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.

Sa Sy MES S

SSP eee

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AL Pv

A Pontise Buick GMC Ltd,

a WINNERS
B.C. ELKS ASSOCIATION

‘DREAM VAN RAFFLE

Elks

ist PRIZE — DREAM VAN

— 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

Sarge a

ee SUED SY

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

UN A awe Mae aS “ So. Tapes toy

‘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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