Santa Claus

Photo: Santa Claus and his reindeer on postcard

It is believed that Santa Claus brings toys, sweets and other gifts for children during Christmas celebrations. He is also known as St. Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Christingle, Christkind and by many more names.

Santa Claus is a fictional character that cannot be traced to early Christian traditions or the Bible. His name first appeared in the American press in 1773 as a phonetic derivation of Sinterklaas.

The current image of Santa Claus is a combination of Father Christmas and another traditional gift-giver, Saint Nicholas who is known in Dutch as Sinterklaas. Saint Nicholas was a bishop, who lived in Greece in the 4th century AD.

According to the North American legend, Santa Claus lives at the North Pole with his wife Mrs. Santa Claus. He remains busy the whole year in his workshop making toys with the help of his elves.

On the Christmas Eve, he loads his sleigh with toys and other gifts and flies around the world. His sleigh is drawn by eight reindeer through the sky, stopping at each child’s house. He slides down the fireplace chimney of the house and leaves gifts for the child.

Traditionally, children leave for Santa refreshments like milk, cookies, Christmas pudding or other Christmas delicacies. They also leave carrots for Santa's reindeer.

It is believed that Santa categorizes children as good or bad according to their behavior. He presents good children with toys and other gifts. He gives lumps of coal for children who do not behave well.

Traditionally, children have been writing letters to Santa for many years, with wish lists of toys and promising good behavior. Postal authorities of countries such as Canada, Finland and UK have provided Santa Claus addresses with postcodes.

Santa Claus is a very popular figure for businesses. He appears in advertisements, sales promotions and other marketing programs weeks before Christmas.