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This is a video lesson on the British Father Christmas.
First, you can elicit from your Students what they know about the British Father Christmas.
Then you watch a video on it (you can use the subtitles or watch the segment without them.) Here’s the link to the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a60upSTrNQY
After watching, you can ask your students to answer the questions given below.
Also for the teacher, the whole script of this video episode.
THE BRITISH FATHER CHRISTMAS
Watch the presentation & write your answers in the box next to the question.
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QUESTIONS |
ANSWERS |
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1 |
What are the origins of the British Father Christmas? |
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2 |
Who was St. Nicholas? |
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3 |
When did he live? |
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4 |
What was he famous for? |
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5 |
Where does the tradition of hanging stockings for Christmas presents on the fire-place go back? |
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6 |
Who was Odin? |
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7 |
Who was Sleipnir? |
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8 |
What did Odin look like? |
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9 |
What did the children fill their boots with? Why did they do that? |
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10 |
Where did they put their boots? |
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11 |
How did sweets appear in the boots? |
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12 |
What treat do modern children leave for Santa and his reindeer? |
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13 |
What is ‘mince pie’? |
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14 |
What is the full name of Santa Claus? |
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15 |
When did Father Christmas first ‘appear’ in Britain? |
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16 |
What was the colour of his cloak then? |
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17 |
Who was the initiator of the modern British Christmas tradition? When and how did it begin? |
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18 |
What was said about Father Christmas in ‘A Visit from St. Nicholas’? |
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19 |
Who created the modern visual image of Father Christmas that we know today? |
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20 |
Where and when did the first portrait of Father Christmas appear? |
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21 |
What else did Nast invent about Father Christmas? |
FATHER CHRISTMAS (06:30)
The British Father Christmas has his origins in both a Christian figure and a pagan deity. (origin – beginning; deity – a god)
The Christian figure was Saint Nicholas of Myra.
St Nicholas was a 4th century Greek bishop famous for his generous gifts to the poor. (bishop – senior member of the Christian Church; gift – present. Something given to someone else for free.)
One story of St Nicholas has him throwing a bag of gold coins into a house where they land in a stocking drying by the fire.
The pagan deity was Odin. Odin was an important god of the Germanic people.
Odin rode through the sky on an eight-legged horse called Sleipnir.
Odin was described as having a long beard. (beard – hair growing from the chin and cheeks of a man. Often including the hair under the nose.)
Children would fill their boots with straw and carrots or sugar and place them near the chimney of the house for Sleipnir.
To thank them for feeding the horse Odin would replace the food with presents or sweets.
It is easy to see how Odin and St Nicholas became associated with Santa Claus. (associate – assume to be one and the same)
Children in Britain still hang a stocking up by the chimney on Christmas Eve. (Christmas Eve – December the 24th, the day before Christmas Day; stocking – another word for a sock, though normally a long sock)
They also leave a mince pie or a carrot for Santa’s reindeer and a glass of sherry for Santa. (mince pie – a pastry case filled with rich fruits and sugar)
In Britain Father Christmas is also known as Santa (saint) or Santa Claus (Saint Nicholas).
The Father Christmas we know today arrived in Britain in the 17th century.
His cloak was originally green – the evergreen colour of holly and mistletoe. (cloak – long, heavy covering secured at the shoulders, having no sleeves but often with a hood for the head)
The modern image we have of him began in the poem, A Visit from St. Nicholas, by Clement Clarke Moore (1822).
It was the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse,
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there…
The poem also has Santa Claus riding in a sleigh pulled by reindeer and delivering presents down the chimney.
Thomas Nast, an American cartoonist, first drew Santa as we know him today.
The picture appeared on the cover of Harper’s Weekly magazine in 1863.
Nast also invented the idea that Santa’s home is near the North Pole and gave him red and white clothing.
Children now write letters to Santa Claus every year and the postal service, the Royal Mail, even has a special address for Santa.
A visit from Santa is the highlight of a child’s Christmas.
Santa often visits the children’s school.
When I was young my school was on a military base and Santa arrived by helicopter.