 based around the Christian bishop St. Nicholas of Myra who lived from March 15, 270 until December 6, 343 A.D. Santa Claus in modern times has become a merger of St. Nicholas, Father Christmas, the Norse god Odin, the ghost of Christmas present in an advertising campaign. Traditionally, Nicholas was born in the city of Pitara in Asia Minor in the Roman Empire to a wealthy family of Greek Christians. In some accounts, Nicholas's uncle was the bishop of the city of Myra, also in Lycia. Recognizing his nephew's calling, Nicholas's uncle ordained him as a priest. After his parents died, Nicholas is said to have distributed their wealth to the poor. In his most famous exploit, Nicholas heard of a devout man who once had been wealthy, but had lost all his money. The man had three daughters, but could not afford a proper dowry for them. This meant that they would remain unmarried and probably in absence of any other possible employment be forced to become prostitutes. Hearing of the girl's plight, Nicholas decided to help them, but being too modest to help the family in public, he went to the house under the cover of night and threw a purse filled with gold coins through the window opening into the house. He did the same thing the next two nights, giving the man a total of three bags of gold, one for each of his daughters. In another story, Nicholas is said to have visited the Holy Land. The ship he was on was nearly destroyed by a terrible storm, but he rebuked the waves, causing the storm to subside. Because of this miracle, Nicholas became venerated as the patron saint of sailors. One story tells how during a terrible famine, a malicious butcher lured three little children into his house, where he killed them, placing their remains in a barrel to cure, planning to sell them off as ham. Nicholas, visiting the region to care for the hungry, saw through the butcher's lies and resurrected the pickled children by making the sign of the cross. The feast day of St. Nicholas, otherwise known as St. Nicholas's Day, is observed on December 6th, usually in the West, while in Eastern Christian countries, is celebrated on December 19th. It is celebrated as a Christian festival with particular regard to this reputation as a bringer of gifts, as well as through the attendance of a mass or other worship service. In the Ukraine, children wait for St. Nicholas to come and to put a present under their pillows, provided that the children were good during the year. Children who behave badly may expect to find a twig or a piece of coal under their pillows. In the United States, one custom associated with St. Nicholas's Day is children leaving their shoes in the foyer on St. Nicholas Eve, in hope that St. Nicholas will place some coins on their shoes. Father Christmas is a traditional English name for the personification of Christmas. The first known English personification of Christmas, a carol attributed to Richard Smart, rector of Plime Tree, from 1435 to 1477, was associated with merrymaking, singing, and drinking. Many late medieval Christmas customs incorporated both sacred and secular themes. In Norwich in January 1443, at a traditional battle between the flesh and the spirit, John Gladman, crowned and disguised as King Christmas, roamed behind a pageant of the months, disguised as the season required on a horse decorated with tinfoil. As interest in Christmas customs waned, Father Christmas's profile declined. During the Reformation in 16th, 17th century Europe, many Protestants changed the gift-bringer from Sinterclause to the Christ child, or Christkindle, which was corrupted in English as Chris Kringle. He still continued to be regarded as Christmas's presiding spirit. However, the diaries of 18th and early 19th century clergy take little note of any Christmas traditions. During the Victorian period, Christmas customs enjoyed a significant revival, including the figure of Father Christmas himself as the emblem of good cheer. Charles Dickens' 1843 novel, A Christmas Carol, was highly influential and has been credited both with reviving interest in Christmas in England and with shaping the themes attached to it. A famous image from the novel is John Leitch's illustration of the ghost of Christmas present. Although not explicitly named Father Christmas, the character wears a holly wreath, is shown sitting among food, drink, and wassail bowl, and is dressed in the traditional loose furred gown, but in green rather than the red. As Victorian Christmas has developed into family festivals centered mainly on children, Father Christmas started to be associated with the giving of gifts. Author Washington Irving wrote in 1812 a history of New York in which Irving inserted a dream sequence featuring St. Nicholas soaring over treetops in a flying wagon. In 1821, the book A New Year's Present to the Little Ones from 5 to 12 was published in New York. It contained old Santa Claus with much delight. An anonymous poem describes Santa Claus on a reindeer sleigh bringing presents to children. Some modern ideas of Santa Claus became canon after the anonymous publication of the poem, A Visit from St. Nicholas, better known today as The Night Before Christmas, was printed in the Troy, New York Sentinel on December 23rd, 1823. In the poem, St. Nick is described as being chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf with a little round belly that shook like a bowl full of jelly. The reindeer were also named Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Dunder, Blixom. Dunder and Blixom, however, were later changed to the more German sounding Donner and Blitzen. A magazine article from 1853 described American Christmas customs to British readers, referring to children hanging up their stockings on Christmas Eve for a fabulous personage whose name varies. In Pennsylvania, he is usually called Krish Kinkl, but in New York, he is St. Nicholas or Santa Claus. As the years passed, Santa Claus evolved into a large, heavy-set man. One of the first artists to define Santa Claus's modern image was Thomas Nast, an American cartoonist in the 19th century. In 1863, a picture of Santa Claus illustrated by Nast appeared in Harper's Weekly. As the U.S.-inspired customs became popular in England, Father Christmas started to take on Santa's attributes. Until the late 1890s, both characters were still distinguishable from each other. L. Frank Bombs, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, a 1902 children's book, further popularized Santa Claus and gave him many of his more memorable qualities such as being immortal. Haddon Sunbaum's depiction of Santa Claus further popularized him for the Coca-Cola Company's Christmas advertising in the 1930s. The popularity of the ad campaign spawned rumors that Coca-Cola Company had invented Santa Claus, and that's why he wears red and white due to those colors being the company's colors. This however was untrue due to Santa appearing dressed in red and white in his current form on several covers of Huck magazine during the first few years of the 20th century. So, where did some of the other traditions associated with Santa come into play? Well, in pre-Christian Norse tradition, Odin would often enter through chimneys and fireholes on the solstice. In the Italian Baphana tradition, a gift-giving witch is perpetually covered with soot from her trips down the chimneys of children's homes. In North American tradition, in the United States and Canada at least, Santa lives on the North Pole, which according to Canada Post, lies within Canadian jurisdiction in postal code H0H0H0, a reference to how Santa is described as laughing. On December 23, 2008, Jason Kenney, Canada's Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, firmly awarded Canadian citizenship status to Santa Claus. According to German tradition, Netsch Ruprecht appears in homes on Christmas Eve and asks children whether they know their prayers. If they do, they receive apples, nuts, and gingerbread. If they don't, he beats the children with a bag of ashes. In many traditions on the evening of December 5, a wicked hairy devil appears on the streets. He sometimes accompanies St. Nicholas. However, Krampus will at times be on his own, visiting homes and businesses. St. Nicholas dispenses gifts while the Krampus supplies coal and bundles of birch branches. Bill's Nickel is a companion of St. Nicholas in the Palatinate, Germany, who is a man wearing fur which covers his entire body and he sometimes wears a mask with a long tongue. A rather scary creature who visits children at Christmas time and delivers socks and shoes full of candy. But if the children were not good, they find coal and or switches in their stockings instead. Okay, so that explains the chimney and the concept of the naughty and nice list. But what about the elves? Where do they come from? The first appearance of the Christmas Elf was in the 1850 book by Louisa May Alcott, entitled Christmas Elves. The image of the elves in a workshop building toys was popularized by Godi's Ladies Book in the 1873 Christmas issue. Godi's was also responsible for the first widely circulated picture of a modern Christmas tree in its 1850 Christmas issue. The predecessor of St.'s Elves was that of Black Peter, who was a companion of St. Nicholas, which first appeared in an 1850 book by Amsterdam schoolteacher Jan Skinkman. So there you have it, my friends. Before you feel there isn't any harm in not believing in a figure that many acknowledge to be a fiction, just remember, Santa isn't just a whimsical figure who wears a charming suit and affects a jolly demeanor. He's a symbol, a symbol of the human ability to be able to suppress the selfish and hateful tendencies that rule the major part of our lives. If you can't believe, if you can't accept anything on faith, then you're doomed for a life dominated by doubt. The spirit of Santa is to create in the minds of all, not just children, but the young and the old alike, a world far better than the one made for them. And if you go on to suggest there is no Santa Claus, then you must ask yourself, which is worse, a lie that draws a smile or truth that draws a tear? Santa Claus is real, my friends. He is the spirit of giving, the spirit of joy, the spirit of innocence and kindness. Santa may not be a physical being, a jolly man in a red coat and hat, but he is an idea for at least one night out of the year. We can all be better versions of ourselves. Santa is real. He's real because children all over the world believe in him and parents around the world believe in the idea of him. With that being said, I invite you to ask yourself this one simple question. Do you believe in Santa Claus? I'm going to stay up to date on all things geek culture. Merry Christmas.