It was in America that Santa put on weight. The rosy-cheeked roly-poly Santa is credited to the influential nineteenth-century cartoonist Thomas Nast. From 1863 until 1886 Nast created a series of Christmas drawings for Harper\'s Weekly. These drawings executed over twenty years exhibit a gradual evolution in Santa from the pudgy diminutive elf-like creature of Dr. Moore\'s immortal poem to the bearded potbellied life-size bell ringer familiar on street corners across America today. Nast\'s cartoons also showed the world how Santa spent his entire year constructing toys checking on children\'s behavior reading their requests for special gifts. His images were incorporated into the Santa lore.

Santa is known throughout the world in many different names such as:

Saint Nikolaas (Sinter Klaas) from the Dutch Father Christmas from the English Kris Kringle from the Germans Befana from the Italians Bobouschka from the Russians (a grand motherly figure instead of a male)

圣诞老人的传说在数千年前的斯堪的纳维亚半岛即出现。北欧神话中司智慧，艺术，诗词，战争的奥丁神，寒冬时节，骑上他那八脚马坐骑驰骋于天涯海 角，惩恶扬善，分发礼物。与此同时，其子雷神着红衣以闪电为武器与冰雪诸神昏天黑地恶战一场，最终战胜寒冷。据异教传说，圣诞老人为奥丁神后裔。也有传说 称圣诞老人由圣·尼古拉而来，所以圣诞老人也称St.Nicholas.因这些故事大多弘扬基督精神，其出处，故事情节大多被淡忘，然而圣诞老人却永驻人 们精神世界。

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