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Santa Claus Biography
Holiday Figure
Photos ( See all 44 )
Also known as: St. Nicholas; Kris Kringle; Father Christmas
Santa Claus is the mythical figure who delivers toys to children around the world each year on Christmas Eve. According to legend, Santa lives at the North Pole and oversees a toy workshop run by busy elves. Each December 24th, on the eve of the celebration of the birth of Jesus, Santa is said to fly around the world delivering his toys in a sled pulled by eight reindeer: Blitzen, Comet, Cupid, Dancer, Dasher, Donder (or Donner), Prancer, and Vixen. (A ninth reindeer with a shiny nose, Rudolph, was introduced in Gene Autry's 1949 country music hit "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.") The name Santa Claus was derived from Sinterklaas, the Dutch term for the ancient Christian figure of Saint Nicholas. According to tradition, Saint Nicholas lived in the region of Lycia (now in Turkey) during the 4th century AD.
Extra credit: The Santa Claus myth was popularized in America by the 1823 poem "A Visit From Saint Nicholas," attributed to Clement Moore. The poem begins "Twas the night before Christmas"... In the early 1860s cartoonist Thomas Nast drew Santa as a round, bearded man in a red suit, an image that stuck... An 1897 editorial by Frank P. Church in the New York Sun coined the famous phrase "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus." Church was replying to a letter from a young reader, Virginia O'Hanlon, who asked if Santa Claus really existed... According to the Encarta encyclopedia, the nickname Kris Kringle evolved from the German words for Christ child, Christkindl.
Other holiday figures include Saint Patrick, Saint Valentine and Punxsutawney Phil... St. Nicholas appears with Jesse James in our loop Exhumation Celebration, and joins Mary, Joseph, Tiny Tim and Bing Crosby in our Christmas loop Stars of Bethlehem.
Santa
Blog posts mentioning Santa Claus:
- Celebs With Santa: Hayden Panettiere
- Celebs With Santa: George Clooney
- Jaimee Grubbs to Santa: "Mostly Naughty"
- 5 Celebrity Christmas Songs I Never Want to Hear Again (But Undoubtedly Will)
- Santa Tackles Shakespeare
- Santa Feels the Pinch
- Holiday Greetings from Who2
- Keeping An Eye on St. Nick
Four Good Links
Encarta: Saint Nicholas
The encyclopedia describes the historical saint, with a link to their separate entry on Santa Claus
The History of Christmas
From the History Channel, with "the evolution of Santa Claus"
A Visit from Saint Nicholas
Swell collection of poem illustrations over the years
Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus
History of the famous New York Sun editorial
Vital Stats
Birth
?
Birthplace
The North Pole
Death
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Best Known As
Jolly toy-delivering Christmas figure