Brits it is Father Christmas not Santa in the UK!!!

originally posted by: EartOccupant
Actually the Americans had it copied wrong again....

Originally the name comes from the Dutch "Sinterklaas"

That is a different person and fest we celebrate on 5 december.

The name merged into Santa Claus... and of course they shifted the date as well.

ah I always thought they called him sinterklaas because they miss pronounced saint nicolas like sain niclause then transformed into sant niclause then santa clause that was my understanding,
I like a previous posted always thought too that coca cola made him red and he was green before then but when i visited the coca cola factory in wakefield england the tour guide said it was a myth

When the Dutch colonists traveled to America, they brought with them their traditions of Sinterklaas (meaning St. Nicholas), an austere bishop who wore a red bishop's costume and rode on a white horse. In their excitement, many English-speaking children said the name so quickly that Sinterklaas sounded like Santy Claus. After years of mispronunciation, the Dutch words for Saint Nicholas, evolved into Santa Claus.

www.santaswarehouse.com.au...


better source explains what what i mean bold added

Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, Santy, or simply Santa, is a gift-giving figure in various cultures who distributes presents to children, traditionally on December 24, Christmas Eve. The popular American form Santa Claus originated as a mispronunciation of Dutch Sinterklaas, which is a contracted form of Sint Nicolaas (Saint Nicholas).

www.cs.mcgill.ca...

hmm interesting...

Father Christmas is the traditional British name for a figure associated with Christmas, a forerunner of Santa Claus. The term is also used in many English-speaking countries outside Britain. A similar figure with the same name (in other languages) exists in several other countries, including Canada and France (Père Noël), Spain (Papá Noel, Padre Noel), almost all Hispanic South America (Papá Noel), Brazil (Papai Noel), Portugal (Pai Natal), Italy (Babbo Natale), Ireland (Daidí na Nollag), Armenia (Dzmer Papik), India (Christmas Father), Andorra (Pare Noel), Romania (Moş Crăciun) Turkey (Noel Baba), Hungary (Télapó) and Bulgaria (Dyado Koleda, Grandfather Christmas).

en.wikipedia.org...

I think I like "papa noel" got a nice ring to it

a reply to: anonymous1legion

A few years ago, we were driving around with a friend's young daughter, when we saw on someone's roof, lights spelling out "NOEL"
Spent some time trying to explain that "noel" really does say "noel" even though there's an "L" on the end.
She just couldn't understand. ....

www.ebaumsworld.com...

It's Father Christmas!
At least it was when I was a little kid there. I've noticed the adaptation to everything North American . It's sad

My father was head of a primary school.
Every year he used to disappear in the middle of the Christmas party and come back dressed as Father Christmas (nobody was fooled). He did that in 1970.
In 1972, back home from college, I did the job myself in a specially bought "Santa Claus" suit. So that dates the change in my home village.

That's far from being the only adoption. A couple of years back, I observed to an ATS member from somewhere in the Midlands that he was quoting from the AV, and was surprised to get the mystified reply that he was actually using something called the "KJV". It's the Authorised Version, folks. Appointed to be read in churches.

Another one which particularly irritates me is the way our education industry has taken up the confusing habit of calling schoolchildren "students". As long as I was at school, I was a schoolboy or pupil. I did not become a student until I went to college (which I did not call "a school").