Seeking fairy tales

"He has a Zhang Kuan face and a round belly. When he laughed, he trembled like a bowl of jelly. He is round and fat, like a happy old elf. Seeing him, I almost laughed and forgot myself. " Clemente Moore-Impression of saint nicholas On Christmas Eve, children all over the world went to bed early. When they wake up, the first thing to do is to check whether there is a gift from Santa Claus in their socks. Santa Claus is the father of Christmas and has become the most popular symbol and tradition of Christmas. The image of a happy old elf driving a reindeer and pulling a sleigh full of toys and gifts to give gifts to every child from house to house has been deeply left in people's memory. The history of Santa Claus comes from Nicholas, the former archbishop of Myra, Turkey. Saint Nicholas is famous for his charity and wisdom. According to legend, he came from a rich family, and later he gave all his money to the poor. It is said that he still has magic power. He died in 340 AD and was buried in Myra. 165438+At the end of the 20th century, religious soldiers from Italy brought the relics of Saint Nicholas back to Italy and built a church in the port city of Bari to commemorate him. Soon, Christians from all over the world flocked to worship the saint. These pilgrims brought the story of saint nicholas back to their homeland, so the legend about Santa Claus has its own characteristics in different countries. /kloc-in the 0/2 century, St. Nicholas's Day appeared in Europe, with giving gifts and charitable activities as the main activities. Germany, France and the Netherlands regard 65438+February 6th as a religious memorial day to give gifts to children and the poor. When the Dutch colonists came to America, they took their bishop Cindy Glass with them. Cindy glass is wearing a red cassock and riding a white horse. Cindy glass's American image has gradually evolved into a happy old elf. At first, American writer washington irving described him as a round and fat Dutch old man in his comedy The History of new york. 1823, the poet Clemente Moore continued to dramatize the image of Cindy glass/St. Nicholas in his poem Impression of St. Nicholas, that is, Santa Claus you saw at the beginning of this article. Thomas Nash was a cartoonist in 1960s. He drew a fat and kind Santa Claus as an illustration of Harper's Week. The image of Santa Claus began to take root in the hearts of Americans. With the passage of time, the image of Santa Claus has spread back to Europe, South America and the whole world. Many countries have kept their own customs and legends about Santa Claus. According to Dutch legend, Santa Claus Sintirklass also arrived by boat with an assistant named BlackPeter on February 6, 65438. He brought a big book describing the performance of all Dutch children in the past year. A good boy gives them presents, and a bad boy is taken away by his assistant.