蓝梦与信
Santa Claus How did the idea for Santa Claus originate? (圣诞老人的起源） The American version of the Santa Claus figure received its inspiration and its name from the Dutch legend of Sinterklaas (a Dutch variant of the name Saint Nicholas). Dutch colonists took this tradition with them to New Amsterdam (now New York City) in the American colonies in the 17th century.As early as 1773 the name appeared in the American press as "St. A Claus," but it was the popular author Washington Irving who gave Americans their first detailed information about the Dutch version of Saint Nicholas. In his History of New York, published in 1809 under the pseudonym Diedrich Knickerbocker, Irving described the arrival of the saint on horseback each Eve of Saint Nicholas.This Dutch-American Saint Nick achieved his fully Americanized form in 1823 in the poem A Visit From Saint Nicholas more commonly known as "The Night Before Christmas" by writer Clement Clarke Moore. Moore included such details as the names of the reindeer; Santa Claus's laughs, winks, and nods.The American image of Santa Claus was further elaborated by illustrator Thomas Nast, who depicted a rotund Santa for Christmas issues of Harper's magazine from the 1860s to the 1880s. Nast added such details as Santa's workshop at the North Pole and Santa's list of the good and bad children of the world. In the first Nast illustration, Santa was delivering Christmas gifts to soldiers fighting in the Civil War. The cartoon, entitled "Santa Claus in Camp" appeared in Harper's Weekly on January 3, 1863.A human-sized version of Santa Claus, rather than the elf of Moore's poem, was depicted in a series of illustrations created by Haddom Sundblom for Coca-Cola advertisements introduced in 1931. In modern versions of the Santa Claus legend, only his toyshop workers are elves.An advertising writer named Robert May, invented Rudolph, the ninth reindeer, with a red and shiny nose, while working on a catalog for the Montgomery Ward Company in 1939.In looking for the historical roots, one discovers that Santa Claus, as we know him, is a combination of many different legends and mythical creatures.The basis for the Christian-era Santa Claus is Bishop Nicholas of Smyrna (Izmir), in what is now Turkey. Nicholas lived in the 4th century A.D. He was very rich, generous, and loving toward children. Often he gave joy to poor children by throwing gifts in through their windows.The Orthodox Church later raised St. Nicholas, miracle worker, to a position of great esteem. It was in his honor that Russia's oldest church, for example, was built. For its part, the Roman Catholic Church honored Nicholas as one who helped children and the poor. St. Nicholas became the patron saint of children and seafarers. His name day is December 6th.In the Protestant areas of central and northern Germany, St. Nicholas later became known as der Weinachtsmann. In England he came to be called Father Christmas. St. Nicholas made his way to the United States with Dutch immigrants, and began to be referred to as Santa Claus.In North American poetry and illustrations, Santa Claus, in his white beard, red jacket and pompom-topped cap, would sally forth on the night before Christmas in his sleigh, pulled by eight reindeer, and climb down chimneys to leave his gifts in stockings children set out on the fireplace's mantelpiece.Children naturally wanted to know where Santa Claus actually came from. Where did he live when he wasn't delivering presents? Those questions gave rise to the legend that Santa Claus lived at the North Pole, where his Christmas-gift workshop was also located. note:inspiration: 灵感press: 新闻pseudonym: 笔名wink: 眨眼depict: 描写rotund: 胖乎乎的elf: 侏儒toyshop: 玩具店mythical creatures: 神话人物Orthodox Church: 东正教patron saint: 守护神seafarer: 航海家name day: 命名日（以其名字命名的圣徒的节日） Protestant: 新教徒illustration: 插图sally forth: 出发mantelpiece: 壁炉架 你自己斟酌删减吧！
rayyeung23
Santa Claus[sAntE 5klC:z]n.圣诞老人Santa ClausSan.ta ClausAHD:[s²n“t… klôz”] D.J.[6s#n7t* kl%8z]K.K.[6s#n7t* kl%z]n.（名词）The personification of the spirit of Christmas, usually represented as a jolly, fat old man with a white beard and a red suit, who brings gifts to good children on Christmas Eve.圣诞老人：圣诞神灵的化身，常被描述成为一个快乐的，胖胖的，长着白胡子并穿红衣服的老人，他会在圣诞夜中给表现好的孩子带去礼物Probably alteration of Dutch Sinterklaas 可能为 荷兰语 Sinterklaas的变化 from Middle Dutch Sinterclaes [St. Nicholas] 源自 中古荷兰语 Sinterclaes [圣尼古拉斯] sint [saint] from Middle Dutch from Old French saint * see saint sint [圣人] 源自 中古荷兰语 源自 古法语 saint *参见 saintheer [lord] * see mynheer heer [主人] *参见 mynheerclaes short for Niclaes [Nicholas] claes Niclaes的简写 [尼古拉斯]
W了然于心
圣诞老人（Santa Claus）别称Saint Nick、Kris Kringle、Father Christmas或Santa。
圣诞老人一位专门在圣诞节前夜时悄悄赠送礼物给小孩子的神秘人物。传说每到12月24日晚上，有个神秘人会乘驾由9只驯鹿拉的雪橇在天上飞翔，挨家挨户地从烟囱进入屋里，然后偷偷把礼物放在好孩子床头的袜子里，或者堆在壁炉旁的圣诞树下。
他在一年中的其他时间里，都是忙于制作礼物和监督孩子们的行为。虽然没有人真的见过神秘人的样子，但是人们会装扮成他的样子来给孩子送上礼物。
他通常被描述为一位老人，头戴红色帽子，大大的白色胡子，一身红色棉衣，脚穿红色靴子的样子，拿着装有礼物的大袋子，因为总在圣诞节前夜出现派发礼物，所以习惯地称他为“圣诞老人”。
扩展资料
圣诞老人的传说来源于西方的民间传说，相传，圣诞老人叫做圣·尼古拉，他生活在公元4世纪小亚细亚的每拉城（在今土耳其境内），是位善良、慷慨、对孩子们非常好的有钱人。
东正教尊重尼古拉，视其为创造奇迹的人。尼古拉的家庭很富有，父母也都是基督徒，尼古拉的父母早逝，他把财产都捐给了贫穷的人，自己加入教会，终身为社会服务。
后来，尼古拉作了神父，升到了主教，在他死后，人们称他为圣徒，是一位穿着红袍，头戴红帽的白胡子老人。
尼古拉的一生中做了许许多多的慈善事业，他总是喜欢在暗中帮助穷苦人民，慢慢的圣诞老人就成为了人们对他的爱称。
参考资料：百度百科-圣诞老人
