圣诞老人的由来英文版完整版

2024年1月22日发(作者：吕祖谦)

圣诞老人的由来英文版

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圣诞老人的由来（英文版）

"american origins: (as nt to me by brian dodd)quote from encarta 95

the american version of the santa claus figure received its inspiration and its

name from the dutch legend of sinter klaas, brought by ttlers to new york 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 pudonym diedrich knickerbocker,

irving described the arrival of the saint on horback (unaccompanied by black

peter) 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; and the method by

which saint nicholas, referred to as an elf, returns up the chimney. (moore's

phra "lays his finger aside of his no" was drawn directly from irving's

1809 description.)

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. a human-sized version of santa claus, rather than the elf of moore's poem, was depicted

in a ries of illustrations for coca-cola advertiments introduced in 1931

that introduced and made the red santa suits an icon. in modern versions of the

santa claus legend, only his toy-shop workers are elves. rudolph, the ninth

reindeer, with a red and shiny no, was invented in 1939 by an advertising

writer for the montgomery ward company.

in looking for the historical roots of santa claus, one must go very deep in

the past. 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 . 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 raid 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 afarers. 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 t 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 prents tho questions gave ri to the

legend that santa claus lived at the north pole, where his christmas-gift

workshop was also located.

in 1925, since grazing reindeer would not be possible at the north pole,

newspapers revealed that santa claus in fact lived in finnish lapland. "uncle

markus", markus rautio, who compared the popular "children's hour" on finnish

public radio, revealed the great cret for the first time in 1927: santa claus

lives on lapland's korvatunturi - "ear fell"

the fell, which is situated directly on finland's eastern frontier, somewhat

rembles a hare's ears - which are in fact santa claus's ears, with which he

listens to hear if the world's children are being nice. santa has the

assistance of a busy group of elves, who have quite their own history in

scandinanvian legend.

over the centuries, customs from different parts of the northern hemisphere

thus came together and created the whole world's santa claus - the ageless,

timeless, deathless white-bearded and red suited man who gives out gifts on

christmas and always returns to korvatunturi in finnish lapland.

since the 1950s, santa has happily sojourned at napapiiri, near rovaniemi, at

times other than christmas, to meet children and the young at heart. by 1985

his visits to napapiiri had become so regular that he established his own santa

claus office there. he comes there every day of the year to hear what children

want for christmas and to talk with children who have arrived from around the

world. santa claus village is also the location of santa's main post office,

which receives children's letters from the four corners of the world.