Dutch families took the tradition of celebrating the feast day of Saint Nicholas with them to New Amsterdam in the American colonies, beginning as early as the 17th century. They referred to him as Sinterklaas. That name became Santa Claus to the early United States’ English-speaking majority. The legend of a kindly old man was united with old Nordic folktales of a magician who punished naughty children and rewarded good children with presents to form the pop-cultural figure of Santa Claus.
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