of giving: ‘St. Nicholas |

Contributed by Steve Ramzi

Christmas is coming, and San- ta Claus is. near the chimneys. _ ’ But whois Santa? Why is San- ta a man? Is he real?

It all started in what we now

- call Turkey, or Turkia, the an-

cient Ottoman Empire state of

’ Asia Minor. This-is the home of Santa Claus. He was a real per-

son, known there as St: Nicholas

~ or Santa Nicholas. Through the flow of different languages and. translations, he -became Santa.- Cholas and later Santa Claus,”

the giver of gifts and granter of wishes. | :

_ He lived in Turkey over 1,600 years ago, not far from Ephesus, where a temple dominates a high hill, It is said the Virgin Mary

’ died and was buried there, and it is also rumored that St. Paul and

- St, John also’died in that area. St. Nicholas was a bishop i in-the

city of Myrna.

St. Nicholas was a good- hearted, hard-working bishop ~ who Joved children and helped the poor and needy. He would listen to their wishes during the year when he spoke to them on their visits to the church. He remembered these, and from donations and.a small farm with ‘a workshop, he kept busy mak- ing wooden toys, food, bread

and clothing for those in need. .

His helpers were a few orphans who. lived. and worked in, the church.

" Every. Christmas Eve when the . city was asleep, St: Nicholas and his helpers ‘would - ‘go out .and

lower the” ‘gifts “through: ‘the

chimneys or ‘leave them by the

door steps. The gifts were chosen according to the needs

and wants of each family and in- dividual, and. for virgin gitls. who were getting married the. ‘following year, . he would leave | - gold.coins. His trick of dropping gifts down the chimney gave. Tise .

to the. saying that they were

. “gifts: from heaven’’.

Some families learned of his

with it and to help the Christmas spirit ‘come alive. They donated money, ‘food and time to the church and to help all the chil- dren. And the children: saw their wishes come true... -

When St. Nicholas died Dec. 6, 343, it was a sad Christmas

-for that town, but the spirit lived ~

on forever and they have carried on the same tradition since that

time.

People of’ the ‘town have-

. claimed they see:him.on Christ-..

mas Eve; floating around the church like an angel.

He was the children’s hero, protestor of the poor and the

beggars. This Christmas, let us

not forget: the poor and the needy, let us make it a month to profit our hearts, not our pockets, Let us remember the orphans and sick children and the unfortunate ones; they could be your neighbors, perhaps without your knowing. Let us

fill our hearts with goodness and

forgiveness, fill our hearts with

love, not hate. This is the peaceful month. Let us remember those who fight

regimes of oppression around - |

the world. Merry Christmas.

Steve Ramzi is a Terrace resi- dent who works at Mills

“Memorial Hospital as a medical

diagnostic sonographer. He is an occasional contributor to the

Terrace Review on a variety of @& _subjects.-

The Christmas Tree

There are several stories about the origin of the Christmas tree. People in Scandinavia once wor- shipped trees. When they became Christians, they made evergreen trees part of Christian festivals.

by Betty Barton

One legend tells how the first Christmas tree was shown in,a miracle to-an English missionary. named’ Winfrid: (later called -

Boniface). About 1,200 years -

ago, Winfrid travelled through northern Germany. One day, he found a group of heathens at an oak tree near Geismar. They . were preparing to sacrifice little Prince Asulf to the god Thor. Winfrid stopped . the sacrifice -

‘and cut down “the blood oak’’.

As the oak fell,.a young fir tree appeared. Winfrid told the peo-— ple that the fir was the tree of‘

life, representing Christ. “secret and decided to go along ~

The custom of decorating

Santa ——— continued from page B12 _

“The next day, the elves” suits

and Santa’s lovely red suit are

dry cleaned and put away, the

workshop is dusted and cleaned _. from top to bottom and inside

out, the reindeer’s hooves are trimmed, - ‘their coats brushed, and Santa’s toy factory maintenance crew is put to work.

~ Then he and Mrs. Santa take a much-deserved vacation’ to a

_ warm and ‘sunny destination for “|: a few weeks,

i Then he comes back to the

ae ‘fea world” of Terrace in early

spring disguised as everyday people, ‘‘He’s makin’ a list and

checkin’ it twice, gonna find out who’ s naughty and nice...”

. Ever wonder how Santa ac- quires that information? He poses as a shopkeeper, a logger,

a locksmith, a. salesman, a. ; “Graphic. artist and many other ‘|: “ordinary people in order to

: make contact with everybody in “ the’ community. He talks to everyone and compiles ‘his lists: __ for the following Christmas. So,

if you watch very carefully, and remember the magic of Christ-

mas, you may catch glimpses of |

Santa at times other than Christmas.

homes and churches with ever-

greens began in ancient times. The Romans exchanged green tree branches for good luck on the (calends) first day of January. The English took this custom over for Christmas. An old English rhyme said: ‘‘Holy and ivy, box and bay, put in the church on Christmas Day.”

Today the colorful poinsettia plant is used with evergreens to «decorate homes.

the first. to use Christmas: tree

decorations. They decorated the"

tree with stars, angels, toys,

gilded nuts and candies wrapped in bright paper. Later they

"added tinsel and lighted candles. Scandinavians originally trim- med their trees with fish nets and little flags. Now they also use

Christmas cookies, apples and

gilded nuts. People in Poland decorate trees with bright paper ornaments and: candles. In the

United States and Canada, early"

decorations included homemade

paper ornaments with candy ~~

canes and strings of cranberries and popcorn.

Today, many North Ameri- cans use shiny colored balls and strings of colored electric lights.

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A Pontise Buick GMC Ltd,

a WINNERS B.C. ELKS ASSOCIATION

‘DREAM VAN RAFFLE

Elks

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— Lucille Collinson, Port Edward, B.C.

"Said PRIZE — $5,000.00

— §. Douglas, Vancouver, B.C. : Pi, Sed PRIZE —$2,500.00 —[: Open — Gordon Perry, Quesnel, B.C.

EARLY BIRD WINNERS

| September, — Lorne Mufford, Quesnel, B.C. a October - — Steve Zacker, Revelstoke, 8.C. e ~ Noyember — W. D. Nickles; P, Rupert, B.C.

The B.C. Elks Association would IIke.to take thia opgortuntty to thank — |:, Gat-Away International for bullding the van, Wheaton Pontiac Buick GMC, Lid,, Stadium Motors, Wolfe Chevroiet Oldsmobile Lid. and Ed

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for thelr help supplying vans for E 7 id purposes while the Elks were selling tickets. ae

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‘The Germans were probably

Terrace Review — Wednesday, December 20, 1989 B13

Santa Claus seems to be able to show up in a number ai d:I- ferent places at once, an apparently magical power ir: keap:- ing with his other legendary attributes. During a recent ap-

pearance in the Terrace Co-op, he was captured on film by

Terrace Review photographer Alie Toop.

Greetings.

Wishing you BRD KKK ~ Sall,a very SS pleasant and< p>

safe holiday season.

PDD ERE

ill BGhydro sve

proud of our Service

Our offices will be closed Monday, December 25 * Tuesday, December 26

and Monday, January |

Se Emergency and maintenance crews will be available -

throughout | the holiday period.

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