SANTA CLAUS
The legend of jolly old Santa Claus, or St. Nick,
began with a real person: St. Nicholas, who lived many
centuries ago. Although he is one of the most popular saints
honoured by Christians, very little is actually known about
him. He lived during the 4th century in Lycia, a province on the
southwest coast of Asia Minor. Tradition says he was born in
Patara, a seaport, and travelled to Egypt and Palestine as a young
man. Eventually he became bishop of the church at Myra. During
the
period of the persecution of Christians by Emperor Diocletian, he was
imprisoned but was released by Diocletian's successor, Constantine
the Great. By the 6th century his burial shrine was well known at
Myra. In 1087 his remains were moved to Bari, Italy, which became a
crowded pilgrimage centre. Devotion to him spread throughout the Christian world,
and thousands of churches throughout Europe were named after him. His feast day
was set on December 6.
The transformation of St. Nicholas into Santa Claus began in Germany, where
he was called Kriss Kringle, derived from Christkindle, meaning "Christ child", and he
became permanently associated with the Christmas season and gift-giving. From
there his legend spread to France, where he was called Pere Noel. In the Dutch
colony of New Amsterdam - now New York City - he was called Sinter Claes, which
easily became Santa Claus.
As Christmas became more widely celebrated, the legend grew. In 1823,
Clement C. Moore wrote "A Visit from St. Nicholas", portraying Santa Claus riding in
a sleigh drawn by "eight tiny reindeer", the same mode of travel he uses in
Scandinavia. The first drawing of him that resembles today's Santa Claus was a
cartoon by Thomas Nast that appeared in Harper's Weekly in 1866.
E X E R C I S E 1: Find words or phrases in the passage which mean the same as:
COLUMN A COLUMN B
a) happy and cheerful
b) a large section of a country with its own
administration
c) after a lot of delays and problems; at last
d) high-ranking Christian religious leader
e) cruel and unfair treatment for a long period of
time
f) a person who takes someone's job after he or
she has left
g) a holy or religious place associated with the
remains of a sacred person
(phrase)
h) a journey made by many people to a holy or
religious place
i) a great love fora person or thing
j) a qualitative change in something
k) (be) connected to something else in the mind
(phrase)
I) a vehicle which is designed to run on snow by
being pulled by horses or dogs, usually having
two metal or wooden runners
m) a particular way of doing something
n) be similar to
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