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Kris Kringle derived from the German "Christkindl" which translates to Christ Child in English. The German version of Kris Kringle portrayed a sprightly young boy that brought gifts to the children in the Germanic countries. Although Kris Kringle is used interchangeably with Santa Claus in the U.S., the traditional Kris Kringle is very different from the modern idea of Santa Claus. In fact, the idea of Santa Claus as we know him today has been imported to these countries replacing the traditions of the Christ Child.
Like Chris Kringle, Father Christmas shares some attributes with Santa Claus. Father Christmas was a traditional figure during the Pagan celebration of the Winter Solstice Instead of bringing gifts to homes, Father Christmas also known as Old Man Winter, would travel from home to home where the people would offer him food and drink. In return he would grant them the blessings of a kind winter.
During the 1800s, the American version of Santa Claus spread to Britain where Father Christmas assimilated Santa’s attributes. To this day, Father Christmas serves as Britain’s version of Santa Claus. Like Chris Kringle, Father Christmas is used interchangeably with Santa Claus in the United States. St. Nicholas was the biggest influence on the Santa Claus
we know today. St. Nicholas was a man of Greek origin born in the third
century C.E. His family was very wealthy but both died in a plague.
Surviving the epidemic, St. Nick took his strict Christian upbringing
very seriously and devoted his life to God. St. Nicholas rid himself of all his material possessions and set out
to help the poor, the infirm, or anyone else who was suffering. Word of
his generosity and kindness spread and he quickly earned the reputation
of a gift giver and saint. The historical St. Nicholas died in
December of 335 C.E. As often happens, stories of his good deeds became
grander and grander and it is difficult to determine fact from fiction. One popular story of St. Nicholas describes how he secretly left bags
of gold to three poor women who had no dowries. In St. Nick’s time, a
father could only secure the marriage of his daughters by providing a dowry to her would-be husband. If a father could not afford a dowry, his daughters would likely be sold into slavery. In order to prevent this, St. Nicholas threw the bags of gold through a window which landed in stockings left by the fire to dry. News of this deed resulted in children
leaving their stockings out for St. Nicholas to fill with goodies. The stories of St. Nicholas certainly did not die with him. In fact
St. Nicholas achieved a sort of immortality as the man behind the legend
of Santa Claus. In Europe the legend of Santa Claus has been celebrated for centuries with each country having their own traditions surrounding him. Santa Claus was very popular in the middle ages and had many churches built out of devotion for him. Santa Claus was also highly esteemed by the Vikings and was considered the patron saint of ships. In the 8th century C.E., the Vikings helped to spread the good name of Santa Claus in their travels. Santa Claus was introduced to North America by Dutch settlers who new St. Nicholas as Sint Klaas.
