There are a many legendary figures and stories in the history of Christianity. The tradition of celebration of Christmas on 25th of December is as meaningful as the birth of Lord Jesus himself and also the birth of Christianity. While we are talking about Christmas, the greatest of the festivals, it remains imperfect without the legend of Father Christmas, the Santa Claus alias St. Nicholas, the greatest of the saints. Each religion or a sect has a leader who delivers the ultimate truth and swiftly drives out the obscurity of mortality; Santa Claus is not only a leader, but he was also the emancipator of impoverished souls in the glorious path of Christianity.
If you believe in some supernatural powers, you can’t remain without knowing about them and the facts related with them. And Santa Claus is one of the powerful image upon which the sacredness and piousness of Christianity is rested. Santa is the strongest god image for children whose celebration alone builds a characterful of religious and moral etiquette in them. While Santa Claus will be distributing wonderful gifts from chimneys and at fireplaces at your home for you, you might want to know some wonderful and very interesting facts about Santa himself.
Well, here are the top 10 interesting facts about Santa Claus especially for you.
10. Santa is also known as Saint Nicholas
Although the origin of Santa Claus is often referenced to the life of German Pagan, Odin, Sinterklass as of Dutch myth, Nisse as of Scandinavian myth and Father Christmas from England; it is widely believed that the antecedent of Santa Claus is Saint Nicholas, but some followers also say that Saint Nicholas himself is Santa Claus. The origin of Saint Nicholas has been dated back to 4th century, where he was a Christian Bishop of Greek origin in Myra, which is now a domain of Turkey. Saint Nicholas was one of the greatest religious persons of his age who is portrayed as a reverent and kind soul and is well-known for distributing plentiful gifts to the children and poor. He dedicated his whole life for the sake of Christianity and is said to be resting at the North Pole. On his honor, 6th of December is celebrated as Saint Nicholas day.
9. Guinness World Record for the Largest Gathering of Santa Clauses
It was a breathtaking moment when more than 14,900 people dressed up in Santa Claus marched in Porto City of Portugal, as of Guinness World Record, on 14 December 2010. The gathering broke the previous record of 14,472 in the same place a year ago. On the new world record set for the Largest Santa Claus Parade, several people took part in the parade from bus and motorcycle to dancing along the streets. Each Santa crossing the finish line was given € 1 by the organizers for distributing gifts to children. There were also previous records from Derry City of Northern Ireland in 2007, Liverpool City Center in 2005 and from Bucharest, Romania in 2009.
8. Mountain Peak Named after Santa in Kyrgyzstan
In the Christmas Eve of 2007, Kyrgyzstan named one of its mountains as Mount Santa Claus in due honor of Santa Claus, where a group of Kyrgyz mountaineers went for trekking to the chosen mountain in the occasion of naming ceremony. The idea was suggested by the Swedish Logistics Company that the place in Kyrgyzstan would be the suitable for Santa to distribute gifts from all over the world. This was also done by Kyrgyzstan in order to promote its tourism industry. Later, the country also held a Santa Claus Festival in its capital, Bishkek, on 30th December of the same year and 2008 was publicly declared as the Year of Santa Claus in Kyrgyzstan.