Well Robin, Logan is right! Santa was evil and scary at one time in accordance to a legend I read from the net:
"In Germany's black forest, before Christianity came to the place, they had a legend about creatures called tomtin. These were wholly evil little dwarf-like creatures, who wore red (the color of blood). They would band together, pull a traveler to the ground and beat him.
The tomtin had a leader, though. He was known as Nacht Rupert. Nacht Rupert would sometimes come into villages taking a small army of tomtin with him, and could sometimes be seen peering into windows. He would often kill those he was watching, unless the people inside were keeping to the old faiths, in which case he would give gifts.
When the Catholic faith made it to the area, they were appalled at such a thing, and decided to replace the notion with a saint, who happened to be St. Nicholas. At first, though, this did not erase his sinister reputation. For some time, he was known as 'Buller Claus' (translates to 'Belled 'Nicholas') because of the chains and bells that he carried. When he approached a house, the tomtin went ahead to rouse sleeping children, drag them from their beds, and ask them questions on the Christian catechism. If they could not answer or answered incorrectly, the tomtin beat them with sharp sticks and chains while St. Nicholas pelted them with hard coal until they bled and the tomtin licked the blood from their wounds. If they were able to answer correctly, they were (grudgingly) rewarded with an apple or sweetmeat. Luckily, St. Nicholas would only come once a year, on a certain day in winter.
Later, the image of the tomtin softened, and they became 'Santa's little helpers' or 'Christmas Elves'. Also, things changed around a bit, and now it is Santa who wears the red (color of blood) suit."
對細個個嗰啲細蚊仔嚟講，聖誕老人又真係可以幾恐怖。攪喊晒，真可憐！
ReplyDelete毛毛蟲
Well Robin, Logan is right! Santa was evil and scary at one time in accordance to a legend I read from the net:
ReplyDelete"In Germany's black forest, before Christianity came to the place, they had a legend about creatures called tomtin. These were wholly evil little dwarf-like creatures, who wore red (the color of blood). They would band together, pull a traveler to the ground and beat him.
The tomtin had a leader, though. He was known as Nacht Rupert. Nacht Rupert would sometimes come into villages taking a small army of tomtin with him, and could sometimes be seen peering into windows. He would often kill those he was watching, unless the people inside were keeping to the old faiths, in which case he would give gifts.
When the Catholic faith made it to the area, they were appalled at such a thing, and decided to replace the notion with a saint, who happened to be St. Nicholas. At first, though, this did not erase his sinister reputation. For some time, he was known as 'Buller Claus' (translates to 'Belled 'Nicholas') because of the chains and bells that he carried. When he approached a house, the tomtin went ahead to rouse sleeping children, drag them from their beds, and ask them questions on the Christian catechism. If they could not answer or answered incorrectly, the tomtin beat them with sharp sticks and chains while St. Nicholas pelted them with hard coal until they bled and the tomtin licked the blood from their wounds. If they were able to answer correctly, they were (grudgingly) rewarded with an apple or sweetmeat. Luckily, St. Nicholas would only come once a year, on a certain day in winter.
Later, the image of the tomtin softened, and they became 'Santa's little helpers' or 'Christmas Elves'. Also, things changed around a bit, and now it is Santa who wears the red (color of blood) suit."
Believe it, or not :)