General Discussion

i stop believing in Santa when i was 5 years old... they said to me that he didnt exist...

Santa Claus is based off a real person. He was the bishop Saint Nicholas that was known for secret gift-giving. After his death and then becoming a Christian Saint many countries celebrate him usualy in the first week of December by having a festival and giving gifts to children. Hollywood made the rest up of him about having elves and living in the north pole flying around in a slead. ( []-[])9

hmm.. let's see last eyar.. -thinks- zomg I belived in santa till 14 O_O

erm... I am not that believe in Santa Claus. I never receive any present from Santa Claus as well. But I like Christmas day, because there are a lot of cartoons to watch!! haha

¬_¬ Seriously there are quite some spoiler tags missing ITT.

¬_¬ Seriously there are quite some spoiler tags missing ITT.

LOL

wait....huh what!! 0_0 santa...not real? you best be joking

Hmm...it's kind of sad to say..but I never believed in Santa. Nor did I believe in any of the other stuff like the tooth fairy, probably because my mom takes us out to buy our gifts. Also, it might of been because we would exchange presents with my cousins so I knew where all my gifts came from. (Plus it didn't make sense that Santa's toys had company branding on it).

I wait for Santa every christamas, so I can shoot him down and keep all his reindeer for myself!! XD

ok, the truth is i never really believed in Santy Claus...i believed in.... Poncho Clos (its the same version of santa claus just that my dad created him lol)

i know they arent real, since i once went to my parents room and was nosy enough to look in their closet and there i saw the toys,clothes, and what not. lol.

PS. santa should only bring toys...not clothing..that was also a big hint.

didn't believe it from the start because when i was small i was rarely celebrate Christmas.

Since I was probably 8 when I got a Sega Genesis for Christmas. When I opened the box which the gift was in they had left the receipt inside the box. It's funny how my parents where making up excuses on how that receipt got in there.

I never believing Santa Claus when I was born.

i will not lose it forever, thats the only christmas spirit i have since there's no snow or beautiful christmas tree in here. I knew that my mum whose put those gifts, but i just kinda feel want to believe to keep my christmas FUN!! LOL kinda childish but i really like it XD

uhm... if i remember correctly, was around the age of 10.

never did i believe in such existence, the reindeer are fakes, their horns are off the heads, and the Santa Clause must be thousands of years,

i thought santa didnt love me cause i am asain...

not joking!

Hmmm I guess I realized it around 10, but always kinda thought maybe he was real until a few years ago lol.

I never believed in him. I'm kind of rational since I can remember.

Right around the same time I saw people killed by American backed Guatemalien troops...I also lost faith in all religions and national pride at that moment.

Cheers!

In The Netherlands and Belgium, Saint Nicolas, ("Sinterklaas", often called "De Goede Sint" — "The Friendly Saint") is aided by helpers commonly known as Zwarte Piet ("Black Peter") in Dutch or "Père Fouettard" in French. Note that "Santa Claus" is phonetically related to the Dutch "Sinterklaas". So much so that for a Dutch person the origin of the name "Santa Claus" is obvious, its just "sinterklaas" pronounced in English.

His feast on the 6th of December came to be celebrated in many countries with the giving of gifts. At the Reformation in 16th-17th century Europe, many Protestants changed the gift bringer to the Christ Child or Christkindl, and the date of giving gifts changed from December the 6th to Christmas Eve. The folklore of Saint Nicolas has many parallels with Germanic mythology, in particular with the god Odin. These include the beard, hat and spear (nowadays a staff) and the cloth bag held by the servants to capture naughty children. Both Saint Nicolas and Odin ride white horses that can fly through the air; the white eight-legged steed of Odin is named Sleipnir (although Sleipnir is more commonly depicted as gray). The letters made of candy given by the Zwarte Pieten to the children evokes the fact that Odin ‘invented’ the rune letters. The poems made during the celebration and the songs the children sing relate to Odin as the god of the arts of poetry.

There are various explanations of the origins of the helpers. The oldest explanation is that the helpers symbolize the two ravens Hugin and Munin who informed Odin on what was going on. In later stories the helper depicts the defeated devil. The devil is defeated by either Odin or his helper Nörwi, the black father of the night. Nörwi is usually depicted with the same staff of birch (Dutch: "roe") as Zwarte Piet.

Another, more modern story is that Saint Nicolas liberated an Ethiopian slave boy called 'Piter' (from Saint Peter) from a Myra market, and the boy was so grateful he decided to stay with Saint Nicolas as a helper. With the influx of immigrants to the Netherlands starting in the late 1950s, this story is felt by some to be racist[26]. Today, Zwarte Piet have become modern servants, who have black faces because they climb through chimneys, causing their skin to become blackened by soot. They hold chimney cleaning tools (cloth bag and staff of birch).

Until the Second World War, Saint Nicolas was only helped by one servant. When the Canadians liberated the Netherlands in 1945, they reinstated the celebrations of Sinterklaas for the children. Unaware of the traditions, the Canadians thought that if one Zwarte Piet was fun, several Zwarte Pieten is even more fun. Ever since Saint Nicolas is helped by a group of Zwarte Pieten.[citation needed]

Presents given during this feast are often accompanied by poems, some basic, some quite elaborate pieces of art that mock events in the past year relating to the recipient. The gifts themselves may be just an excuse for the wrapping, which can also be quite elaborate. The more serious gifts may be reserved for the next morning. Since the giving of presents is Sinterklaas's job, presents are traditionally not given at Christmas in the Netherlands, although the latter is gaining popularity.

The Zwarte Pieten have roughly the same role for the Dutch Saint Nicolas that the elves have to America's Santa Claus. According to tradition, the saint has a Piet for every function: there are navigation Pieten to navigate the steamboat from Spain to Holland, or acrobatic Pieten for climbing up the roofs to stuff presents through the chimney, or to climb through themselves. Throughout the years many stories have been added, mostly made up by parents to keep children's belief in Saint Nicolas intact and to discourage misbehaviour. In most cases the Pieten are quite lousy at their job, such as the navigation Piet (Dutch "wegwijspiet") pointing in the wrong direction. This is often used to provide some simple comedy in the annual parade of Saint Nicolas coming to the Netherlands, and can also be used to laud the progress of children at school by having the Piet give the wrong answer to, for example, a simple mathematical question like 2+2, so that the child in question is (or can be) persuaded to give the right answer.

In the Netherlands and in Belgium the character of Santa Claus, as known in the United States (with his white beard, red and white outfit, etc.), is entirely distinct from Sinterklaas, known instead as de Kerstman in Dutch (trans. the Christmasman) or Père Noël (Father Christmas) in French. Although Sinterklaas is the predominant gift-giver in the Netherlands in December (36% of the population only give presents on Sinterklaas day), Christmas is used by another fifth of the Dutch population to give presents (21% give presents on Christmas only). Some 26% of the Dutch population give presents on both days. In Belgium, presents are given to children only, but to almost all of them, on Sinterklaas day. On Christmas Day, everybody receives presents, but often without Santa Claus' help.