The Santa Claus Christmas Tree Topper is 12 inches tall. The woodland Santa tree topper has a long full white beard and a long deep burgundy velveteen coat with brown faux fur trim and gold embroidery. He is wearing a light green embroidered brocade underneath the coat. The brocade is tied at the waist with a red belt with gold trim and a gold buckle with a flower pattern on it. The old world Santa Claus tree topper is wearing a matching burgundy Santa hat with brown fur trim and a bell on the top. The burgundy Santa Claus tree topper is holding a cornucopia in his left hand filled with sprigs of greenery and a pine cone. This elegant Santa tree topper is holding a gold staff with a sprig of greenery on it in his right hand. The staff is topped with a gold leaf design. This Santa is the perfect Christmas Tree Topper for any 5 foot tall or taller Christmas Tree. He also makes a very Elegant Stand Alone Centerpiece.
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Legends of St. Nicholas.
St. Nicholas and the Three Maidens.
One of the oldest and most popular of the legends of St. Nicholas tells how young Nicholas saved three sisters. The sisters had ass reached the age at which young women marry. Unfortunately, their father could not provide any of them with a dowry. When Nicholas found out he took a small bag of gold to the family’s house after it got dark and threw it in an open window. Some say he threw it down the chimney. The father gratefully seized the gold and used it to pay for the dowry of the eldest girl. Nicholas provided dowries for the second and third daughters I the same fashion. The third time Nicholas pulled this trick the girl’s father was waiting for him. When the bag of gold came flying into the house he ran outside, discovered Nicholas and thanked him for his generosity. Nicholas asked the man not to tell others of his good deed.
Some believe this legend gave rise to several Christmas season customs, including the tradition whereby St. Nicholas distributes gifts on his feast day. In addition, the custom of putting out shoes or hanging stockings by the fireplace to receive the saint’s and later Santa’s, gifts might also have been inspired by this story. This legend achieved such widespread fame and popularity that the three bags of gold became an emblem of the saint. Sometimes artists simplified their images of the saint by depicting the bags of gold as three gold balls.
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St. Nicholas Day.
During the Middle Ages St. Nicholas was one of the most venerated saints in western Europe. Although his popularity has since declined, his feast day, December 6, is still celebrated in the Netherlands and other European countries. Immigrants brought the legends and customs surrounding St. Nicholas with them to the United States. There the saint was transformed into the American Christmas season gift bringer called Santa Claus.
Shoes, Stockings and Gifts.
In Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Czechoslovakia and parts of Germany, folk tradition cast St. Nicholas in the role of a Christmas season gift bringer. Folk representations of St. Nicholas usually portray him as an elderly white bearded man who carries a bishop’s staff and dresses in a red bishop’s robe and miter. This kindly saint distributes presents to others in honor of his feast day. On the night of December 5 he brings fruit, nuts, cookies, candy and other small gifts to well behaved children. Those who have misbehaved too often during the year might receive a stick, warning them of punishment to come.
Children expecting presents on St. Nicholas’s Eve helpfully provide small receptacles in which the saint may deposit his gifts. In the Netherlands children leave their shoes by the fireplace. In Czechoslovakia children attract the saint’s attention with stockings hanging on the window frame. In Austria Nicholas knows to look for children’s shoes on the windowsill. Perhaps inspired by legends of pagan spirits descending into homes via the smoke from the hearth, St. Nicholas often enters homes through the chimney.
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