Santa is very real says Lou Bertone AKA Santa

Is Santa Claus real? Does Santa Claus exist? Is there a Santa Claus?

The answer is yes, yes, yes.! He existed just as our ancestors did.

Santa Claus originates from pre-Christian traditions and the folklore of Saint Nicholas, with many parallels to Germanic mythology and the God Odin. Odin had a beard, hat, spear and a cloth bag held by his servants to catch naughty children.

Odin rode through the sky on an eight-legged horse. Children would leave food for Odin's horse, Sleipnir. Odin would leave candy and gifts for the children.

Have you started to see the resemblance yet?

Servants equal elves. Eight-Legged horses equal eight reindeer.

Another variation of Santa Claus comes with the adoption of Christianity in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. A boy named Nicholas, born into a very wealthy family, was very religious. He entered the priesthood and became the Bishop of Myra in Greece. The story goes that a poor farmer came to him asking for money so that he could have a dowry to marry off his three daughters. Nicholas went out at night and put gold coins into the stockings hanging by the fireplace.

He is then said to have liberated an Ethiopian slave boy called Peter from Amira market. The boy was so grateful that he decided to stay with Nicholas as a helper. Another elf reference.

Nicholas was canonized a Saint after his death in 355AD and became Saint Nicholas. His Christian feast day is December 6th.

Protestants changed the gift giver to the Christ child. Nicholas is said to help the Christ child. Another reference to an elf.

In the Dutch language, Saint Nicholas is Sinter Klaas, Sinter Klaas became Santa Claus. In the German language, Christ child is Christkindl which became Kris Kringle.

The American history of Santa Claus

In  1773, Sinterklaas was changed to Santa Claus by the American press. Most of the modern Santa Claus traditions came from the 1823 Clement Clark Moore poem A Visit From Saint Nick!

Rides in a sleigh, lands on a roof, enters through a chimney and a bag full of toys all point to Santa. He also named the eight tiny reindeer and described Santa Claus as an elf, jolly, plump, and dressed in fur.

In 1866, Thomas Nast illustrated Santa Claus in Harper's Weekly magazine and listed his address as the North Pole. In the 1930s, Haddon Sundblom depicted him dressed in a red fur outfit trimmed in white fur for a Coca-Cola marketing campaign, red and white for the colors of Coca-Cola.

When is Christmas?

The history of Christmas dates back over 4000 years. Many of our Christmas traditions were celebrated before the birth of the Christ child. The 12 days of Christmas, The Yule log, giving of gifts, carolers going house to house and holiday feasts can all be traced back to the early Mesopotamians.

The Romans celebrated their god, Saturn. Their festival was called Saturnalia which began in the middle of December. The Romans decked their halls with garlands of laurel and green trees lit with candles. As Christianity spread, they were alarmed by the continuing celebration of a pagan god. Christians wanted to keep the birth of their Christ child a solemn and religious holiday. The 25th of December was sacred to the Romans and the Persians. The exact day of the Christ child’s birth has never been pinpointed but has been celebrated since the year 98. AD. In 197 AD, the bishop of Rome ordered the birthday of the Christ child celebrated as a solemn feast. In 350 AD, another bishop of Rome, Julius One, chose December 25th as the observance of Christmas.

X in Christ's name

In Greek, X is the 1st letter of Christ's name, So the letter X was frequently used as a holy symbol and an abbreviation of Christ.