Every respecting itself professional, which Santa Claus is, necessarily has colleagues. People little conversant in the questions of appearances and genealogical new-year and Christmas characters consider usually, that all of it one Christmas wizard.

The names and descriptions of colleagues of Santa Claus are collected this page on a Christmas handicraft.

Santa Claus

Joulupukki (Finland). He has gray hair, neat beard and mustache. Red jacket, trousers, a dark leather belt and glasses. Joulupukki lives on the mountain of Korvantunturi (”mountain-ear”) in a log cabin or in the mountain itself. His wife Muori (Maria) and gnomes live with him. On Christmas, in ancient times he walked around treating obedient children and punished disobedient. An educative aspect of appearance was lost farther more. Modern appearance and legend is in a great deal taken from American Santa Claus. He is popular in Finland and others Scandinavian countries.

Saint Vasiliy(Greece and Cyprus). The strangest name of a Christmas character. Nevertheless children on Cyprus write to the wizard: “Saint Vasiliy, come, give me happiness, carry out all my wishes”.

Babbo Natale (Italy). Leaves the sledges on a roof and through the stove pipe gets into the house, where he finds a bit of milk and sweets left for him by kids.

Saint Nick (Belgium and Poland). Legends say, that he leaves golden apples at peoples homes, by placing them in the socks, hanging on a fireplace. At Christmas night he appears astride on a horse, vested in a miter and white Episcopal mantle, escorted by a faithful servant-moor, nicknamed “Black Peter”. In the hands of the servant there is a magic sack with gifts for boys and girls.  However, for all disobedient children he prepared birches.

Korbobo (Uzbekistan). On the New Year’s eve he arrives to the young kids on a burro, escorted by

Santa Claus

grandchild Korgyz. Instead of fur coat, Korbobo wears a striped dressing-gown.

Pakkayne (Karelia). Unlike most Christmas characters, Pakkayne is a very young man. His distinguishing feature is his mischievous character. Existence of Pakkayne was discovered quite recently, so that this character is young, both in direct and in figurative sense.

Mikulash (Czekh, Slovakia). He comes at night, on December 6th, on the eve of Saint Nick’s day. On the outside he looks like Santa Claus, but, unlike Santa, he carries gifts in a backpack. He is acompanied by an angel, in snow-white clothes, and a shaggy imp. Always glad to endow the good and obedient children of Mikulash orange, apple or some sweets. But if in the hooligans or idlers “Christmas knee-boot” a potato or piece of coal was found, it was Mikulash’s work.

Ajaz-Ata - Kazakhstan

Zul - Kalmykia

Father Cristmas - Great Britain

Weihnachtsmann - Germany

Mosh Dzarile - Rumania

Odzi-san - Japan

Father Noel - Spain

Father Paskual - Colombia

Pere No`el - France

Sait Miklaus – Western salavs

Saint Shaland - Savoy

Silvester - Australia

Sook-Taadak - Altai

Shanj-Danj-Laozen - China

Sho-Hin – China

Father Frost - Russia

Julebukk - Norway

Juletomte - Denmark, Greenland

Santa Claus

The legend of Santa Claus originates from a 4th century bishop named Saint Nicholas of Myra. Famous for his generosity to the poor in what is present day Turkey, Saint Nicholas is said to have saved three impoverished daughters from slavery by providing for their dowries. Saint Nicholas is portrayed as a bearded bishop in canonical robes, and his feast day is celebrated on the anniversary of his death, December 6.

Toward the end of the 18th century, Dutch settlers brought the legend of Saint Nicholas, known to them as Sinter Klaas, to America. Legend has it that Sinter Klaas rode a white horse and left gifts in wooden shoes. This story merged with the British character Father Christmas, who dates back at least as far as the 17th century. Sinter Klaas was eventually Americanized to “Santa Claus.”

Santa Claus

The rituals and fantasy surrounding Santa Claus became fixed in the modern American imagination with the publication of the poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” by Clement Moore in 1823. Better known as “The Night Before Christmas,” the poem established Santa´s physical appearance (plump and jolly), his mode of transportation (a sleigh pulled by eight reindeer), and his method of toy delivery (down the chimney) for generations to come.

Quick Facts

• The ritual of hanging stockings by the chimney comes from the German folk god Odin. Each year at Yule, German children would fill their boots with straw and place them by the chimney for Odin’s flying horse to eat. Odin would replace the straw with gifts or candy to thank them for their kindness.
• Some believe Saint Nicholas distributed his inheritance by anonymously dropping bags of gold coins down the chimneys of the poor. One little girl is said to have caught her bag in a stocking she had hung by the fire to dry.
• The concept of Santa´s elves came from the Dutch, who believed Sinter Klaas had a slave named Black Peter. Legend has it Black Peter put bad children into his sack and held them in church overnight while the other children played with their new toys.
• German-American cartoonist Thomas Nast was the first to paint a definitive portrait of the present day Santa Claus in 1863.
• Mrs. Claus was created in 1889 by Katherine Lee Bates, a poet and author of America the Beautiful. In her poem Goody Santa Claus on a Sleigh Ride, Goody is a shortened form of the word Goodwife.
• In 1897, eight-year-old Virginia Hanlon wrote a letter to the New York Sun asking if Santa Claus were real. The response, written by veteran editor Francis P. Church, son of a Baptist minister, became one of the most memorable editorials in newspaper history.
• In 1931, Coca-Cola hired Haddon Sundblom to illustrate Santa Claus for a massive Christmas campaign. The ads firmly establishing the all-red outfit with white trimmings, which had previously been depicted in numerous colors.
• Rudolph is an invention of Robert May, who came up with the ninth reindeer with his shiny red nose while working on a catalog for Montgomery Ward in 1939. Composer Johnny Marks penned the famous Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in 1949.

Children love to write letters to Santa Claus. Usually parents lend a hand. How should a parent help a child write a letter to Santa Claus? Here are some tips that will make your child’s letter to Santa more than just a list of gifts he or she wants.

Dear Santa………

First of all, a letter to Santa should be a personal message from your child to Santa Claus, not to a parent or grandparent. The child’s own words should be used and his or her personality should shine through. Very young children ages 2 to 5 can draw or cut out pictures to show gifts they want for the holidays. The parent can write down words just as the child says them. Encourage your child to watch as you print and say the letters out loud. Talk about the sounds the letters make. Show the child how to leave a space between each word.

Kindergarten through Third Grades

For children in kindergarten through third grade, making a chart of words is a great idea. The child can think of words first, get help spelling them, illustrate them, and then write the letter by himself. The 5 and 6 year olds will need a bit of additional help. It helps to have a chart showing the form of a letter to Santa, for example, showing where to put the date, the greeting, the body of the letter, and the closing. Your child should tell Santa the good things they have done during the year, as well as what they wish for as gifts.

Grades 3 through 5

Children in grades 3 through 5 probably don’t believe in Santa Claus, but can be encouraged to write a letter anyway, “for fun”. Encourage your child to tell what good deeds he/she has done during the year and how he/she has helped others. Have the child put in a “Good wish for the world.” The child can also tell “Santa” their goals for the coming year. Parents can respond to these letters, giving advice and sending love to their children. Keep the letters to Santa Claus for posterity.

All children should send best wishes to everyone at the North Pole. The letters may be mailed to: Santa Claus, The North Pole, The Arctic, Earth.