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Christmas
Father |
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When
we think about Christmas the image come to our mind
is a fat jolly white-bearded man
dressed in a red suit trimmed with white, and driving
a sleigh full of toys drawn through the air by eight
reindeer. He is our favorite Christmas
father or Father Christmas.! |
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Kids,
Please visit these links for more pictures, stories
of christmas
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He also known as St Nicholas /
St Nick or Santa Claus and first appeared in
a drawing by Thomas Nast in Harper's Magazine in 1868.
The legend is, he visits every home on Christmas Eve,
descending down the chimney to leave presents under
the tree and in the stockings of all good children.
It is believed that St. Nicholas was a 4th-century bishop
of Asia Minor, defending young children, and especially
for giving generous gifts to the poor.
Many of the stories about Nicholas are of doubtful authenticity
such as his delivering a bag of gold by dropping it
down a chimney. However his legend spread widely throughout
Europe, emphasizing his role as a traditional bringer
of gifts and a saint whose life story symbolized love,
caring, and generosity.
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The
Christian St. Nicholas replaced by various gift-giving
figures such as the Roman Befana
and the Germanic Berchta and Knecht Ruprecht.
He was also called Sankt Nikolaus
in Germany and Sanct Herr Nicholaas
or Sinterklaas in Holland. In these countries
Nicholas was sometimes said to ride through the sky
on a horse delivering gifts.
In 1969,
because the saint's life was so thinly documented, Pope
Paul VI ordered the feast of St Nicholas to be dropped
from the official Roman Catholic calendar.
Now in Christmas season, Santa
Claus’s picture or cut out became an inevitable
display item of any shop/ department stores and is widely
used all over the world for advertising, greeting cards,
seasonal decorations.
Children write letters to Father Christmas, Santa Claus,
detailing their requests. There is also a town called
Santa Claus. All the letters which are posted in America
addressed to Santa go there to be dealt with. An average
of three million mails in a year is posted to Santa
in America. A twenty-three foot colored statue stands
in Santa's honor. Children may be thanking Santa Claus
for new toys. More children believe in Father Christmas
than in Jesus!!.
Some argue that the Santa Claus story conflicts with
the true meaning of Christmas and merely promotes greed
and commercialism.
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