关于圣诞节的英语作文_圣诞节英语作文SantaClaus--圣诞老人的由来.docxVIP

关于圣诞节的英语作文_圣诞节英语作文SantaClaus--圣诞老人的由来 Children today would not at all recognize the St.Nick who brought gifts to European children hundreds of years ago except perhaps for his cascading white beard.He made his rounds in full red-and-white bishops robes,complete with twin peaked miter and crooked crozier.He was pulled by no fleet footed reindeer,but coaxed in indolent donkey.And he arrived not late on Christmas Eve,but on his Christian feast day,December 6.The gifts he left beside the hearth were usually small：fruit,nuts,hard candies,wood and clay figurines. During the Protestant Reforma tion of the sixteenth century,St.Nicholas was banished from most European countries.Replacing him were more secular figures,who in general were not at center stage at that point in history.The Dutch kept the St.Nicholas tradition alive.As theprotector of sailors,St.Nicholas graced the prow of the first Dutch ship that arrived in America.And the first church built in New York City was named after him.The Dutch brought with them to the New World two Christmas items that were quickly Americanized. In sixteenth century Holland,children placed wooden shoes by the hearth the night of St.Nicholass arrival.The shoes were filled with straw,a meal for the saints gift laden donkey.In return,Nicholas would insert asmall treat into each clog.In America,the shoe was replaced with the stocking,hung by the chimney. The Dutch spelled St.NicholasSaint Nikolass,which in the New World becameSinterklass.later changed toSanta Claus. Much of modern day Santa Claus lore,includi ng the reindeer drawn sleigh,originated in America.Dr.Clement Clarke Moore composedThe Night Before Christmasin 1822,to read to his children on Christmas Eve.The poem might have remained privately in the Moore family if afriend had not mailed acopy of itwithout authorial attributionto anewspaper and became part of the Santa legend. It was in America that Santa put on weight.