When they appear, the star and other lights on the Christmas tree light up. Sometimes the adults tease the children by dragging out the meal so they have to wait longer for the presents! In some parts of Poland, there are different traditions.
So there you have it — 10 different names for Santa Claus from around the world, plus a bunch of traditions and interpretations of him. Looking to pick up a few extra phrases in time for Christmas? Learn a language for free.
The fastest way to learn a new language: 9 top tips. Which language will you find easiest to learn? Busuu Blog. Find out more. Discover 7 Halloween treats from across the globe. Halloween traditions worldwide: from ghosts to cheesegraters. In the Netherlands, kids and families simply refused to give up St. Nicholas as a gift bringer. They brought Sinterklaas with them to New World colonies, where the legends of the shaggy and scary Germanic gift bringers also endured. But in early America Christmas wasn't much like the modern holiday.
The holiday was shunned in New England, and elsewhere it had become a bit like the pagan Saturnalia that once occupied its place on the calendar. And there was no particular, magical gift bringer.
Then, during the early decades of the 19th century, all that changed thanks to a series of poets and writers who strove to make Christmas a family celebration—by reviving and remaking St.
Washington Irving's book Knickerbocker's History of New York first portrayed a pipe-smoking Nicholas soaring over the rooftops in a flying wagon, delivering presents to good girls and boys and switches to bad ones. In an anonymous illustrated poem entitled "The Children's Friend" went much further in shaping the modern Santa and associating him with Christmas.
Nicholas, stripped him of any religious characteristics, and dressed this Santa in the furs of those shaggy Germanic gift bringers. That figure brought gifts to good girls and boys, but he also sported a birch rod, the poem noted, that "directs a Parent's hand to use when virtue's path his sons refuse.
Nicholas ," better known today as "The Night Before Christmas," for his six children, with no intention of adding to the fledgling Santa Claus phenomenon. It was published anonymously the next year, and to this day the plump, jolly Santa described therein rides a sleigh driven by eight familiar reindeer. But familiar as the poem is, it still leaves much to the imagination, and the 19th century saw Santa appear in different-colored clothing, in sizes from miniature to massive, and in a variety of different guises.
It wasn't until the late 19th century, he added, that the image of Santa became standardized as a full-size adult, dressed in red with white fur trim, venturing out from the North Pole in a reindeer-driven sleigh and keeping an eye on children's behavior. The jolly, chubby, grandfatherly face of this Santa was largely created by Thomas Nast , the great political cartoonist in an era that featured many.
Though he undoubtedly means well, Santa has certainly stirred up, and continues to create, more than his fair share of controversy.
Attempts to displace Christmas in Russia were ultimately unsuccessful, as were Soviet attempts to spread a secular version of Grandfather Frost, complete with blue coat to avoid Santa confusion, across Europe.
Santa remains a politicized figure around the world. American troops spread their version of the jolly man around the world in the years immediately following World War II, and he was generally welcomed, Bowler said, as a symbol of American generosity in rebuilding war-ravaged lands. Nowadays, however, people in many nations have Santa on their own naughty list, either because he represents the secular side of Christmas at the expense of the religious.
Sometimes Santa is rejected because he's not a local. Such efforts seem unlikely to stop a growing interest in Santa Claus, but their organizers may save him a few stops on his busy Christmas Eve schedule.
All rights reserved. This story has been updated. It was originally published on December 20, Share Tweet Email. Why it's so hard to treat pain in infants. This wild African cat has adapted to life in a big city. Animals Wild Cities This wild African cat has adapted to life in a big city Caracals have learned to hunt around the urban edges of Cape Town, though the predator faces many threats, such as getting hit by cars. India bets its energy future on solar—in ways both small and big.
Environment Planet Possible India bets its energy future on solar—in ways both small and big Grassroots efforts are bringing solar panels to rural villages without electricity, while massive solar arrays are being built across the country. Go Further. Animals Wild Cities This wild African cat has adapted to life in a big city. Animals This frog mysteriously re-evolved a full set of teeth. Alas, the Nick at Nicea rumor is not true, said English. But people seem to love the story, which pops up like poinsettias on the Internet this time of year.
Thankfully, St. Nicholas, was known for more than brawling. He also had a reputation for giving gifts and protecting children.
The first quality comes from a story about a poor man with three young daughters. Without a dowry to offer suitors, the man worried that his daughters would fall into prostitution. Legend has it that Nicholas dropped three bags of gold through an open window in the man's house, saving the women from the streets.
The second story is a bit macabre: While staying at an inn, Nicholas discovered three dismembered children in pickle barrels. He reassembled and resurrected the briny kids and punished the guilty innkeeper. These deeds, along with his everyman persona, he wasn't a martyr or hermit like so many other model Christians of the time , made Nicholas the greatest male saint of the Middle Ages, said Bowler.
One measure of his popularity is the looong list of people, places, churches and Christian groups that list St.
Nick as their patron. Bowler, Santa's biographer, says that St. Nick's feast day, December 6, the day he supposedly died was celebrated across Europe for hundreds of years, often by giving gifts to children. But, beginning in the s, the Protestant Reformation swept away the cult of Christian saints, denouncing them as unbiblical and idolatrous. Christmas, too, went pretty much by the wayside for much of Protestant Europe during this time.
Some countries, though, such as the Netherlands, kept alive traditions associated with Sinterklaas. And it was these customs that 19th century New Yorkers wanted to revive. As they sought to make Christmas more family friendly, the Saint Nicholas Society found the perfect front man in their namesake, who, after all, was known for being nice to children. It was a genius move. The real goal was getting drunks off the street, remember? Now they could do that by turning Christmas into a family event when children -- who had it pretty rough back then -- would receive gifts for good behavior.
But the Knickerbockers needed more than good cheer to change Christmas. They needed stories. Drawing on the Dutch legends about Sinterklaas, the American author Washington Irving wrote a series of sketches featuring St. Nicholas soaring high above New York houses, smoking a pipe and delivering presents to well-behaved children.
0コメント