About Santa Claus
Who is Father Christmas, Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick ... or sometimes just plain Santa.
Saint Nicholas is one of the most popular saints in Christendom, especially in the East. He is the patron saint of Russia, of parish clerks, of scholars, of pawnbrokers, of little children and Aberdeen.
He started life as 4th Century Anatolian Bishop and has made an epic journey over hundreds of years from the Cyprus-shaded churchyards of Turkey to a snowy hideaway in the North Pole (with a Toy Workshop in Lapland)… from where he travels around the world and down our chimneys.
St. Nicholas (real name Osios Nicklaus) was born in AD 280, in Patara, a city in Asia Minor.
He was the son of a rich man but his parents died as he reached adulthood. He inherited a lot of money, joined the church and with great dedication managed to become the Bishop of Myra in Lycia (now part of Turkey) at a very young age.
Bit by bit – and why we shall never know – he gave away his fortune for the welfare of children.
He soon became known as “The Gift Giver of Myra”, but his gifts were given late at night so that his identity would remain a secret. It is directly from this that the legend that the children should go to bed and to sleep quickly or he would not come originated.
Despite his young years Nicholas gained the reputation of kindness and wisdom. He continued his good work until his death on 6th December, AD 343… which is still celebrated in Holland as St Nicholas’ Day.
But of course, the magic of the great man has never really died at all!
Annual festive revelries have been enjoyed without hesitation through the years, until the time of Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans. They hated Christmas and described it as “the heathen’s feasting day” and “the multitude’s idle day”. Cromwell actually banned Christmas in Britain in 1647 and insisted that the Lord Mayor of London set fire to any street decorations. But many people still managed to celebrate the festival secretly. Food specialities, including Christmas puddings, were sent over from France.
In 1660, Charles II returned to the throne and restored Christmas to the calendar, although for a time the celebrations were subdued.
It was in the l9th century when Christmas began to form itself into a time of parties, presents, decorations, pantomimes, food and drink. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were particularly active in encouraging us all to shape the magic of Christmas as a family festival in Great Britain (it could be argued that Albert introduced the tradition of the decorated Christmas tree)… and this inspired the likes of Charles Dickens to write about it, too.
The first recorded ‘time’ that Santa actually appeared LIVE in a department store was 1890 at the James Edgar Store in Brockton, Massachusetts. He has since appeared in department stores all over the world.
First one in England? Selfridges.