Tuesday, December 4, 1934
Santa's Holiday Guide
Page 17
West borrows German Chri
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By Judl Nycrcn
Daily Ncbrukin Senior Reporter
roly-poly Santa Claua fUns
tree's dazzlinfi lights snnrklo nnH
the bulging stockings dangle from the
fireplace mantle.
These things seem as American as
Mom's hot apple pie, but actually they are
German ingenuities with an American
twist, according to a UNL history pro
fessor. America's jolly old Santa Claus is a cor
ruption of Germany's and the Nether
lands' tall, thin character who carries a
staff, dons a white robe and bishop's
miter and rides a white horse St.
stmas custom
Nicholas, a fourth century bishop of Myra,
said Frederick Luebke, history professor
and director of the Center for Great
Plains Studies.
St. Nicholas visits European children
Dec. 5 the eve of St. Nicholas Day
bringing with him fruit and nuts for all
the good little children and perhaps birch
switches for the naughty ones. These are
left inside the shoes standing next to the
doorway, Luebke said. This custom led to
America's stockings, he said.
Krist Kindlein the German words for
Christ Child brings gifts Christmas
day. The European gift giving is done on a
much smaller scale than America's,
Luebke said.
Much of America's perception of Santa
Claus came from the Dutch settlers in
upstate New York, Leubke said. The Dutch
word "Sinter Klaus" St Nicholas
became Santa Claus, he said. And once in
America, "Sinter Klaus" rode a sleigh
through the sky Dec. 24 rather than the
dashing white horse Dec. 5.
The German Christmas tree also fell
prey to Americanism, Luebke said.
The evergreen, mentioned in Genesis as
the Tree of Life, was used long before
Christ's birth in festivals celebrating the
winter solstice, which occurs in late
December, he said.
Later, the evergreen was used in cele
brating Christ's December birthday
evidence shows that Christ was born in
the spring, but the pope in 354 A.D.
designated Dec. 25 as the date to take the
place of a mid-winter pagan festival,
Luebke said. As part of these celebra
tions, "morality plays" were performed on
Dec. 24. An evergreen sat on stage and it
became a Christmas symbol, he said.
The Germans picked up on this associ
ation during the 1600s, Luebke said, but
American's condemned the custom as a
pagan symbol until the 1800s. Eventually,
Germans living in the Midwest and West
convinced Americans that it was a Chris
tian custom. This was accomplished,
Luebke said by spreading the myth that
Martin Luther had introduced the tree.
O
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