. He travels with a helper named Pere Fouettard who disciplines the bad children with a spanking while Pere Noel rewards the good children with gifts. Santa Claus is one of those rare mythological figures that are actually based on a real person. Saint Nicholas of Myra was born in 271 AD and actually died on around December 6th in either 342 AD or 343 AD. How he came to be associated with gift giving is an interesting story. Nicholas was born wealthy yet was a generous person. After he became a priest, there was a girl in his parrish who’s parents were too poor to give her a dowry. For her this meant that she would never be married so Nicholas took pity on her and made up a bundle of money out of his own family money and donated it anonymously to the young lady by throwing it through her window late one night. As the story goes, the bundle of money landed in some stockings she had hung by the fireplace to dry overnight. His acts of kindess like this became regular occurences and he became known for late night gifting and for granting wishes. From these simple origins have risen a wonderfully jolly and cheerful figure who’s always keeping an eye on children and coming up with ways to reward them…or if they’re bad punish them. In America he’s known as Santa Claus and the good kids get gifts while the bad kids…well sadly they get coal. Happy Holidays and Blessed Be!! http:\/\/www.souledout.org\/christmas\/santanicholas\/santanicholas.html http:\/\/holidays.kaboose.com\/christmas\/traditions\/st-nicholas\/xmas-around-stnicholas.html http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Santa_Claus<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4553"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4496,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4553\/revisions\/4496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}