Intro

Hello and Welcome to this episode of the podcast, "The Mnemonic Tree", where we add a single mnemonic leaf to our Tree of Knowledge.

I’m Jans your Mnemonic Man and today's Christmas special will be on six names for Santa Claus around the world.

The origin of Santa Claus goes right back to the 4th century to a Christian Bishop from Myra which is now modern-day Turkey called St Nicholas. Much admired for his kindness, generosity and gift giving he is said to have given away his inherited wealth and travelled to the countryside to help the sick and poor.

The anniversary of his death which is on the 6th of December is celebrated as Nicholas Day, Feast Day and was considered a lucky day to make purchases or to get married.

The celebration of this day spread around Europe and made it to New York at the end of the 18th century where Dutch families would gather to honour the anniversary of his death. The Dutch name for Saint Nicholas is Sint Nikolaas which was then shortened to get Sinter Klaas which then eventually evolved into what we know as Santa Claus.

From here the transformation continued with the book from Clement Clarke Moore “A Visit from St. Nicholas” in 1823 describing a jolly figure traveling in a sleigh pulled by reindeer, by cartoonist Thomas Nast with Santa in his red suit with a white beard, and Coca-Cola popularising the image of Santa through their advertisements in the 1930s.

Today Santa Claus symbolises generosity, joy, and gift-giving and is the key figure of Christmas celebrations around the world.

Today’s mnemonic will be on six names for Santa Claus around the world.

So, with that being said, we will begin with a summary from Wikipedia.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1914_Santa_Claus.jpg

Wikipedia Summary

Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, or Santa) is a legendary figure[1] originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Christmas Eve. He is said to accomplish this with the aid of Christmas elves, who make the toys in his workshop, and with the aid of flying reindeer who pull his sleigh through the air.[2][3]

The popular conception of Santa Claus originates from folklore traditions surrounding the 4th-century Christian bishop Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of children. Saint Nicholas became renowned for his reported generosity and secret gift-giving. The image of Santa Claus shares similarities with the English figure of Father Christmas, and they are both now popularly regarded as the same person.[4]

Santa is generally depicted as a portly, jolly, white-bearded man, often with spectacles, wearing a red coat with white fur collar and cuffs, white-fur-cuffed red trousers, a red hat trimmed with white fur, a black leather belt and boots, carrying a bag full of gifts for children. He is popularly associated with a deep, hearty laugh, frequently rendered in Christmas literature as "ho, ho, ho!"

This image originated in North America during the 19th century, influenced by Dutch immigrants who brought the legend of Sinterklaas ("Saint Nicholas") to 17th-century New Amsterdam (present-day New York City), and has been maintained and reinforced through song, radio, television, children's books, family Christmas traditions, films, and advertising.

Extracted from: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus]

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jolly-old-saint-nick.gif

Mnemonic

Six Names for Santa Claus Around the World Mnemonic – Santa Shopping FuNDS

(Picture yourself diligently saving all year to have enough funds to buy presents for family and friends for Christmas)

1. Santa Claus – United States

2. Santa-San – Japan

3. Father Christmas – UK

4. Noel Baba – Turkey

5. Ded Moroz – Russia

6. Sinterklaas – The Netherlands

Five Fun Facts

1. This is hard to believe but early pictures of Santa’s outfit were tan in colour. Thomas Nast was the first to draw Santa Claus in the red suit, though he also drew him in a green suit. It wasn’t until a Coca-Cola advertisement where Santa appeared in his iconic red and white suit that it then became more standardised and Santa’s signature look all around the world.

2. Now for the story of the Turkish Bishop St Nicholas who is the origin of Santa. He was born around 280 in Patara, Lycia which is in present day Turkey. He lost his parents when he was young and used that inheritance to help the poor and sick. One of his best-known acts of generosity was when he paid the dowry of three poor sisters by secretly dropping it into a sack through the window, which consequently saved the sisters from been sold into slavery or prostitution.

3. In Iceland there is no Santa Clause. Instead, they have thirteen Santa Clauses, which are known as the Yule Lads. In Icelandic they are called “Jolasveinar” and are fun and mischievous, giving good children sweets and bad children rotting potatoes. They live in the highlands with their troll parents and are named after what they do best. Some examples are Spoon Licker, Pot Scraper, Door Slammer, and Sausage Swiper.

4. In 1929 the communist dictator of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin decided to become the Grinch and banned Christmas. Stalin was an atheist and decided there was no place for religion in the new Soviet regime. He wasn’t joking, with the possibility of Russians being sent to the Gulag in Siberia for erecting an illegal Christmas tree. Thankfully, in 1991, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Christmas was finally reinstated.

5. For all those children anxious to track Santa’s progress on Christmas Eve this can be done on GPS. NORAD otherwise known as the North American Aerospace Defence Command is a program that can show you Santa’s progress delivering presents on Christmas Eve, all around the world and in several languages.