Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1913-12-10
Ancestry Of Santa
Is Santa Claus age9
~ The jolly. roisterlng, bos.
W belletl, ever Suuht Old tel.

Oelueu; ever young ela TEL.
low that We know has made
his appearance 81 earth In 30 many
suises that the secret Of his first cQm-
ing threatens to remain forever yelled
In the midst Of antiquity, No one can
say with any certainty Just when he
first made his appearance among pre-
historic men, for merry old Santa in
one form or another delighted chill
dren's hearts in many a pagan house
hold centuries before the commence
ment Of the Christian era and prior to
any recorded history.
The name of Santa Claus, by which
he is known In America, is the Dutch
pet name for st. Nicholas. The name
Kriss Kringle, by which he is known
in England, Is corruption Of Christ
Kindlein or the Christ Child. But the
festivities that distinguish Christmas
existed long before Christianity. and
jolly god of good cheer appears as the
personiication Of the period from the
earlier pagan times. Now the Santa
Claus of today is simply that old jolly
god sobered up. washed and purified.
The Dionysia of the Greeks. the Sat-
urnalia of the Romans. the Twelve
Nights of the old Norsemen and of the
Teutons all celebrated the coming Of
the winter solstice. People then gave
themselves up to all sorts of revelry
and excess In the Dionysia the repre-
sentative figure was not the young
Dionysus or Bacchus. but the aged.
CHEEKY and disreputable Silenus. the
chief Of the Satyrs and the god of
Saturn; in the Germanic feasts it was
Thor. both long bearded and white
haired gods like Silenus.
Now. although the central figure of
the Christian festival is the child God,
the Christ Kindlein. the influence Of
long pagan custom was :ao strong
within the breasts Of the earn, Chris
t1ans to be easily superseded. The ira
dition of hoary age as the true repre-
sentative Of the dying year and it's at
tendant Publications still remained
smoldering under the ashes of the
past. 1t burst into new fame when
the past was too far back to be looked
upon with the fear and antagonism of
the church and there seemed no longer
any danger of relapse into paganism.
At first, however the more dignifed
representative was chosen as more in
keeping with the occasion. Saturn
was unconsciously rebaptized as St
Nicholas. the name Of the saint whose
festival occurs in December and who
as the patron Of young people is espe-
cially fitted for the patronage Of the
festival which has come to be looked
upon as especially that of the young
At first st.. Nicholas did not supersede
the Christ Child. but accompanied him
In his Christmas travels, as. indeed, he
still does in certain rural neighbor-
hoods Of Europe where the modern
spirit has been least felt .-~,.'
St: Nicholas, according to the hagi-
ologist was bishop of Myra, who
hourished early in the fourth century
He is the patron Of children and
schoolboys. ~ r.
1t is strange that everywhere St
Nicholas is most honored and his feast
day most observed the most pious and
Instructed among the common people
know little Of the legend Of the saint
He is treated with that mixture Of Sc
riousness and frivolity which becomes
4 dying myth. = <,Gs.=..- t..-..s. !
In southern Germany and Austria u
youth CARRIED as st. Nicholas and &C.
c0mpanied by two angels and whole
troop of devils in hideous masquerade,
with blackened faces and clankinR
chains. on Dec. 8 (St. Nicholas festal
LAY, makes q round of certain houses
where the little ones Of the village
have been collected. To the good chill
Aren he brings gifts Of nuts and ap
Dles. while the naughty Ones are left