Santa Claus was a Turkish Dervish who in the middle ages traveled through Central and Northern Europe, giving gifts to children and claiming to be the re-incarnation of Greek St. Nicholas, who preached in the fourth century. Together with the Christmas tree, Sankt Niklaus, as the Germans called the benefactor, became a central figure in German Christmas habits. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, German immigrants, the so-called Pennsylvania Dutch, carried them to the United States, from where they later spread to the rest of the world, if only as marketing icons for Coca Cola.
Santa Claus was a Turkish Dervish who in the middle ages traveled through Central and Northern Europe, giving gifts to children and claiming to be the re-incarnation of Greek St. Nicholas, who preached in the fourth century. Together with the Christmas tree, Sankt Niklaus, as the Germans called the benefactor, became a central figure in German Christmas habits. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, German immigrants, the so-called Pennsylvania Dutch, carried them to the United States, from where they later spread to the rest of the world, if only as marketing icons for Coca Cola.