SANTA CLAUS AROUND THE WORLD

Although no one really knows how the legend of Santa Claus was started, everyone seems to know who he is.

The World Book Encyclopedia says the myth probably began in 300 A.D. when Saint Nicholas, a Turkish priest, helped a poor nobleman whose daughters had no marriage dowry. The story of his good deed spread around the world.

And the tradition of gift-giving began. Over the years, Saint Nicholas was transformed into a non-religious character. But he didn't start out as a jolly, round man dressed in a red suit; originally he was dressed in bishop's robes and rode a white horse instead of traveling with eight reindeer and a sleigh.

In 1809, Washington Irving created a newer version of St. Nick as a man with a stout belly who smoked a pipe, wore a broad-rimmed hat and flew through the sky on a wagon. In the 1880s, he got another facelift from artist Thomas Nast. The cartoons in Harper's Weekly magazine depicted Santa as a jolly old man with a white beard.

Even though he's changed appearances through the years and is called by many names, Santa's job is still the same -- to deliver toys to all the world's children on Christmas Eve.

Santa Claus around the World:

As a world traveler, Santa Claus, as he's called in America, is known by many different names.

Some of them include:

-- Father Christmas in England

-- Pere Noel in France

-- Weihnachtsmann in Germany

-- Jultomten, an elf-like character that brings gifts on Christmas Eve in Sweden.

-- Saint Nicholas in The Netherlands, where he delivers the gifts on Dec. 5 instead of Dec. 24.