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This December, are you throwing a Christmas celebration? A Hanukkah hullabaloo? A Kwanza ceremony? Any other kind of party? If you’re not, you should be, and if you are…
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PSST! Don’t Tell the Kids…
Where Santa Claus Really Came From
Many ancient cultures had a day of gift-giving, but did you know a lot of them also developed Santa-like characters? Many of these blended together to create the modern-day Santa Claus. For instance:
- The real Saint Nicholas, a Greek-Christian bishop, was a generous man and famous for his gifts to the poor
- Sinterklaas was a fictional Dutch winter holiday figure who rode from house to house on a white horse
- The major Germanic god Odin rode a gray horse in the sky
- Scandinavian Tomte was a short, bearded man who wore gray clothes and a red hat
- A goat represented gift-giving for Iceland and Finland
- Father Christmas evolved from the Ghost of Christmas Present in Charles Dickens’ book A Christmas Carol
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