wasabiroots
4. Santa Claus
Santa didn’t come out of no where. People believed Santa Claus came from St. Nicholas. He was a Christian bishop around the 4th century AD. St. Nicholas was a wealthy man that was known to be very giving to help the needy even before he was given the Saint title. When he was sainted, he was known as the protector of children.
The image of Santa Claus flying in a sleigh started in 1819 
and was dreamt up by the author, Washington Irving, who also created the Headless Horseman. In the past, Santa wore blue, white and green but the traditional red suit Santa wears now was influenced by Coca Cola from their ad in the 1930s.
Now the way Santa gives presents from a chimney and puts them in socks came from a story where a poor man couldn’t have his three daughters to get married because he can’t afford to pay the dowry.
St Nicholas must have heard the rumor about this poor man, so one night, he dropped a bag of gold down the man’s chimney enough for one dowry and the gold came tumbling and fell right into the stockings they had hanging to dry.
Though only after his death, the legend of St. Nicholas spread widely and his name became Sint-Nicolaas in Dutch, or Sinter Klaas for short which is basically Santa Claus.