The first home of Santa Clos or Santa Claus was not located at the North Pole or in Lapland, Finland, his current official residence.
If it is taken into account that the Christmas character has its historical origin in the kind Saint Nicholas of Bari, Bishop of Mira, then his first house was located in Patara, an ancient city in present-day Turkey, where he was born in the 3rd century.
Yes, Santa Clos is Turkish. He was called “from Bari” because his relics (remains) were transferred in the 11th century from the Turkish city of Mira to Bari, Italy.
In some countries Santa Claus is known as Santa Claus.
The name comes from the word Noël, the word for Christmas in French. Santa Claus is Pere Nöel, that is, the Father of Christmas.
Maybe they are not the trendy colors this December, but the traditional Christmas colors are red, green and white or gold and each one has its meaning.
Red evokes the blood of Christ. Green, salvation and hope, life and rebirth. And the white or gold, the light and the Kingdom of God.
Do you remember the colors of Grandma’s pine spheres?
The tradition of the Christmas tree or pine is linked to Thor, god of thunder, strength and protection. A Christian legend says that the Germans who worshiped him made human sacrifices in his honor during the winter solstice.
They were made in the forest, in front of an oak tree that they considered sacred and protected by the Norse deity. But around the year 700 BC, the Christian missionary Saint Boniface interrupted one of these rituals, where the victim would be a child, cut down the oak tree – Thor’s lightning bolt did not hit it – and saved the boy.
Then, the saint presented the surprised pagans with a pine tree, calling it “the tree of the Child Jesus” and, with his preaching, converted them to Christianity.
One of the most hopeful Christmas stories is the one that exalts the truce that occurred spontaneously around December 25, 1914 during the First World War.
In the week before Christmas, French, German, British and Belgian soldiers crossed the trenches to exchange greetings in a series of unofficial ceasefires.
Even in some areas, soldiers from enemy sides ventured out on Christmas Eve to exchange congratulations, food and tobacco, sing Christmas carols and even kick a ball in a cascarita.
The origin of the Nativity scene or Nativity scene that many families place in their homes dates back to the 13th century. It was recreated by Saint Francis of Assisi in Greccio, Italy, on Christmas Eve of 1223, to celebrate the humble birth of Jesus in a manger and renew the faith of the people.
This first Nativity scene, which was living, was presented in a grotto in the mountain a few meters from a modest cabin. The staging captivated the faithful so much that over time it became customary to install a Nativity scene at home with images of the Holy Family.
But there is a curiosity within another: in Catalonia and in other areas of Spain and Portugal, a strange figure of the Nativity that is placed half hidden in the installation is a shepherd boy defecating! It is called caganer or zurrapa.
There are several versions of what it symbolizes. For some, the fertility of the land; for others, ignoring faith because they are “too busy”…
Christmas is a popular holiday in Japan, but not religious, since less than 1 percent profess Christianity.
It was from the 70s of the last century, when an excellent KFC advertising campaign that included the friendly Santa Clos managed to take root in Japanese homes a Christmas Eve tradition: buying a family bucket and having fried chicken for dinner!
Yes, on Christmas Island, an Australian external territory near Indonesia, in the Indian Ocean.
And although its area is only 135 square kilometers, it is home to beaches, cliffs, jungle, reefs and more than 250 endemic species, which is why it is called the “Galapagos of Australia.”
The island, also famous for its annual migration of millions of red crabs, was named after the British captain William Mynors, who aboard the Royal Mary arrived on the island on December 25, Christmas Day, 1643.
Christmas coincides in December with the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah (Festival of Lights), the Islamic celebration of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, the African-American festival of Kwanzaa, and the ancient Roman celebration of the birth of the Sun (Sol Invictus).
By the way, we celebrate the birth of Jesus, Christmas, on December 25, but the exact date is not actually found in the Gospels, points out the Spanish writer Pepe Rodríguez in his book Myths and Rites of Christmas.
Tradition states that he was born in the year 1 of the current era, but the reviews of the evangelists – his “biographers” – Matthew and Luke differ. The first fixes the birth of Jesus “in the days of King Herod”, therefore, before the year 4 of the current era, when the monarch died.
Luke, on the other hand, says that it happened in the days when a registration edict was issued by the Roman emperor Caesar Augustus, which according to ancient chroniclers occurred in the years 6 and 7 after the current era.
So, the Messiah was born between the years 6 BC and 4 BC If the current era begins with the birth of Jesus, what year are we really in?