Here comes Santa Claus, Here comes Santa Claus, right down Santa Claus lane...

Santa Claus is one of the first things we learn about as a young child, when everything goes snowy at Christmas time, and suddenly mummy and daddy are getting a lot of brightly coloured cards through the post- and it’s not even their birthday! A tree comes into the living room, baubles and tinsel are put on it, and mum tells you to put a stocking on the fire place for... Santa Claus?

We all hear stories about the jolly old soul who lives at the North pole and has a whole host of Elves and pixies to make toys for the girls and boys who’ve been good all year, but where did Santa Claus actually come from?

A lot of folk lore links him back to St. Nicholas, who ironically had nothing at all to do with gift giving or even particularly with children. However, St Nicholas (or Sinterklaas as he is known in most European countries) is highly credited as the first Santa Claus. This saint was merged with the modern idea of a gift giver from the church and became what we know as Father Christmas- Santa Claus is actually an Americanisation of the name, and as a rule Father Christmas is more widely used and can be found in French, Spanish, India and even Romania!

However, not all countries follow the idea of a man in red with a sleigh pulled by reindeer. In the Netherlands and Germany, every year on the 5th of December Sinterklaas comes into Rotterdam on his steam boat from Spain, assisted by his helper Zwarte Piet (Black Peter) and rides through the town on his horse handing out sweets and presents. This is actually staged every year in Holland! However, this version of Santa Claus is a bit darker than ours, as his assistant hands out whips and switches to the parents of the naughty children!

Whilst for us, Reindeer are the transport of choice for Santa Claus, in Sweden Santa is a gnome called Juletomten who drive a sleigh pulled by goats! In Italy it’s a witch who drops gifts from the back of her broomstick! However, many of the countries have one tradition in common- leaving a thank you gift for Santa, or their equivalent, lot’s leave whisky or hot chocolate, whilst some leave fruit or little trinkets and many families even leave a small gift for the reindeer, goats or horses that pull the sleigh.