St. Nicholas (270 – 343 A.D.)
and recall his protection of children, of the poor and a concern for seafarers.
He was the bishop of Myra, in what is now southern Turkey, and dedicated his life to helping those in need. It was his reputation for secret gift-giving that would evolve into "Father Christmas" or "Santa Claus". “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” started as a poem by Clement Clarke Moore was published in 1823 and is best known as “’Twas the Night Before Christmas”.
It introduced the lasting image of Santa with his reindeer and sleigh and assigned his visit as occurring on Christmas Eve. Filling chimney-hung stockings is an tradition that predates even the Dutch, whose tradition is to fill their children’s wooden clogs with gifts the night before St. Nicholas Day (December 6). Placing gold into wet socks hung to dry by the fireplace was a custom reported as begun by the young man named Nicholas who lived in Asia Minor - since replaced by gold foil covered chocolate coins.
What we consider "Santa" is Sinterklaas (Dutch), or Père Noël (France), Father Christmas (Great Britain), Babbo Natale (Italy), Grandfather Frost or Ded Moroz (Russian), or a variation named “Christkindle” or Kriss Kringle, or Christkindl (German).
