圣誕老人（英文Santa Claus）是西方神話傳說中的人物，在傳說中西方圣誕節前夜時悄悄贈送禮物給小孩子，是耶穌基督誕辰瞻禮即西方圣誕節的代表角色之一。他普遍被認為是基督教的圣人圣·尼古拉斯（Saint Nicholas）的衍生形象，圣誕老人的由來或與一種被稱為毒蠅傘的紅白相間蘑菇有關、圣誕老人的故事在西方也廣為流傳。Santa Claus is a character in Western myths and legends. He quietly gave gifts to children during Christmas Eve in the legend. It is one of the representative roles of Western Christmas in the ceremony of Jesus Christ ’s birthday. He is generally considered to be a derivative of the Christian sage Saint Nicholas. The origin of Santa Claus is related to a red and white mushroom called a poisonous fly umbrella.

圣誕老人圖片

圣誕老人的由來 The origin of Santa
11世紀末來自意大利的宗教士兵將Nicholas圣人尼古拉的遺物從小亞細亞帶到意大利，并在港口城市巴里Bari建造了一座教堂來紀念他。很快世界各地的基督教徒紛至沓來朝圣這位圣人。這些朝圣者將圣人Nicholas的故事帶回他們的本土，所以有關圣誕老人的傳說在各個國家都各具特色。
12世紀歐洲出現了圣人Nicholas紀念日，以互贈禮物和慈善活動為主。
荷蘭殖民者來到美洲時，將他們的Sintirklass主教也帶了去，Sintirklass身著紅袈裟，騎著一匹白馬。Sintirklass的美國形象后來逐漸演變成一個快樂的老精靈。起初美國作家華盛頓.歐文在他的喜劇《紐約的歷史》中將他描述成一個又圓又胖的荷蘭老人。1823年，詩人Clement Moore在他的詩歌《St.Nicholas印象》中繼續將Sintirklass/Saint Nicholas的形象戲劇化。
19世紀60年代卡通制作者Thomas Nash畫了一幅胖胖的、慈祥的圣誕老人作為《Harper的一周》的插圖。這個圣誕老人的形象開始深深地扎根于美國人民的腦海中。隨著時間的推移，圣誕老人的形象傳回歐洲，傳到南美洲，傳遍世界各地。
傳說每到12月24日晚上，有個神秘人會乘駕由9只馴鹿拉的雪橇在天上飛翔，挨家挨戶地從煙囪進入屋里，然后偷偷把禮物放在好孩子床頭的襪子里，或者堆在壁爐旁的圣誕樹下。他在一年中的其他時間里，都是忙于制作禮物和監督孩子們的行為。
雖然沒有人真的見過神秘人的樣子，但是人們會裝扮成他的樣子來給孩子送上禮物。他通常被描述為一位老人，頭戴紅色帽子，大大的白色胡子，一身紅色棉衣，腳穿紅色靴子的樣子，拿著裝有禮物的大袋子，因為總在圣誕節前夜出現派發禮物，所以習慣地稱他為“圣誕老人”。
At the end of the 11th century, religious soldiers from Italy brought the relics of Nicholas Saint Nicholas from Asia to Italy, and built a church to commemorate him in the port city of Bari Bari. Soon Christians from all over the world came to visit the saint. The pilgrims brought the story of Saint Nicholas back to their native land, so the legend of Santa Claus has its own characteristics in different countries.
In the 12th century, there was Nicholas Day in Europe, which was dominated by gifts and charity activities.
When the Dutch colonists came to America, they also took their bishop sintirklass, who was wearing red cassock and riding a white horse. The American image of sinterklass gradually evolved into a happy old elf. At first, American writer Washington Irving described him as a round and fat Dutch old man in his comedy the history of New York. In 1823, poet Clement Moore continued to dramatize the image of sinterklass / Saint Nicholas in his poem impression of St. Nicholas.
Thomas Nash, a cartoonist in the 1860s, painted a fat, kind Santa as an illustration of Harper’s week. The image of Santa Claus began to take root in the minds of the American people. Over time, the image of Santa Claus has spread back to Europe, South America and all over the world. It is said that every night on December 24, a mysterious man would fly in a sleigh pulled by nine reindeer, enter the house from the chimney door-to-door, and then secretly put the gifts in the socks of a good child’s bed, or pile them under the Christmas tree beside the fireplace. He spent the rest of the year making gifts and supervising children’s behavior.
Although no one has ever seen the mysterious man, people will dress up as him to give gifts to children. He is usually described as an old man with a red hat, a big white beard, a red cotton padded coat, red boots on his feet, and a big bag containing gifts. Because he always presents presents on Christmas Eve, he is often called “Santa Claus”.

圣誕鮮花禮盒

圣誕老人的傳說 The legend of Santa Claus
圣誕老人是不同傳說和神秘人型的結合體。傳說圣誕老人是在數千年前的斯堪的納維亞半島即出現。北歐神話中司智慧、藝術、詩詞、戰爭的奧丁神，寒冬時節，騎上他那八腳馬坐騎馳騁于天涯海角，懲惡揚善，分發禮物。與此同時，其子雷神穿紅衣以閃電為武器與冰雪諸神昏天黑地惡戰一場，最終戰勝寒冷。據異教傳說，圣誕老人為奧丁神后裔。在德國中部和北部地區，尼古拉斯被稱為“圣誕老人”，在英國被稱為“圣誕父親”，被美國的荷蘭移民稱為后來的“SantaClaus”。
在荷蘭的傳說中，圣誕老人Sintirklass還帶了一個叫BlackPeter的助手，乘著一艘船來到。他帶著一本大書，書中描述了所有荷蘭小孩在過去一年中的表現。表現好的小孩就送禮物給他們，不好的小孩便讓他的助手(麋鹿）帶走。
孩子們都想知道圣誕老人住在何處，他們何時會收到禮物。答案通常是圣誕老人住在北極，他的作坊生產圣誕禮物。1927年被孩子們稱做“Markus叔叔”的兒童節目主持人MarkusRautio第一次透露：圣誕老人生活在拉普蘭的Korvatunturi。
位于芬蘭東部邊境地區的Korvatunturi發現了一只類似于野兔的耳朵，事實是圣誕老人的耳朵，它用來聆聽孩子們的愿望。斯堪迪納維亞的傳說中講述了圣誕老人和助手小精靈們的歷史。
上世紀結束時，北半球不同關于圣誕老人的傳說匯總成同一版本——白胡子老人為孩子們發放禮物，之后返回芬蘭拉普蘭的Kornatunturi。
1950年開始，圣誕老人快樂地逗留在napapiiri,除了圣誕節還要和孩子們及年輕人進行溝通。越來越多的人定期拜訪圣誕老人，1985年，他建立了自己的工作室，每天圣誕老人都來辦公室傾聽孩子們的圣誕祝愿并和他們溝通交流。圣誕老人村是圣誕老人的主要郵局，它接收全世界孩子們發給圣誕老人的信件。
Santa Claus is a simultaneous interpreting of different legends and mysterious human beings. It is said that Santa Claus appeared thousands of years ago in Scandinavia. In Nordic mythology, Odin, a god of wisdom, art, poetry, and war, rides his eight legged horse to ride around the world in winter, punishing evil and promoting good, and distributing gifts. At the same time, his son, Leishen, dressed in red, took lightning as a weapon to fight against the ice and snow gods, and finally defeated the cold. According to pagan legend, Santa Claus is descended from the god Odin. In the central and northern regions of Germany, Nicholas is known as “Santa Claus”, in Britain as “Father Christmas”, and later as “Santa Claus” by Dutch immigrants in the United States.
According to Dutch legend, sinterklass, Santa Claus, also took an assistant named Black Peter and arrived in a boat. He had a big book with him that described the performance of all Dutch children over the past year. The children with good performance will give them gifts, and the children with bad performance will let his assistant (elk) take them away.
The children want to know where Santa lives and when they will receive presents. The answer is usually that Santa lives in the north pole and his workshop produces Christmas gifts. In 1927, Markus raudio, who was called “Uncle Markus” by children, first revealed that Santa Claus lived in Korvatunturi in Lapland.
Korvatunturi, on the eastern border of Finland, has found a rabbit like ear, in fact Santa’s ear, which is used to listen to children’s wishes. Scandinavian legends tell the story of Santa and his assistant elves.
At the end of the last century, different legends about Santa Claus in the northern hemisphere were put together in the same version: the white bearded man gave gifts to children, and then returned to kornatunturi in Lapland, Finland.
Since 1950, Santa Claus has been happily staying in napapiiri, communicating with children and young people in addition to Christmas. More and more people visit Santa regularly. In 1985, he established his own studio. Every day, Santa comes to the office to listen to the children’s Christmas wishes and communicate with them. Santa Claus Village is Santa’s main post office. It receives letters from children all over the world.

圣誕節鮮花

主教圣·尼古拉的圣誕老人傳說 The legend of Santa Claus of bishop Saint Nicholas
圣誕老人的傳說來源于西方的民間傳說，相傳，圣誕老人叫做圣·尼古拉，他生活在公元4世紀小亞細亞的每拉城（在今土耳其境內），是位善良、慷慨、對孩子們非常好的有錢人。東正教尊重尼古拉，視其為創造奇跡的人。尼古拉的家庭很富有，父母也都是基督徒，尼古拉的父母早逝，他把財產都捐給了貧窮的人，自己加入教會，終身為社會服務。后來，尼古拉作了神父，升到了主教，在他死后，人們稱他為圣徒，是一位穿著紅袍，頭戴紅帽的白胡子老人。尼古拉的一生中做了許許多多的慈善事業，他總是喜歡在暗中幫助窮苦人民，慢慢的圣誕老人就成為了人們對他的愛稱。
The legend of Santa Claus comes from the Western folklore. According to legend, Santa Claus is called Saint Nicholas. He lived in the city of Myra in Asia Minor in the 4th century A.D. (in today’s Turkey). He is a kind, generous and very good rich man for children. The orthodox respect Nikolay as a miracle maker. Nikolay’s family was very rich and his parents were Christians. Nikolay’s parents died early. He donated all his property to the poor, joined the church and served the society for life. Later, Nicholas became a priest and was promoted to the bishop. After his death, people called him a saint. He was a white bearded old man in a red robe and a red hat. Nicholas has done a lot of charities in his life. He always likes to help the poor people in secret. Gradually, Santa Claus has become a nickname for him.

圣誕節禮物

圣誕老人的故事 The story of Santa Claus
從前有一個心地善良的貴族，他的妻子因病去逝，拋下他和他的三個女兒。這個貴族嘗試了不少發明，都失敗了，但也因此耗盡了錢財，所以他們不得不搬到一家農舍里生活，他的女兒們也只得親自燒煮、縫紉和打掃。
一晃幾年過去，女兒們陸續到了出嫁的年齡，父親卻變得更加沮喪，因為他沒錢給女兒們買嫁妝。
一天晚上，女兒們洗完衣服后將長統襪掛在壁爐前烘干。圣人尼古拉Nicholas知道了她們父親的境況后，就在那天晚上，來到她們的家門前。他從窗口看到一家人都已睡著了，同時也注意到了女孩們的長統襪。隨即，他從口袋里掏出三小包黃金從煙囪上一個個投下去，剛好掉在女孩們的長統襪里。
第二天早上，女兒們醒來發現她們的長統襪里裝滿了金子，足夠供她們買嫁妝了。這個貴族也因此能親眼看到他的女兒們結婚，從此便過上了幸福快樂的生活。
后來，世界各地的孩子們都繼承了懸掛圣誕襪的傳統。有些國家的孩子則有其它類似的風俗，如在法國，孩子們將鞋子放在壁爐旁等等。
Once upon a time there was a kind-hearted nobleman whose wife died of illness, leaving him and his three daughters behind. The aristocrat tried many inventions and failed, but also ran out of money, so they had to move to a farmhouse, and his daughters had to cook, sew and clean themselves. A few years later, the daughters gradually reached the age of marriage, but the father became more depressed because he had no money to buy dowries for his daughters.
One night, after washing, the girls hung their stockings in front of the fireplace to dry. When Saint Nicholas learned about their father’s situation, he came to their house that night. He saw from the window that the whole family had fallen asleep and noticed the girls’ stockings. Then he took out three packets of gold from his pocket and dropped them one by one from the chimney, just in the girls’ stockings.
The next morning, the girls woke up to find that their stockings were full of gold, enough for their dowry. The aristocrat was able to see his daughters get married and live a happy life.
Later, children all over the world inherited the tradition of hanging Christmas socks. In some countries, children have other similar customs, such as in France, children put their shoes beside the fireplace and so on.