Brody
December 5th, 2011, 05:17 PM
Here is another good one, may it bomb like the Christmas Carol History one:lmao::lmao:
So who is the guy in the red suit that creeps into our chimneys, porky as he is?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus#Influence_of_Germanic_paganism_and_fol klore
In the Netherlands (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands), Belgium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgium) and Luxembourg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxembourg), Saint Nicolas, ("Sinterklaas", often called "De Goede Sint" — "The Good Saint") is aided by helpers commonly known as Zwarte Piet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zwarte_Piet) in Dutch ("Black Peter") or "Père Fouettard" in French. His feast on December 6 came to be celebrated in many countries with the giving of gifts. However, in the Netherlands the Dutch celebrate on the evening of December 5, with a celebration called "pakjesavond". In the Reformation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestant_Reformation) in 16th-17th century Europe, many Protestants and others changed the gift bringer to the Christ Child or Christkindl (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christkindl), and the date for giving gifts changed from December 6 to Christmas Eve.[20] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus#cite_note-19)
Scandinavian folklore
In the 1840s, an elf in Nordic folklore called "Tomte (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomte)" or "Nisse" started to deliver the Christmas presents in Denmark (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denmark). The Tomte was portrayed as a short, bearded man dressed in gray clothes and a red hat. This new version of the age-old folkloric creature was obviously inspired by the Santa Claus traditions that were now spreading to Scandinavia. By the end of the 19th century this tradition had also spread to Norway (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway) and Sweden (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden), replacing the Yule Goat. The same thing happened in Finland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland), but there the more human figure retained the Yule Goat name. But even though the tradition of the Yule Goat as a bringer of presents is now all but extinct, a straw goat is still a common Christmas decoration in all of Scandinavia.
Father Christmas
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/Santaandgoat.gif/220px-Santaandgoat.gif (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Santaandgoat.gif) http://bits.wikimedia.org/skins-1.18/common/images/magnify-clip.png (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Santaandgoat.gif)
Folk tale (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_tale) depiction of Father Christmas riding on a goat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goat)
Main article: Father Christmas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Christmas)
Father Christmas dates back at least as far as the 17th century in Britain, and pictures of him survive from that era, portraying him as a jolly well-nourished bearded man dressed in a long, green, fur-lined robe.[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)] He typified the spirit of good cheer at Christmas, and was reflected as the "Ghost of Christmas Present", in Charles Dickens (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dickens)'s festive classic A Christmas Carol (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Carol), a great genial man in a green coat lined with fur who takes Scrooge through the bustling streets of London (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London) on the current Christmas morning, sprinkling the essence of Christmas onto the happy populace.[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)]
Origins
Pre-modern representations of the gift-giver from church history and folklore, notably St Nicholas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Nicholas) and Sinterklaas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas), merged with the British character Father Christmas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Christmas) to create the character known to Britons and Americans as Santa Claus.
In the British colonies of North America (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America) and later the United States (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States), British and Dutch versions of the gift-giver merged further. For example, in Washington Irving (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Irving)'s History of New York, (1809), Sinterklaas was Americanized into "Santa Claus" (a name first used in the American press in 1773)[23] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus#cite_note-22) but lost his bishop’s apparel, and was at first pictured as a thick-bellied Dutch sailor with a pipe in a green winter coat. Irving’s book was a lampoon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parody) of the Dutch culture of New York (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York), and much of this portrait is his joking invention.
A bit more and an interesting read:
http://www.orlutheran.com/html/santa.html
In his Folklore on the American Land,9 (http://www.orlutheran.com/html/santa.html#Anchor09) Duncan Emrich tells us of the next evidence we have of the American evolution of Santa Claus. It is a little know poem, "The Children's Friend," first published in 1821. The poem went beyond what Irving had written, mentioning for the first time a flying sleigh and a reindeer. The poem begins:
Old Santeclaus with much delight
His reindeer drives this frosty night.
O'er chimney tops, and tracks of snow,
To bring his yearly gifts to you...
There is universal consensus that the person most responsible for shaping the American version of Santa Claus is Dr. Clement Clark Moore, a theology and classics professor at Union Seminary. What did Moore do to earn this honor? He wrote a simple poem for his children in 1822 entitled, "A Visit from St. Nicholas," that begins with the now famous words,
Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In the hope that St. Nicholas soon would be there.
http://www.orlutheran.com/assets/images/santroof.gifThere is a legend that Moore wrote this poem on Christmas Eve, 1822, during a carriage ride to his home in Greenwich Village and that the inspiration for the St. Nicholas in his story was the jolly Dutchman driving the carriage. Closer to the truth is the observation of Emrich that Moore was probably inspired by Irving's Knickerbocker History and "The Children's Friend," which he almost certainly would have read.
And more here:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/santa1.htm
It's all yours...:lmao::lmao::lmao: Interesting to note that WAY back, his start is always linked to the Norse god Odin.... Oh....and there are some really, really off the chart theories out there including one that started something like "Santa Claus is actually a woman who is a cross dresser with a fake beard..." Didn't get much past that first sentence, (I found myself starting to search frantically for my 'can see the aliens running the world sunglasses', to tell the truth....and started seeing flashbacks of alien run concentration camps hidden across the USA.. You know what I mean...) but it is there somewhere if you are inclined to read it....
So who is the guy in the red suit that creeps into our chimneys, porky as he is?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus#Influence_of_Germanic_paganism_and_fol klore
In the Netherlands (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands), Belgium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgium) and Luxembourg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxembourg), Saint Nicolas, ("Sinterklaas", often called "De Goede Sint" — "The Good Saint") is aided by helpers commonly known as Zwarte Piet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zwarte_Piet) in Dutch ("Black Peter") or "Père Fouettard" in French. His feast on December 6 came to be celebrated in many countries with the giving of gifts. However, in the Netherlands the Dutch celebrate on the evening of December 5, with a celebration called "pakjesavond". In the Reformation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestant_Reformation) in 16th-17th century Europe, many Protestants and others changed the gift bringer to the Christ Child or Christkindl (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christkindl), and the date for giving gifts changed from December 6 to Christmas Eve.[20] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus#cite_note-19)
Scandinavian folklore
In the 1840s, an elf in Nordic folklore called "Tomte (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomte)" or "Nisse" started to deliver the Christmas presents in Denmark (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denmark). The Tomte was portrayed as a short, bearded man dressed in gray clothes and a red hat. This new version of the age-old folkloric creature was obviously inspired by the Santa Claus traditions that were now spreading to Scandinavia. By the end of the 19th century this tradition had also spread to Norway (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway) and Sweden (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden), replacing the Yule Goat. The same thing happened in Finland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland), but there the more human figure retained the Yule Goat name. But even though the tradition of the Yule Goat as a bringer of presents is now all but extinct, a straw goat is still a common Christmas decoration in all of Scandinavia.
Father Christmas
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/Santaandgoat.gif/220px-Santaandgoat.gif (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Santaandgoat.gif) http://bits.wikimedia.org/skins-1.18/common/images/magnify-clip.png (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Santaandgoat.gif)
Folk tale (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_tale) depiction of Father Christmas riding on a goat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goat)
Main article: Father Christmas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Christmas)
Father Christmas dates back at least as far as the 17th century in Britain, and pictures of him survive from that era, portraying him as a jolly well-nourished bearded man dressed in a long, green, fur-lined robe.[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)] He typified the spirit of good cheer at Christmas, and was reflected as the "Ghost of Christmas Present", in Charles Dickens (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dickens)'s festive classic A Christmas Carol (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Carol), a great genial man in a green coat lined with fur who takes Scrooge through the bustling streets of London (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London) on the current Christmas morning, sprinkling the essence of Christmas onto the happy populace.[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)]
Origins
Pre-modern representations of the gift-giver from church history and folklore, notably St Nicholas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Nicholas) and Sinterklaas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas), merged with the British character Father Christmas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Christmas) to create the character known to Britons and Americans as Santa Claus.
In the British colonies of North America (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America) and later the United States (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States), British and Dutch versions of the gift-giver merged further. For example, in Washington Irving (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Irving)'s History of New York, (1809), Sinterklaas was Americanized into "Santa Claus" (a name first used in the American press in 1773)[23] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus#cite_note-22) but lost his bishop’s apparel, and was at first pictured as a thick-bellied Dutch sailor with a pipe in a green winter coat. Irving’s book was a lampoon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parody) of the Dutch culture of New York (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York), and much of this portrait is his joking invention.
A bit more and an interesting read:
http://www.orlutheran.com/html/santa.html
In his Folklore on the American Land,9 (http://www.orlutheran.com/html/santa.html#Anchor09) Duncan Emrich tells us of the next evidence we have of the American evolution of Santa Claus. It is a little know poem, "The Children's Friend," first published in 1821. The poem went beyond what Irving had written, mentioning for the first time a flying sleigh and a reindeer. The poem begins:
Old Santeclaus with much delight
His reindeer drives this frosty night.
O'er chimney tops, and tracks of snow,
To bring his yearly gifts to you...
There is universal consensus that the person most responsible for shaping the American version of Santa Claus is Dr. Clement Clark Moore, a theology and classics professor at Union Seminary. What did Moore do to earn this honor? He wrote a simple poem for his children in 1822 entitled, "A Visit from St. Nicholas," that begins with the now famous words,
Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In the hope that St. Nicholas soon would be there.
http://www.orlutheran.com/assets/images/santroof.gifThere is a legend that Moore wrote this poem on Christmas Eve, 1822, during a carriage ride to his home in Greenwich Village and that the inspiration for the St. Nicholas in his story was the jolly Dutchman driving the carriage. Closer to the truth is the observation of Emrich that Moore was probably inspired by Irving's Knickerbocker History and "The Children's Friend," which he almost certainly would have read.
And more here:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/santa1.htm
It's all yours...:lmao::lmao::lmao: Interesting to note that WAY back, his start is always linked to the Norse god Odin.... Oh....and there are some really, really off the chart theories out there including one that started something like "Santa Claus is actually a woman who is a cross dresser with a fake beard..." Didn't get much past that first sentence, (I found myself starting to search frantically for my 'can see the aliens running the world sunglasses', to tell the truth....and started seeing flashbacks of alien run concentration camps hidden across the USA.. You know what I mean...) but it is there somewhere if you are inclined to read it....