Words and Their Stories: Santa Claus
Posted by admin on May 8th, 2010 at 07:45am
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Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.
(MUSIC)
Santa Claus is someone who will remain in the hearts of children forever. He is the make-believe person who brings toys and other gifts to children at Christmas. To grown-ups, he is a special symbol of good will and selfless giving.
Santa Claus also has some other names: Saint Nicholas, St. Nick, Kris Kringle, Pelznickel.
Two of his names — Santa Claus and Saint Nicholas — both come from the Dutch who settled in New York long ago.
The Dutch believed Saint Nikolaas gave gifts to children. They honored this kindly saint with a yearly festival on December sixth. The English-speaking people who lived nearby greatly enjoyed Dutch festivals. And they brought the Saint and the custom of giving gifts into their own celebration at Christmas time.
The Dutch spoke the name “Saint Nikolaas” very fast. It sounded like “Sinterklaas.” And so, when the English said this word, it sounded like Santa Claus.
West of New York, in Pennsylvania, many German farmers had also heard of Saint Nikolaas. But they called him Pelznickel. This word came from “pelz,” meaning fur, and “nickel” for Nicholas. And so, to the Germans of Pennsylvania, Saint Nicholas or Pelznickel was a man dressed in fur who came once a year with gifts for good children.
Soon, people began to feel that the love and kindness Pelznickel brought should be part of a celebration honoring the Christkindl, as the Germans called the Christ child. After a time, this
became Kris Kringle. Later, Kris Kringle became another name for Santa Claus himself.
Whatever he is called, he is still the same short, fat, jolly old man with a long beard, wearing a red suit with white fur.
The picture of Santa Claus, as we see him, came from Thomas Nast. He was an American painter born in Bavaria. He painted pictures for Christmas poems. Someone asked him to paint a picture of Santa Claus.
Nast remembered when he was a little boy in southern Germany. Every Christmas, a fat old man gave toys and cakes to the children. So, when Nast painted the picture, his Santa Claus
looked like the kindly old man of his childhood. And through the years, Nast’s painting has remained as the most popular picture Of Santa Claus.
Santa can be seen almost everywhere in large American cities during the Christmas season. Some stand on street corners asking for money to buy food and gifts for the needy. Others are found in stores and shopping centers.
It is easy to find them by the long lines of children waiting to tell Santa what they want for Christmas.
(MUSIC)
You have been listening to the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. Maurice Joyce was your narrator. I’m Shirley Griffith.
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Tags: christmas, meaning, santa claus
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11 Comments for Words and Their Stories: Santa Claus
1. Hai Yen | May 8th, 2010 at 10:48 pm
the text is really interesting and informative.The tone of the narrator is also nice^^
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2. nguyenhieu | May 10th, 2010 at 9:47 am
This lesson is very interesting. Thanks so much!
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admin Reply:
May 10th, 2010 at 4:38 pm
Thank you for visiting NgheTiengAnh.com and you compliment also:)
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3. lake | May 10th, 2010 at 9:50 am
it’s really wonderful story! when i listen, i imagine an old man with long white beard wearing the red fur suit! Especially, he is bringing many kind of gift.
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admin Reply:
May 10th, 2010 at 4:45 pm
That’s right, I think you have a wonderful imagination, Thuy^^
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4. doan nga | May 10th, 2010 at 10:20 am
i like this content. i hope the progamer will bester in the future. so i have a require : you should order test under topic to the auditor check the vocabulary.
Thank you very much
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5. hoai | May 10th, 2010 at 4:18 pm
in fact, i listen don’t understand, but i will to try, in the tern next i hope i will improve than more.
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admin Reply:
May 10th, 2010 at 4:37 pm
That’s great, keep going Hoai, cos if you listen daily, even you don’t understand, your listening skill will be improved for sure:)
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6. trang | May 11th, 2010 at 8:43 pm
that`good!
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7. Hth | September 12th, 2010 at 8:36 am
i like this story because it’s informative and interesting. thanks to this story I know that santa claus has a lot of names
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8. tttt | September 17th, 2010 at 6:54 pm
The history is very nice. It’s content is as a research about Santa’s names, This is an original source of a called name. I want adding more a new name to Santa claus – in Vietnam, the children usually call this old man is the Snow old man who always wear red suit and bring gifts to them.
It is the good story, easily understand.
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