Listening 19 – Listen for specific words

The story of the origin of our dear old Santa Claus is – there are several major characters that have contributed to the creation of this cultural .

Most people in the West have been told that Santa Claus is simply a caricature of Saint Nicholas, who lived in Asia Minor around 270-343 AD. However there are a huge number of elements and surrounding Santa Claus that are derived from Norse mythology.

For example, in Scandinavian households the god by the name of Odin was usually said to have left presents for the children, and the assertion that Santa down into your house through the chimney developed from a tale in Old Norse legend wherein the goddess Hertha manifested in the fireplace and brought good to the home.

Odin was depicted as a tall, old man with a white beard, a cloak, who rode the skies and the seas on his lightning-fast eight-legged horse – you can see that the relation to our modern of Santa Claus soaring through the sky with his reindeer is not too far-fetched. 

Later, as evolved, the compelling figure of Saint Nicholas comes along. Saint Nicholas was a Christian bishop who lived in the region of modern-day Turkey. He was known for his benevolence and for performing to help the poor. One tale says that he miraculously supplied gifts of to three girls as marriage dowries so that they could avoid the fate of becoming prostitutes. Saint Nicholas’ feast day (and perhaps his ) was in early December.

Over time and after the Reformation, Saint Nicholas was largely , except for in Holland – where he had become the folkloric figure of Sinterklaas; a wise and kindly old man with a white beard, dressed in white and red clothing and the skies and roofs of the houses on his horse, accompanied by his mischievous helpers.

These helpers, which would later become elves, had the uncanny to ascertain your behavior and know whether you deserved presents or harsh punishment – this is thought to be a Christian disciplinarian . If you were bad, you were said to be sent in a bag to Spain, where Sinterklaas was said to reside.

In the 17^th century, the Dutch took to the seas and in North America, bringing their Sinterklaas stories with them. This name was anglicized to Santa Claus, and merged with the English figure known as “Father Christmas,” a large man in fur-lined robes who typified the of good cheer at Christmastime, bringing peace, joy, and good food and .

Sometime in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the eight-legged horse was with a fleet of reindeer and Santa Claus’ residence was moved from Spain to the North Pole. In 1930, the designer for Coca Cola was asked to come up with a advertisement for the company using Coca-Cola’s traditional red and white colors, thus popularizing the modern image of Santa Claus.

Today, it is traditional for children to out treats for Santa such as milk and cookies, as well as to write him letters with their Christmas wish lists. When mailed, these letters are actually by postal workers and volunteers; in 2009 Canadian workers replied to more than 1 million letters to Santa Claus written in 30 different .