There are many names this time of year; Santa Claus, Kris
Kringle, Old Saint Nick, Father Christmas, but where did Santa come from and
why does he come down the chimney instead of knocking on the door?
It is said that Santa Claus was a true individual, known as
Saint Nicholas, a Bishop from Asia during the fourth century. Saint Nicholas
was a son of a wealthy family and inherited his family fortune at a young age
upon the death of his parents. Nicholas was a kind individual who helped the
poor and in secret shared his wealth with the less fortunate.
It is a story about St. Nicholas that the tradition of
hanging stockings on the fireplace is born. It is said that a very poor man had
three daughters that were unable to marry because he could not provide a dowry
for them. (A dowry was a payment made to
the groom on the day of the wedding to marry daughters. They included money,
furniture, jewelry and anything valuable.) St. Nicholas heard of the man’s
misfortune and decided to help the family.
While he did not deliver his gift the Santa Claus way of
climbing down the chimney, he did drop a bag of gold down the chimney. The
following morning the man found the bag of gold where it landed, inside a
stocking that had been hanging by the fire to dry. With this money the man’s
oldest daughter was able to marry. St. Nicholas repeated this for the second
daughter in secret but the man wanted to know who was delivering these gifts.
The man waited by the chimney every night to see who was
bringing the gold to his daughters. When the man caught St. Nicholas, he was
asked not to tell anyone the name of the person bringing the gold, but the word
was spread about St. Nicholas and from that point on, anytime a gift was left
in secret it was said to be the work of St. Nicholas.*
Images from: www.USpostagestamps.com and www.hilltopgardencentre.co.uk
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