The legend of Santa Claus can be traced back to the 3rd century in Patara, in what is now modern-day Turkey, to a monk named St. Nicholas. He became well-known for his acts of kindness, and it is even said that he gave away all of his wealth to travel the countryside helping the sick and the poor. As his popularity grew, he became known as the protector of children.

Apparently today celebrates the day when Santa Claus organizes his list of all the naughty and nice children in the world. This process is extremely important to ensure that he can deliver to all the world’s nice children without being held back by having to deliver toys to undeserving children.

After all, there are over 8 billion people in the world, which means that Santa has to visit a lot of different homes. If he didn’t weed out the bad children, it could put his whole operation in danger. And that’s what he does on this holiday—a day that’s observed annually on December 4th.