Personalised Charirty Christmas Cards

Would You Believe These Chrismas Stories

FATHER CHRISTMAS - FACT AND FABLE

SANTA MAY HAVE set up home at the North Pole, but he is more used to the golden sands and soft sea breezes of Turkey. Santa Claus is the American name for St. Nicholas, who was born in the village of Patara, on the Anatolian coast, in the 4th century. Each year on his birthday, December 6th, a festival is still held in the tiny church there to celebrate. He later became Bishop of Myra, and was well known for his kindness to children. He also had a habit of leaving bags of gold for local girls who were saving up to get married. He secretly gave all his wealth to the poor. Legend has it that one night he threw a handful of gold coins down a poor man's chimney, where they rolled into a stocking he had left in the hearth to dry. It was the start of our custom of hanging up Christmas stockings, though in Germany, presents are delivered by a girl, Kriss Kringle. In Poland they are brought by the Good Star, a beautiful woman veiled in white, in Finland by Father Christmas dressed as a goat. In Hungary an angel brings them, in Denmark an elf called Julenissen. In Spain it can be any of the Wise Men, especially Balthazar. In Russia they are left by Babouskhka, and in Syria by the Wise Men's camels which is enough to give anyone the hump. There were once 400 churches dedicated to St. Nicholas in England, and everyone looked forward to his day, December 6th, as the start of the Christmas festivities. Ironically, as his following grew across the world, memories of him faded in his home town on the shore of Moslem, Turkey. For centuries the tiny basilica dedicated to him stood vandalised and without a roof. Ten years ago, as Turkey's tourist trade increased, the government decided to restore it. Four years ago his shrine was opened again with a statue depicting St. Nicholas in a long beard with a sackful of presents. Santa Claus had finally come home.