On hearing the name of Christmas, the picture of an old man ‘Santa Claus’ with a white and long beard, wearing a red robe and a cap with a feather on his head, carrying a bag of toys on his back, starts emerging in the minds of the children.
On Christmas (December 25), children especially wait for Santa Claus because on this day he brings a lot of gifts and different types of toys for the children. Children of the Christian community have been considering Santa Claus as an angel because they believe that Santa Claus comes directly from heaven to earth with gifts for them and goes back to heaven by distributing toffees, chocolates, fruits, toys, and other gifts. Children also affectionately call Santa Claus ‘Christmas Father’.
The attraction of not only children of the Christian community towards Santa Claus but also children of other communities around the world has increased a lot in recent times and one of the reasons for this is that on the 25th of December in different cities people become Santa Claus in different public places. Or, standing at the intersections, children from each community can be seen lovingly distributing gifts.
But after getting gifts from Santa Claus, the question arises in the mind of most of the children that after all, who is Santa Claus who gives gifts and loves them so much and where does it come from and why does it give gifts to the children? To keep children’s hearts, some parents tell them that he is an angel, who comes from heaven on Christmas night on his eight reindeer sled and goes back to heaven after distributing gifts to children, while some children’s parents pique their curiosity by saying that Santa Claus comes from a snowy country far away.
Today we are telling you who is Santa Claus and why does he come every year to give gifts only on December 25? Santa Claus is Saint Nicholas born in the fourth century in a town near Myra (now known as Turkey).
Who Was Santa Claus
Saint Nicholas’s father was a very big businessman, who while giving good values to Nicholas and inspired him to always be kind to others and help the needy. All these things had such an effect on Nicholas that he was always ready to help the needy. He had a special love for children.
From all his wealth, he would buy many toys for the children and throw them through the windows in their homes. In memory of Saint Nicholas, ‘Saint Nicholas Day‘ was also celebrated every year on 6 December in some places. The belief behind this was that he used to give money and gifts for the marriage of poor girls on this day, but he used to distribute gifts to the children only on 25 December.
Some people also believe that some people who were jealous of the popularity of Saint Nicholas had killed him on 6th December, that is why ‘Saint Nicholas Day’ was started on 6th December. But currently, children wait for Santa Claus only on December 25.
These Stories Are Popular About Santa Claus
There are many stories about Santa Claus. It is said that once Nicholas came to know about a man from Myra, who was very rich but some time ago he had become poor due to heavy losses in business. The man had four daughters but he was left with nothing for their marriage. Even for his family, there was a shortage of food.
When he was not able to see such a bad condition of his family and the girls became marriageable, he decided that he would sell one of these girls and maintain his family with the money received from him and marry the rest of the daughters. The next day he slept through the night thinking of selling one of his daughters, but the same night Saint Nicholas arrived at his house and secretly left through the window a bag full of gold coins.
In the morning when the man opened his eyes and saw a bag full of gold coins lying near the window, he was very surprised that where did this bag come from? He looked around but did not see anyone anywhere, so thank God, he kept the bag with him and married his four daughters one by one with pomp. Later he came to know that this bag was left by Saint Nicholas at his house for the marriage of his daughters.
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Children of Christian families can also be seen drying their socks outside their homes during the night in some countries on Christmas Day. The belief behind this is that Santa Claus will come at night and fill his favorite gifts in his socks. There is a prevailing story about this too. It is said that once Santa Claus saw children from some poor families drying their socks by baking them on fire. When the children fell asleep, Santa Claus filled their socks with gold pieces and quietly left.
In view of Nicholas’s compassion towards every person and his spirit to help the needy, at the behest of all the clergy of the city of Myra, the clergy of the neighboring towns, and the dignitaries of the city, after the death of the Bishop of Myra, Nicholas was given the title of Myra. A new bishop was appointed because everyone believed that God had sent Nicholas to guide them all.
Nicholas’ responsibilities as bishop increased. As a bishop, he now had to take care of the needs of every person in the city. Wherever a person was in trouble, Nicholas would reach there at that very moment, fulfilling his needs and without waiting for his thanks, he would go ahead to meet the needs of the other needy. He took special care that every person in the city should get enough food, a good place to live and the marriage of all the daughters should be completed with pomp.
This was the reason why Nicholas became very famous as a saint and not only the common man but also thieves and robbers also fell in love with him. His fame began to spread, and when his fame spread to Northern Europe, people began to respectfully call Nicholas ‘Clause’. Since the Catholic Church gave him the title of ‘Saint’, he came to be called ‘Saint Claus’. This name later became ‘Santa Claus’, which is currently known as ‘Santa Claus’.
Nicholas had a special affinity for sailors and children playing with dangers in the sea. This is the reason why Saint Nicholas (Santa Claus) is also called the ‘Saint of Children and Sailors‘. After the death of Nicholas, Asia’s oldest church was built in his memory, which is still known as ‘St. Nicholas Church’, which is a mass religious place of both Christians and Muslims.
