In different countries, people find their gifts in boots, shoes or on the balcony. And only our Santa Claus puts gifts under the Christmas tree. Why?
In Russia, from the ancient Slavs, the image of an old man, the lord of cold and cold, came to us, they called him grandfather Treskun, Morozko, Studenets, but he was not associated with the New Year. Later, only at the end of the 19th century, when Nicholas I revived decorating Christmas trees for Christmas, Santa Claus began to be identified with Nicholas the Ugodnik, who gave gifts to European children. With the advent of power of the Soviets, Santa Claus was removed from office for several years, until 1936.
Why do other Santa Clauses from different countries put gifts in socks, boots, on the windowsill and even in the chimney? And in Russia, it is customary to put gifts under the tree and nowhere else. Perhaps the fact that they ate gifts in fluffy paws was simply hidden away from the nimble kids. Or not…
The tradition of bringing a Christmas tree into the house and decorating for Christmas came to us from the ancient tribes of Germany. They believed that spirits live in the evergreen needles of the spruce and, in order to appease them, fruits, nuts, and fruits were hung on the tree. After the marriage of German princesses, the tradition of decorating Christmas trees migrated to other countries. Later, they began to decorate the Christmas tree with colorful balls, sweets and toys, they played the role of gifts that the children simply plucked from the branches.
An interesting fact is that in Germany, spruce is treated like an art. The objects are arranged so that you can make a fabulous journey, moving from the roots of the tree to the very top, and so that all the figures stay in place, the gifts were moved under the tree. This event is remarkably described in a German fairy tale, was the main musical theme in Tchaikovsky's ballet and is very clearly shown in our Russian cartoon by B. Stepantsov of the same name. Yes, this is Hoffmann's fairy tale "The Nutcracker".
It is possible that while in Germany the gifts from the windowsill migrated under the Christmas tree, and it was there that, according to tradition, their Grandfather left gifts, our Santa Claus was, so to speak, out of work until 1936. And when he again appeared with us, then perhaps there is no better place than to leave gifts for him under an elegant Christmas tree.
