Who came up with the name Santa, anyways?

[ignotus]

after that

mine starts hurting once I figure out what 2*2 is [8]

You are weird, aren't you?

But did you know that Santa Claus was from Turkey? He was a Bishop over there and he was buried there. Then the Italians stole his corpse and brought it back to Italy.

Asia Minor, or the Eastern Roman Empire/Byzantine Empire (depending on the date) is more suitable then "Turkey." Because the area that is now Turkey was once controlled by the Byzantines, The Eastern Roman Empire (became the Byzantine Empire) and before that, various factions. The Turks didn't move in there until, what has become known as, The Dark Ages of Europe.

I think he wrote Turkey rather than Asia Minor because it's a fact... that you Americans... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww


Ho-ho-ho this is a jolly season for me!

[DaGip]

The Horror Before Christmas

'Twas the Day of Mall shopping and all through the court,
Millions of missing children many did report.
No Danny! No Suzi! No lil' Frank n' John!
No Debbie! No Charlie! No Barbara, Bill, or Ron!
Now what's happened to these children? Nobody knows,
But when a child disappears, there's some Jolly HO! HO! HO's!



"I'm Santa the Cannibal, I eat children for lunch!
I eat babies for dinner, breakfast, and brunch!
Now, children be quiet and come with St. Nick,
Nothing to fear 'cause your parents I'll trick!"



Now such was his plan to grab every every single kid,
And keep his secret quiet with a very tight lid.
But children sensed his evil when they sat upon that knee,
They cried for deliverance from Chirstmas tyranny!



But their screams were not heard, and away he did go,
Leaving bloody trails on the roofs and in the snow.
"Shut up, Little Timmy! Up the chimeny we'll crawl!"
Is anybody listening?!?!?...




"GOD HELP US ALL!"

[muy_thaiguy]

after that

mine starts hurting once I figure out what 2*2 is [8]

You are weird, aren't you?

But did you know that Santa Claus was from Turkey? He was a Bishop over there and he was buried there. Then the Italians stole his corpse and brought it back to Italy.

Asia Minor, or the Eastern Roman Empire/Byzantine Empire (depending on the date) is more suitable then "Turkey." Because the area that is now Turkey was once controlled by the Byzantines, The Eastern Roman Empire (became the Byzantine Empire) and before that, various factions. The Turks didn't move in there until, what has become known as, The Dark Ages of Europe.

I think he wrote Turkey rather than Asia Minor because it's a fact... that you Americans... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww


Ho-ho-ho this is a jolly season for me!

Poor choice of a video, I must say, especially since you could have used, "Americans are Idiot," video instead. Especially considering I'm a guy.

[ignotus]

Poor choice of a video, I must say, especially since you could have used, "Americans are Idiot," video instead. Especially considering I'm a guy.

I apologize.

[Wisse]

i can explain the name santa claws
let me explain, santa claws was a dutch saint (sint nicolaas [sint = saint])
we celebrate every year sinterklaas (sint nicolaas --> sint niclaas --> sint klaas --> sinterklaas, it just means the same) because we celebrate it someone would like to have some same kind of holiday on that time.
if i say santa claws with a dutch accent it just sounds the same as sinterklaas (exept i don't here a "r") so they just stole (or whatever they did) the name the idea and everything. so they are the same man

[Arbustos]

Like everyone's said, the date's taken from the pagan holiday Saturnalia and the name from variants on "Saint Nicholas." Everyone probably knows the origin of his image, but just in case... Coca-Cola adopted the European gift-giving gnome and turned it into a big fat guy for marketing reasons.

Another constant in our lives brought to you by capitalism.

[Gregrios]

Actually guys, the whole Santa Claus, present giving, leaving cookies, and everything to do with a modern Christmas celebration came from one man's imagination.

His name, Charles Dickens.

He wrote a book some time ago and western civilization adopted the idea.

I knew the answer when I posted the question. I was just making a point.

Look it up, if you don't beleive me.

[Gregrios]

Ohhhh, Hecter (or better yet, Wisdom) has a date. How nice.

As you know, I've got a date with Hecter. Do you think that's such a good idea and more importantly, you've got to show me that picture.

[DaGip]

Actually guys, the whole Santa Claus, present giving, leaving cookies, and everything to do with a modern Christmas celebration came from one man's imagination.

His name, Charles Dickens.

He wrote a book some time ago and western civilization adopted the idea.

I knew the answer when I posted the question. I was just making a point.

Look it up, if you don't beleive me.

This year, I plan on putting up Santa traps all around the fireplace and Christmas tree. If he doesn't chew his own leg off, we should have tangible proof of his existence very shortly!

[Kaplowitz]

Re: Who came up with the name Santa, anyways?

Chuck Norris

[DaGip]

Re: Who came up with the name Santa, anyways?

Chuck Norris

You make no sense, what so ever!

[Kaplowitz]

Re: Who came up with the name Santa, anyways?

Chuck Norris

You make no sense, what so ever!

How does that not make sense?!

[Arbustos]

Actually guys, the whole Santa Claus, present giving, leaving cookies, and everything to do with a modern Christmas celebration came from one man's imagination.

His name, Charles Dickens.

He wrote a book some time ago and western civilization adopted the idea.

I knew the answer when I posted the question. I was just making a point.

Look it up, if you don't beleive me.

No. Gift-giving originated with the story of St. Nicholas and leaving cookies, candy, etc., came from the German tradition surrounding Odin. Dickens just reflected the established myth of Mr. Kringle, in his Ghost of Christmas Present. Trust me, I had a big lecture on this stuff a couple years ago in school when we read the thing.

I looked through my notes and realized Coca-Cola didn't create the modern image of Santa; they just cemented it.

[Gregrios]

Actually guys, the whole Santa Claus, present giving, leaving cookies, and everything to do with a modern Christmas celebration came from one man's imagination.

His name, Charles Dickens.

He wrote a book some time ago and western civilization adopted the idea.

I knew the answer when I posted the question. I was just making a point.

Look it up, if you don't beleive me.

No. Gift-giving originated with the story of St. Nicholas and leaving cookies, candy, etc., came from the German tradition surrounding Odin. Dickens just reflected the established myth of Mr. Kringle, in his Ghost of Christmas Present. Trust me, I had a big lecture on this stuff a couple years ago in school when we read the thing.

I looked through my notes and realized Coca-Cola didn't create the modern image of Santa; they just cemented it.

I didn't know that and I was wrong in my statement, but it was his book that made people latch on to it.

The idea's popularity reached an exceding point after he had wrote the book.

I don't question that he wasn't the one who invented it, but the one who made it known worldwide.

Wouldn't you agree?

[Arbustos]

Sure. The Carol has always been an immensely popular story, albeit unloved by critics.

[AAFitz]

wait a minute, youre saying hes fictional?????????????

[FenrisLoki]

Saint Nicholas was a Turkish Christian who is most famous for his incredible acts of selfless generosity. He was said to drop gold coins down the chimneys of the poor, because he was too humble to accept recognition for his deed (obviously, he failed in that regard). For whatever reason, Saint Nicholas was most beloved by the Dutch. The Dutch word for Saint is Sinta, and transcribed Nicholas into Niklaas, so Saint Nicholas became Sinta Niklaas or Sinta Klaas.

Meanwhile, Christian missionaries in northern Europe decided (against Biblical evidence) that Jesus was born in winter - the winter solstice in fact. By putting Christ's birthday on the Winter Solstice, the Christians could displace traditional pagan celebrations of the solstice, which of course was a celebration that winter was already half over and that spring would return. Germanic peoples of Europe celebrated these early Christmases in the same basic way they celebrated the solstice itself; decorating evergreen trees (green = fertile) with candles (representing flickering stars), the Advent (four candles, the first lit four sundays before Christmas, the 2nd the next, and so on so that by Christmas all four would be lit), and the traditional Christmas colors (Red and Green both representing fertility and life). Reindeers and sleds were just a normal part of life in winter, especially among the northernmost Germanic peoples of Scandinavia.

So, the Dutch combined their love of Sinta Klaas with Germanic Christmas celebrations, since Saint Nicholas' birthday fell on the first day of the Advent (4 weeks before Christmas). Dutch celebrations were finally discovered by the English royalty in the 1700s or so. The English imported and popularized the idea of a Christmas Tree and Santa Claus (anglicized Sinta Klaas) and so on. The colonists of America eventually got wind of both the debased English version of Christmas and the more sentimental, traditional German version. Puritans and other radical Christians of the Americas initially opposed Christmas, but it was so popular with normal people that their voices were largely drowned out.

Since Christmas came to America, it's gone through some changes. Businessmen eventually latched onto Christmas as a great way to boost sales (Coca-Cola and the image of Santa Claus as advertising, for example), while charities piggybacked on the spirit of giving. Carols were written, stories were made up, movies and songs (I hate those goddamn jingle-bells!) are still released yearly, and by now we've got a Christmas season starting right after Halloween ends. Of course, Americans lost St. Nicholas' message of generosity to the poor in favor of making poor parents feel guilty that they can't afford to give their kids new iPods.

I probably have a couple errors in the above story, but it should be mostly right. I made a presentation on it about a year ago.

[krusher]

You're all wrong, Christmas is a Pagan holiday that was celebrated by the pagan Romans to celebrate the Winter solstices and to Worship their sun god, they celebrated this holiday by having mass orgies of man, and by giving gifts to each other. If you read the bible and you think about it. jesus was not born in the winter because the sheperds would not have been out in the fields grazing with their herds since the Palestinian winters are too cold to graze in the Winter. Christmas was actually banned by the church during most of the middle ages and later centurys.... Christmas is a modern holiday created by the big corporations in order to sell more products, nothing more...

[The Weird One]

i kinda brought this up already, krusher.

[Gregrios]

I think Hector is an aweful name for a woman. It must be fake.

What is your real name, baby? I would've picked a name like Wisdom. Wouldn't you agree?

Maybe we can get together sometime and have a drink. How's wormwood sound?

Of course it's fake. It's even spelt incorrectly. I'd also prefer to not tell my name to strangers on teh internets. But, if you must know, it's Maegan. Happy now?

HMMMMMMMMM.

[dustn64]

pointless bump?

[Gregrios]

I think Hector is an aweful name for a woman. It must be fake.

What is your real name, baby? I would've picked a name like Wisdom. Wouldn't you agree?

Maybe we can get together sometime and have a drink. How's wormwood sound?

Of course it's fake. It's even spelt incorrectly. I'd also prefer to not tell my name to strangers on teh internets. But, if you must know, it's Maegan. Happy now?

I need not say no more.