Origin of Santa Claus

  1. Modern Santa Claus is a jolly fat man with a long white beard who wears a red suit and black boots.
  2. He flies around the world giving Christmas gifts to children everywhere.
  3. He travels by a sleigh which is pulled by eight flying reindeer.
  4. The real Santa Claus can be traced back many hundreds of years to a Greek bishop named Saint Nicholas.
  5. He was born around the year 280 A.D,
  6. His rich parents died in an epidemic, leaving Nicholas all their wealth.
  7. He became a priest and made it his goal to give away all his wealth before he died.
  8. So he went around assisting the needy and giving gifts to poor children.
  9. However, his gift-giving was usually done in secret.