Santa et.c...

Santa Claus, as we know him now, is completely different to the original St. Nicholas who he evolved from. St. Nicholas was the bishop of Turkey in the 4th century and was well kown across Europe for his generosity and popularity with children. He was so well loved that many countries started to celebrate St. Nicholas' Day on the sixth of December which would involve giving and recieving gifts.

We have coca cola to thank for Santa's trademark red outfit. The original Santa Claus was said to be dressed in bright, multicolourd clothes, but, to make the coca cola bottle stand out they changed the clothes to red.

Filling stockings up with presents is on of the odder traditions of Christmas. There are loads of myths and theories about why we do it. My favourite one is about St. Nicholas. Saint Nicholas was said to be very kind to the poor and to give anonymously. The story tells that there was a very poor widower who couldn't afford to pay a dowry for his daughter to get married. St. Nicholas found out about it and wanted to help so he threw coins down the chimney( so they wouldn't see him) and they landed in the daughter's stockings which were drying by the fire. This tale could also be the reason that Santa is said to go down the chimney.

Santa's flying reindeer don't seem to have a solid origin either. Some people say that it's to do with a type of mushroom the reideer eat, others say that it has something to do with reindeer drinking human urine and vice versa after eating the mushrooms and the effects it could have on both's brains, while others credit it to the imagination of Clement Clarke Moore and 'The Night Before Christmas'. I guess there are somethings you can never know...

Names For St. Nick:

In the UK, Ireland, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and USA St. NIcholas is usually called Santa Claus, Santa or Father Christmas.

In the Netherlands he is commonly called Sint Klass.

Babbo Natale, or Father Christmas , delivers the presents in Italy.

In China, he's known as Shengan Laoen.

In Morocco, the alternative to Santa is Black Peter and in Spain Papa Noel pays a visit every year.

( Thanks to lone-star.net for the names of santa.)

Food!

No one can deny that food is a big part of Christmas. Traditional Christmas dinners are different around the world. For example, when I think of Christmas dinner I think of turkey, ham and plum pudding but if I lived in Czech Republic fried carp and potatoe salad might come to mind.

In Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine the big meal comes on Christmas eve, when it is traditional to have a twelve coarse supper which can't contain meat and in France a variety of seafood is traditional.

Image from: http://bestuff.com/stuff/giving-presents

Christmas Presents

For lots of people giving and getting gifts is their favourite part of Christmas.The idea of giving presents on christmas comes from Bethlehem and the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh that the Three Wise Men gave to Jesus at his birth but it only became a part of Christmas until late in the 18th century and it took until the 1840s for it to become the usual thing to do( because of ads going up in shop windows).

Giving gifts around this time of year was not a new thing. In France, nuns used to give gifts to the poor on St. Nicholas Eve, in Northern Europe duringYule gifts of food which contained wheat were often given and in ancient Rome people used to give gifts on Saturnalia( December 17th) which was the day dedicated to their god Saturn.

Introduction

Hi, I'm Aislinn and I'm going to do my blog an Christmas traditions. I'm going to try and find out about why we spend Christmas the way we do and how Christmas traditions are different around the world.