25th of December is Christmas which is the day to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Some people confuse it to be Jesus Christ's birthday, but it is unknown which day Jesus Christ was actually born. And back in the days, there was no Santa Claus.

Now days, Santa Claus is the symbol of Christmas. The model of Santa Claus is said to be Saint Nicholas the bishop of Greece who existed in 270s. He was born in a wealthy family and distributed his wealth to poor people. He was loved and respected as a patron saint giving presents to children.

We all know that Santa Claus puts a present in a sock while we are sleeping. There is a story of Saint Nicholas that he threw a bag of gold coins into a chimney for a poor family. And there were socks hanged by the fireplace to be dried and some of the coins coincidentally got into the sock. This story became a model of Santa Claus leaving a present in a sock. The story continues with a happy ending of saving the daughters of the poor family from getting sold out for money. Thank God!

Santa Claus is known wearing red clothes and it is based on bishops' clothes. Years ago, Santa Claus is visualized as wearing different colored clothes such as white, blue, purple, and red as bishops' clothes were. The vision of Santa Claus became the one we know now was in 1931. Coca Cola used the Santa Claus with long white beard wearing red clothes and boots as an image character, and it spread to the whole world.
Santa Claus first introduced in Japan in 1898(MEIJI year31) as 『Santa Kurou』 the old man with long white beard wearing red clothes leading a donkey with a Christmas tree in his hand. It was a story that 『Santa Kurou』 the old man visits with presents to thank for getting helped. This story was introduced as a textbook for children at school. Santa Claus was closer to the visual now days in Japan earlier compared to other countries.

It is interesting to know the model of Santa Claus and how it was spread to the world. Now Christmas is one of the biggest and most fun events of a year to us. We hope you have a lovely Christmas and have a happy new year.