JUST WHO IS THAT MAN IN RED WITH THE FINGER NEXT TO HIS NOSE

COLDER–LIKE ONE DEGREE hey been in Florida too long when 50 is like freezing

Check out my items of note from my various stores and auction sites: https://www.pinterest.com/lindachase56829/the-dragons-lair-from-adventure-chase/

Just Jamie Fraser

check out my outlander Pins: https://www.pinterest.com/lindachase56829/why-i-love-outlander/

AND SO WE MOVE ON TO THAT JOLLY MAN IN RED OR GREEN AS THE LEGEND MIGHT GO.

First there really was a Nicholas and of course he was a Saint. Born near Myra in what is now Turkey, he from my limited reading appears to have been a wealthy man who gave away all and became a monk during the 3rd century. He roamed the country helping the poor and eventually became a bishop (at which time I would assume he was no longer living in poverty). He died on December 6 (his feast day) and eventually became the patron saint of children and, who knew, sailors. Perhaps one of his greatest accomplishment was that his popularity survived the Renaissance and Reformation which many of his fellow saints failed to do—in fact in some European countries they still give gifts on his feast day rather than the later Dec. 25 date

The Dutch (who originally owned Manhattan if you remember that old story) seem to be the first group of settlers who celebrated Santa on his December 6 Feast Day in the 1770’s. In fact the name Santa Claus came from the Dutch Sinter Klaas.

So we had the name and by the 1800’s the look. Thomas Nast’s drawing (above) of St. Nick in 1881 cemented our concept of the fat jolly man in red. His popularity was furthered by such writer’s as Washington Irving and an Episcopal Minister Clement Clark Moors who wrote a poem for his daughters which would become our Night Before Christmas.

By the 1890’s there were lots of commercially hired Santa Claus’ including those working for charities and those in commercial establishments catering to children and the parents who bought them gifts.

Of course there are claims of pagan origins such as the head of the Yule (occurred around Christmas time in pagan times) time Wild Hunt and the bearded leader of the hunt , but these seem a bit of a hard reach to me.

Some of our present ideas of Santa though are very probably from Father Christmas, who was a character which was born around the time and court of Henry VIII. He was a large man (not to be confused with the king who while fat was far from what anyone would call cheerful) who wore green or scarlet robes and the celebration was on the Dec 6 feast day. He lived on in history and was revisited by the Victorians who took him as an emblem of “good cheer” and added him to the December 25th celebration date.

Today our Santas still stand on street corners for charity and in commercial places to sell toys to parents who bring their children to visit. And of course there is print, TV and radio ads featuring the old man to sell everything from Coke (above) to (in the past –see below) Cigarettes.