SANTA CLAUS: DO YOU BELIEVE?

by Teresa-ThuyNga-Hen Thu Nov 29, 2007 4:04 pm

This is an VOA Special English - Words and Their Stories, I have just heard on the website.
Christmas is now coming. So I woul like to share with you the Story about Santa Claus! santa

To hear the spokesman tell the story, click this link : http://www.voanews.com/mediaassets/specialenglish/2006_12/Audio/mp3/se-ws-santa-claus.mp3

SANTA CLAUS: DO YOU BELIEVE?

Now, the Special English program, Words and Their Stories.
(MUSIC)

Our expression today is Santa Claus. Santa Claus
is someone who will remain in the hearts of children forever. He is
the make-believe person who brings toys and other gifts to children at
Christmas.
To grown-ups, he is a special symbol of goodwill and selfless
giving. Santa Claus also has some other names: Saint Nicholas, St.
Nick, Kris Kringle, Pelznickel.
Two of his names -- Santa Claus and Saint Nicholas -- both come from
the Dutch who settled in New York long ago. The Dutch believed Saint
Nikolas gave gifts to children. They honored this kindly saint with a
yearly festival on December sixth.

The English-speaking people who lived nearby greatly enjoyed Dutch
festivals. And they brought the saint and the custom of giving gifts
into their own celebration at Christmas time. The Dutch spoke the name
"Saint Nikolaas" very fast. It sounded like "sinterklaas." And so, when
the English said this word, it sounded like Santa Claus.

West of New York, in Pennsylvania, many German farmers had
also heard of Saint Nikolas. But they called him Pelznickel. This word
came from "pelz," meaning fur, and "nickel" for Nicholas. And so, to
the Germans of Pennsylvania, Saint Nicholas or Pelznickel was a man
dressed in fur who came once a year with gifts for good children.

Soon, people began to feel that the love and kindness Pelznickel
brought should be part of a celebration honoring the Christkindl, as
the Germans called the Christ child. After a time, this became Kris
Kringle. Later, Kris Kringle became another name for Santa Claus
himself.
Whatever he is called, he is still the same short, fat, jolly old man with a long beard, wearing a red suit with white fur.

The picture of Santa Claus as we see him came from Thomas Nast. He
was an American painter born in Bavaria. He painted pictures for
Christmas poems. Someone asked him to paint a picture of Santa Claus.
Nast remembered when he was a little boy in southern Germany. Every
Christmas, a fat old man gave toys and cakes to the children. So, when
Nast painted the picture, his Santa Claus looked like the kindly old
man of his childhood.

And through the years, Nast's painting has remained as the most popular picture of Santa Claus.
Santa can be seen almost everywhere in large American cities during
the Christmas season. Some stand on street corners asking for money to
buy food and gifts for the needy. Others are found in stores and
shopping centers. It is easy to find them by the long lines of children
waiting to tell Santa what they want for Chirstmas. If one took a vote
among children to learn who their favorite person was, there is no
question who would win -- Santa Claus.

(MUSIC)

This VOA Special English program, Words and Their Stores, was written by Marlilyn Christiano. I'm Bob Doughty.