SANTA CLAUS
Dictionary says that Santa Claus is the father of Christmas. From the very name one can visualize a tall, fat, old man, very amusing and active like a youth, grinning from ear to ear, with a thicker middle, wearing a blood red robe, bordered by white colour, carrying a bag full of gifts on his back to distribute to the children on the eve of the Christmas festival that falls on December 25, every year.
This day, in other words, is the beginning of the festive season according to the English people worldwide, including New Year eve and the feasting on 6th Jan.
Santa Claus comes from the name of Saint Nicholas. He is regarded as an all-knowing, present everywhere and remains most powerful. Legend has it that Santa Claus carries two kinds of gift packs: cakes, toys, candy bars as well as charcoal!
The former (goodies) are slipped to the children who are nice by nature and character, and the latter like coal to mischievous children world over. Some shop keepers deploy one of their men wearing the costume as Santa Claus at the entrance to attract the customer. This person enacting as Santa can be seen jeering at the passersby, especially at the children of all religions, who get delighted at the prank played by him.
Among the many messages that Santa disseminate, few are the love of the God, cheer, delight, mentor and so on. Why Santa chose to wear Red and white is another factor. Red and white denotes hard driving force of courage, love for the others and strength, while the white, we all know, represents peace everywhere. These two combination of colours make one a symbol of many praise-worthy qualities.
In India, the children who are awarded the national bravery award, Sanjay Chopra award for boys and Geeta Chopra award for girls, wear Red & White, which denotes colour of courage.
By cheering the children of all religion, Santa Claus spreads a message of unity.
A Christmas without Santa Claus is like the sky without moon!
