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Santa Claus: Difference between revisions
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[[File:santa reindeer sleigh 5423.jpg|frame| Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!]]
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The best known (at least in modern times) mascot of Christmas, developed in the United States as an amalgam of the story of St. Nicholas of Myra and various other seasonal folk heroes, with many aspects provided by the classic poem ''A Visit From St. Nicholas'' (popularly known by its first line, '' '[[Twas the Night Before Christmas]]'').
The '''Santa Claus''' myth is based largely on the Dutch holiday of "Sinterklaas" (a hastily pronounced "St. Nicholas", who comes down the chimney on the 5th/6 December) and the imagery of the Saint in question carried over to his North Pole incarnation. In the original stories, Sinterklaas was accompanied by black slaves; these have become demons ([[The Krampus]]) in German-speaking culture, and [[Christmas Elves|friendly elves]] in the USA. In the Netherlands, the black
Santa Claus is universally envisioned as a [[Big Fun|festively overweight]] old man with [[Badass Beard|a long white or silver beard]], who wears a red suit [[Pretty in Mink|with white trim]] (originally a red bishop's robe and [[wikipedia:Camauro|''camauro]]) and a matching [[Nice Hat|cap]], black boots and a vast black belt worn across his belly. He lives at the North Pole (or in Lapland, or in Spain, or somewhere else depending on your culture - the original St. Nick was Greek, from a city in what is now Turkey) in a large workshop staffed by elves (diminutive commercial-friendly elves, not tall proud Tolkien-type elves) who are often [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|far older than they look]], which produces toys year round, and every Christmas Eve he sets out in a flying sleigh pulled by eight reindeer named Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen (with an option on a ninth, in the form of [[Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer|Rudolph]], on nights with poor visibility), and delivers toys and other gifts to the children of the world out of the [[Bag of Holding|improbably roomy sack]] he carries with him, entering their houses by the chimney, filling their stockings, partaking of whatever food and drink the family left out for him, then leaving how he came in.
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