Christmas is coming! Everyone in the world is counting down the day until this undoubtedly the happiest holiday. People bring in the festive mood with light-hearted movies, red and green ornaments, and delicious food, believing that the “Santa Claus is coming into town.” Children are praying to the Santa to drive his sleigh and secretly put nice toys and candies in stockings and under the trees in their home overnight. This man with a red coat, red hat with white fur, and red boots with a red bag full of gifts is indeed special to all. However, do we actually know who this mysterious- and even mythical-man is? Why is everyone waiting and praying for him to arrive?

A history of Santa Claus goes all the way back to the 4th century. is originated from Saint Nicholas, a Catholic bishop from Turkey. He was known for his kindness to everyone. One day, he heard the news that three daughters of a family in a town of Myra were too poor to have a marriage, and St. Nicholas wanted to help them without anyone knowing. So on one night, when everyone was asleep, he carefully left the gold that their oldest daughter could take as a dowry. The next day, he left another gold for the second daughter. He was caught by daughters’ dad when leaving the gold for the third daughter. These gifts saved the girls, and he was started to be called as the protector of the poor. After this and several other charitable works, St. Nicholas became a character that symbolizes Christmas. In the Netherlands, St. Nicholas was called “Sint-Nicolaas” to “Sinter Claes,” and these ended up with “Sinterklaas”. It was spread across the English language and combined with Christmas celebrations. The celebrations have continued to the present in countries such as Turkey, Europe and the United States.

Different countries also have an adapted version of this story for Santa Claus based on their culture. In Greece, St. Basilis (Basilios) of Cesaria plays Santa Claus. They celebrate on the first day of January, which is an adult’s day. Turkey, another Secular country, celebrate Christmas on the 31st, too. The way we interpret and celebrate Christmas and Santa Claus varies across many countries.

<Yeonwoo Choi/ KIS Jeju 11th>