This African American Santa With Toy Bag
is 3.5 inches tall. The African American People Santa is holding a nutcracker in his right hand and holding is toy bag open with his left. The nutcracker in his right hand is blue and red with black boots. The toy bag is brown with a white, red, and green toy horse on the front of it. You can see a teddy bear, blue and white ball, and a green and gold present with a red ribbon on it. There is a red and gold drum by the toy bag. The African American Santa from our Unique Christmas Ornaments are wearing a red and white Santa outfit with a black belt and black boots. The red Santa hat has a white ball on its top and white trim. There is a sprig of holly in the front of the Santa Claus hat. His beard and hair are black. Select to see a complete listing of our Christmas Decorations Ideas.

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 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 in 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. Select the following link to read about Christmas Writings.

St. Nicholas and the Three Students.
While some stories of St. Nicholas tell of good deeds the saint did during his lifetime, other tales recount the miracles he worked after his death. One of the most popular of these sprouted up in twelfth century France and describes how St. Nicholas aided three traveling students. While the students slept the innkeeper searched their bags and stole all their money. He then killed the sleeping students. The saint, outraged at this crime, restored the students to life. This story depicts Nicholas coming to the rescue of young people, which may explain why later traditions identified St. Nicholas as a bringer of gifts to children. Many tales tell how the saint rescued sailors from storms at sea, returned the kidnapped, defended those falsely accused and fought against evil. All these tales circulated with greater frequency in southern and Eastern Europe. There, Christians recognized Nicholas first and foremost as the patron saint of seafarers. Belief in the saint’s concern for those at sea spread throughout Europe. Evidence of this can be found in the many churches in European port towns dedicated to the saint.
In northern and central Europe, where the tale of the three students achieved widespread popularity, people venerated St. Nicholas first and foremost as the patron of children. Over time illustrations depicting the story of the three students reduced their ages so that they began to appear as children rather than as young men. In northern Europe St. Nicholas acquired the reputation of being sympathetic to the prayers of those looking for marriage partners and those hoping for children, which further supported his identity as a patron of children. By the late Middle Ages people living in different regions of Europe held somewhat different images of the saint’s concerns. These differences explain why Nicholas eventually became a bringer of gifts to children in northern and central Europe and not in southern and Eastern Europe.