Christmas Unwrapped: A Kid's Winter Wonderland of Holiday Trivia
W ho is the big guy in the red suit Of course you know Over the years his name has changed and so has the way he looks He was a real person named Nicholas who was born in Turkey and became a bishop and then a saint He is the patron saint of children He must have been a very special person to be remembered through history for 1,700 years His birthday is celebrated each year on December 6 On St Nicholas Day in many countries around the world someone dressed as St Nicholas visits children bringing them 6
small gifts In Spain and the Netherlands St Nicholas checks in with boys and girls to see who’s been naughty or nice Their name for him is Sinterklass When the Dutch came to settle in New York Sinterklass became Santa Claus The legend of St Nicholas has traveled a long way around the world and down through time to become our Santa Claus Here’s what St Nicholas looked like back then see left and here is Santa Claus now 7
Why does our Santa look like he does I t’s because of a poem and a picture We didn’t used to have an American version of Santa A Visit from St Nicholas written in 1823 changed all that The poem captured people’s imaginations The poet Clement Clarke Moore names St Nicholas in the poem but his description is of a jolly old man that we all now think of as Santa His eyes how they twinkled his dimples how merry His cheeks were like roses his nose like a cherry His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow And the things this bearded old man in red did Jumping down chimneys Riding a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer Bringing us presents This was a Santa we could all love Luckily the poem inspired Thomas Nast Mr Nast was a cartoonist In 1881 he drew a picture of Santa Claus see right that looks old-fashioned to us now but is the great-great-grandpa of our Santa today 8
