where did the idea of santa come from?

Question

where did the idea originate from? and how does it relate to christmas?

Answer 1

The idea he was involved with presents is a commercial invention of capitalist greed

Answer 2

Santa originated in 1624 by the Dutch. It was a man named Chris Kringle who visited the village every year on December 5th.. then was later known as St. Nicholas. He delivered fruits and gifts to children and families who were less fortunate. The children would leave their wooden shoes out on the doorstep the eve of December 5th, hence, this is where the signifigance of the stocking came from. Actually, the true Santa Clause day is December 5th. Sometime in the early 1700's the European Christians incorpporated St. Nicholas with Christmas and started celebrating St. Nick Day on Christmas Day with Jesus' Birthday. Happy Holidays!

Answer 3

The Roman feast of Saturnalia (which later evolved into Lupercalia and then was supplanted by Christmas) may have elements in it related to Christmas traditions and the idea of Santa Claus. The deity Saturn in ancient Rome was a god of mirth and abundance and was associated with the solstice. He was envisioned as being a distinguished but jolly older man (he was also married to the goddess Ops who symbolized the work of the harvest and of the nurturing earth--a kind of grandmotherly figure, like Mrs. Claus). During Saturnalia, candles, figurines, and cookies were exchanged as gifts and little gifts (the figurines and cookies) were especially distributed to children. It was a time to be grateful for getting through the year, enjoying and being thankful for the harvest and for preparing for the new year and the new light of spring and growth.

Answer 4

St Nicholas

Answer 5

Someone made up a fictious man and put him up there with God. Isn't that something SAtan would do?
Does he really know if children are good or bad?
Since the bible says only God himself knows our thoughts.
When you ask chidlren about Christmas they do not say our savior Jesus Christ was born on that day.
They say Santa Clause is bringing me some presents.

Answer 6

it comes form a man in a town/village who would leave fruits and coins on the doorsteps of unfotunate children. cant recall the country of origin, but its either european or middle eastern. look it up on wikipedia

Answer 7

A marketing agent!

Answer 8

it relates how the Jesus was born and the old men came to see him and they gave him presents like toys jewels and gold stuff like that.

Answer 9

The Santa Claus

The American version of the Santa Claus figure received its inspiration and its name from the Dutch legend of Sinter Klaas, brought by settlers to New York in the 17th century.

As early as 1773 the name appeared in the American press as "St. A Claus," but it was the popular author Washington Irving who gave Americans their first detailed information about the Dutch version of Saint Nicholas. In his History of New York, published in 1809 under the pseudonym Diedrich Knickerbocker, Irving described the arrival of the saint on horseback (unaccompanied by Black Peter) each Eve of Saint Nicholas.

This Dutch-American Saint Nick achieved his fully Americanized form in 1823 in the poem A Visit From Saint Nicholas more commonly known as The Night Before Christmas by writer Clement Clarke Moore. Moore included such details as the names of the reindeer; Santa Claus's laughs, winks, and nods; and the method by which Saint Nicholas, referred to as an elf, returns up the chimney. (Moore's phrase "lays his finger aside of his nose" was drawn directly from Irving's 1809 description.)
The American image of Santa Claus was further elaborated by illustrator Thomas Nast, who depicted a rotund Santa for Christmas issues of Harper's magazine from the 1860s to the 1880s. Nast added such details as Santa's workshop at the North Pole and Santa's list of the good and bad children of the world. A human-sized version of Santa Claus, rather than the elf of Moore's poem, was depicted in a series of illustrations for Coca-Cola advertisements introduced in 1931. In modern versions of the Santa Claus legend, only his toy-shop workers are elves. Rudolph, the ninth reindeer, with a red and shiny nose, was invented in 1939 by an advertising writer for the Montgomery Ward Company.

In looking for the historical roots of Santa Claus, one must go very deep in the past. One discovers that Santa Claus as we know him is a combination of many different legends and mythical creatures. The basis for the Christian-era Santa Claus is Bishop Nicholas of Smyrna (Izmir), in what is now Turkey. Nicholas lived in the 4th century A.D. He was very rich, generous, and loving toward children. Often he gave joy to poor children by throwing gifts in through their windows.

The Orthodox Church later raised St. Nicholas, miracle worker, to a position of great esteem. It was in his honor that Russia's oldest church, for example, was built. For its part, the Roman Catholic Church honored Nicholas as one who helped children and the poor. St. Nicholas became the patron saint of children and seafarers. His name day is December 6th.

PictureIn the Protestant areas of central and northern Germany, St. Nicholas later became known as der Weinachtsmann. In England he came to be called Father Christmas. St. Nicholas made his way to the United States with Dutch immigrants, and began to be referred to as Santa Claus.
In North American poetry and illustrations, Santa Claus, in his white beard, red jacket and pompom-topped cap, would sally forth on the night before Christmas in his sleigh, pulled by eight reindeer, and climb down chimneys to leave his gifts in stockings children set out on the fireplace's mantelpiece.
Children naturally wanted to know where Santa Claus actually came from. Where did he live when he wasn't delivering presents? Those questions gave rise to the legend that Santa Claus lived at the North Pole, where his Christmas-gift workshop was also located.

In 1925, since grazing reindeer would not be possible at the North Pole, newspapers revealed that Santa Claus in fact lived in Finnish Lapland. "Uncle Markus", Markus Rautio, who compared the popular "Children's hour" on Finnish public radio, revealed the great secret for the first time in 1927: Santa Claus lives on Lapland's Korvatunturi - "Ear Fell"