Where does Santa live?
The popular legend is that Santa lives on the snow fields of the North Pole. But Europeans believe that their Father Christmas lives in the Lapland Province of Finland. However, in both versions, Santa lives in the company of his wife, numerous magical elves and flying reindeers. While the elves prepare gifts, the reindeers pull Santa’s sleigh on his Christmas tour.
How to welcome Santa Claus?
In several cultures, it is customary to welcome Santa with refreshments. While children in the US and Canada leave cookies and a glass of milk, sherry and mince pies are offered to Father Christmas in the UK and Australia. Children of Sweden keep rice porridge for Santa. In Ireland, Guinness is also offered along with cookies and milk. Little ones in all the cultures also keep a carrot beside Santa’s refreshment. It is for his reindeer.
Santa’s Christmas gifts
“On the Christmas night, when you are in deep sleep, Santa will come on a sleigh pulled by cute reindeers and leave gifts on our window. Remember! Santa visits only good children. Dear little one, be a good child, if you want Santa’s gift…” – for long, these words, perhaps with slight variations, have presented millions of children a sweet dream and of course, kept them off from naughtiness for a while.
Santa, as children are told, would bring candies and toys for good children. He enters houses through chimneys and leaves gifts in children’s stockings hung in front of the fireplace. Popular Christmas song ‘Santa Claus is coming to town’ exhorts children to be ‘nice’ and get rewarded with toy dolls, elephants, trains, boats and the like.
Christmas stockings
Ever wondered why Santa enters houses through the chimney and leaves gifts in a rather odd choice – the stockings? Well, this strange portrayal is inspired by the life of Bishop Nicholas of Myra. The origin of Santa Claus itself is based on the life of Bishop Nicholas, who was canonised after his death.
The story goes like this: Once Nicholas, the bishop of Myra, came to know the ordeal of an old gentleman who had no money to marry off his three beautiful daughters. The bishop wanted to help, but he very well knew that the old man will not accept an undue favour.
The bishop devised a strange plan to help the old man out of the crisis. One night, he crept into the old man’s house through the chimney carrying three bags of gold coins. But the bishop couldn’t find a suitable place to leave the coins except the girls’ stockings hung above the mantelpiece for drying. He put one bag each in three stockings and left the place. Next day morning the old man found the gold coins and needless to say became happy. He married off his daughters and all of them lived happily ever after.
The belief of Santa Claus creeping in through chimneys and leaving gifts in stockings is based on this incident. On Christmas Eve, children hang a stocking or a bag in the shape of a stocking at their houses for Santa Claus to leave gifts.
How to welcome Santa Claus?
In several cultures, it is customary to welcome Santa with refreshments. While children in the US and Canada leave cookies and a glass of milk, sherry and mince pies are offered to Father Christmas in the UK and Australia. Children of Sweden keep rice porridge for Santa. In Ireland, Guinness is also offered along with cookies and milk. Little ones in all the cultures also keep a carrot beside Santa’s refreshment. It is for his reindeer.
Santa’s Christmas gifts
“On the Christmas night, when you are in deep sleep, Santa will come on a sleigh pulled by cute reindeers and leave gifts on our window. Remember! Santa visits only good children. Dear little one, be a good child, if you want Santa’s gift…” – for long, these words, perhaps with slight variations, have presented millions of children a sweet dream and of course, kept them off from naughtiness for a while.
Santa, as children are told, would bring candies and toys for good children. He enters houses through chimneys and leaves gifts in children’s stockings hung in front of the fireplace. Popular Christmas song ‘Santa Claus is coming to town’ exhorts children to be ‘nice’ and get rewarded with toy dolls, elephants, trains, boats and the like.
Christmas stockings
Ever wondered why Santa enters houses through the chimney and leaves gifts in a rather odd choice – the stockings? Well, this strange portrayal is inspired by the life of Bishop Nicholas of Myra. The origin of Santa Claus itself is based on the life of Bishop Nicholas, who was canonised after his death.
The story goes like this: Once Nicholas, the bishop of Myra, came to know the ordeal of an old gentleman who had no money to marry off his three beautiful daughters. The bishop wanted to help, but he very well knew that the old man will not accept an undue favour.
The bishop devised a strange plan to help the old man out of the crisis. One night, he crept into the old man’s house through the chimney carrying three bags of gold coins. But the bishop couldn’t find a suitable place to leave the coins except the girls’ stockings hung above the mantelpiece for drying. He put one bag each in three stockings and left the place. Next day morning the old man found the gold coins and needless to say became happy. He married off his daughters and all of them lived happily ever after.
The belief of Santa Claus creeping in through chimneys and leaving gifts in stockings is based on this incident. On Christmas Eve, children hang a stocking or a bag in the shape of a stocking at their houses for Santa Claus to leave gifts.
