Delano Herald Journal

Serving the communities of Delano, Loretto, Montrose, MN, and the surrounding area

Just who is that bearded guy?



Santa Claus. Saint Nick. Father Christmas.

They’re all names for a legendary figure of the Christmas
season who hopeful children flock to with requests for gifts.

Locally, as well as around the nation, Santa will be making
his appearances. Friday, he was at Lester Prairie to celebrate the season,
and the next day was in Winsted at the Legion Club.

Beyond those appearances at Salvation Army drop off points
and malls, the jolly herald of Christmas will also appear in dozens of movies,
commercials, and stories this year, too.

But just how did this symbol come to be?

Those raised in a religious background probably remember
stories of Saint Nicholas. Sunday, Saint Nicholas made an appearance at
Sunday services at Holy Trinity.

Richard Baumann of Winsted, who’s played the saint, as
well as Santa, admits that 90 percent of the children, and their parents,
don’t know who Saint Nicholas is. Baumann admits that for this reason, he
enjoys playing Santa better.

While Sunday’s appearance will bes a day after Santa’s
appearance, last year’s Winter Festival had both Santa and Saint Nicholas
in the Legion Club.

Suffice it to say, when Saint Nicholas ran out of candy,
he lost the attention of most of the children to Santa Claus. Still, Baumann
believes Saint Nicholas to be the more true and traditional role for Christmas.

But just how did Saint Nicholas turn into Santa Claus over
the years?

Saint Nicholas was a bishop of the Christian church in
the Asia Minor city of Myra, now know as Demre Turkey, in fourth century
A.D.

Nicholas was said to be the son of wealthy parents who
died when Nicholas was young. Nicholas dedicated his life to God, and went
into the priesthood and eventually became a bishop.

Called the “Wonder Worker” of Nicholas the Miraculous,
he was known for compassion and kindness, particularly to children.

One legend was of a father who could not provide dowries
for his three daughters. When it came turn for each daughter to marry, Nicholas
anonymously donated a bag of gold for each daughter.

Nicholas, who was said to be shy, did not want his donations
to go noticed, so the final bag of gold he dropped down the chimney. Apparently,
the gold landed in a stocking hung by the chimney to dry.

Another story goes that an innkeeper who had murdered his
own three children had hid the bodies. Nicholas not only found the bodies,
but breathed life back into them. He is also credited for saving a whole
town from starvation.

In the best tradition of saints, Nicholas was imprisoned
for refusing to renounce his Christian faith during the the reign of the
Roman Emperor Diocletian. He is said to have died on Dec. 6, 343 A.D. His
relics were found in 1087 A.D. and were brought to Bari, Italy.

The date of his death is celebrated in some traditions.
Baumann said his family continues to celebrate the day in the German tradition
where children leave out their shoes the night before to be filled with
candy.

The tradition is still very strong also in the Dutch culture,
who are credited with bringing the celebration from Europe to America. In
the Netherlands, the day is still marked with a variety of traditional sweets
including chocolate letters. It is also marked with other presents and long
riddles to entertain children.

Some parallel contributions to the Santa Claus myth are
also said to have come from Spain, which had a great deal of contact with
the Dutch through sailing. Saint Nicholas was always pictured with a “Zwart
Pieten” or black companion, who in less politically correct times,
was said to represent evil. This was due to the fact that the Spanish had
been conquered by Moors and the two figures together represented good’s
triumph over evil.

From this tradition came Santa Claus’ virtue of awarding
the good children and punishing the naughty ones. The harshest punishment,
according to the Dutch tradition, was that naughty children would be kidnapped
by the Zwart Pieten, put in his gift bag, and taken back to Spain.

However, for the most, part this tradition in the Protestant
West died out with the Reformation where the significance of saints and
their celebrations was down played.

Saint Nicholas remained, however, due to his popular appeal
and eventually became known as Sinter Klaas, responsible for gift-giving
around the world. Eventually, some traditions moved the Dec. 6 date to the
night before Christmas to mark the birth of Christ.

It was this myth that the Dutch brought to New York with
them. In 1823, Clement Clark Moore, in his poem “The Night Before Christmas,”
changed the image of Sinter Klaas, a stout bishop, to that of one more familiar
today; a chubby, jolly man in a red and white suit.

He also used the name Santa Claus and changed the traditional
transportation of horseback to a sleigh pulled by eight reindeer.

Thomas Nash eventually put a face to the image. A political
cartoonist for Harper’s Weekly, Nash wanted to cheer up soldiers in 1870
and made a cartoon of Santa Claus giving them gifts.

This image eventually stuck, and for better or worse, the
rest is commercial history. None other than the Coca-Cola company is most
credited with spreading the image of the traditional Santa Claus in seasonal
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