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The tradition of gifts received from Santa Claus has ancient origins, from the time of a legendary character, who really existed. This was a bishop with great faith in God, who lived in the 4th century – Nicholas of Myra-Lycia (somewhere in the lands of present-day Turkey), to whom many good works are attributed to the poor or afflicted.
Coming from a wealthy family, upon the death of his parents, he gave his entire fortune to those in need, according to Sorin Lavric’s “Christmas Book” volume, Humanitas Publishing House, 1997.
Traditions of Santa Claus
One of the best known legends about Santa Claus is that of three poor girls who, having no dowry, could not marry and would be sold by their father to rich men. But Saint Nicholas, upon learning of their problem, threw a bag of money out of the window of each of them, the night of December 5 to 6. The bags fell into the girls’ dry socks or boots. Probably, this is the custom of the gifts of Santa Claus to put on boots, writes the cited source.
And for this reason, kids make sure their boots or boots are very clean tonight.
Other customs for the holy night
In Romanian traditions, Santa Claus appears, on the night of December 5-6, on a white horse (a kind of reference to the first snow that falls at the beginning of winter).
He also protects the Sun so that it does not sneak into the northern kingdoms and leave the world without light and heat, helps widows, orphans and poor girls, is the master of the waters and saves ships from drowning, defends the soldiers in time of war (that is why it is invoked during battles), says the volume “Christmas Book”.
There is also the custom of putting in the water, tonight, branches of fruit trees -in the house, next to the icons-, which should bloom for the new year. Depending on which branch of the tree has blossomed, a good harvest of fruit is expected in the new year. In the villages there is a custom that on Saint Nicholas Day the virgins organize themselves in groups and choose their host where they will go to repeat the Christmas and New Year carols.
The legend of Santa Claus has spread throughout the world and has acquired the characteristics of each country. In Europe in the 12th century, Saint Nicholas Day became a day of gifts or humanitarian and charitable activities, writes Agerpres.
