The History of Santa Claus

[Shy]

[b]Warning: this is a really long story that I wrote for my school newspaper last year. I thought that it would be appropriate to post it here, even though I don't expect anyone to read it.[/b]

[center]Santa Claus: More than you will ever need to know[/center]

As Everyone knows Santa Claus as a fat old man who gives us presents on Christmas, but many do not know that there is more to this man than just a sleigh and some reindeer? In many parts of the world he is considered a religious figure and he is even a saint in the Catholic Church. All of this happened long before Rudolph, Egg Nog and fruitcake ever fell into the picture. So how did Santa ever change from a saint to a reindeer jockey who only works one night of the year?

If there is a Santa Claus who delivers toys to all of the children of the world (the ones who celebrate Christmas, that is) then he would have to be a very busy man. There are over 667 million children that would be expecting presents from him every Christmas. This means that including international time zones Santa Claus would have 31 hours to deliver all of the presents. According to these numbers Santa Claus would have to deliver 1,398 presents children a second. And Santa would probably have to have more than the standard eight reindeer because these animals would have to carry 156,000 tons of presents! They would also have to be faster than they are strong, because they would have to reach speeds of up to 3.6 million miles an hour to deliver all of these presents in time for Christmas morning. Not to mention the work force he would need to make all of the toys, because he would need to manufacture about 1.9 million toys every day (including Christmas, does this guy ever get break?)

In the United States and in much of the English speaking world St. Nicholas (or Santa) is the one who gives presents on Christmas; but in many different parts of the world where Christmas is celebrated there are gift givers of a much different sort.

- In Russia, Father Frost delivers presents to children on New Years Eve

- In Germany, Christmas Kid delivers presents along with his helper Christmas Man

- In France, Pere Noel is the giver of gifts

- And in Scandinavia, people receive gifts from Joulupukki also known as the Yule Goat

Santa Claus grew in popularity in the United States since the first Dutch settlers arrived on the continent in the 17th century. He was known at the time as Sinter-Klauus, and the Dutch are thought to have developed the name of ?Santa Claus.? In the 18th century Santa Claus flew in a wagon which was driven by a single horse across the world to deliver presents. By the end of that century he was riding in a sleigh that had eight reindeer.

It is a little known fact that Santa Claus has been used several times over the years as a weapon of psychological warfare. In the Civil War Abraham Lincoln hired an artist to make posters of Santa Claus in Union soldiers uniform as a way to lower enemy moral during the holiday season. As everyone knows the Union won the Civil War, but was it because of the Santa connection?

Old Saint Nick is actually about as Christian as Ghandi. The early stories of Santa Claus (or at that time Nicholas) were just christianized stories from the Roman and Greek gods. These stories were very different from what one would expect Santa Claus to be like today, Nicholas rescued political prisoners, controlled the weather and even brought children back from the dead. Eventually Nicholas was deemed Saint Nicholas of children and sailors (regardless of the fact that the man never existed). Nicholas was known for his kind heart and his generosity, especially to children, who he would give gifts by throwing them into windows.

Somewhere between the 10th and 19th century St. Nicholas became associated with Christmas, and was one of several characters throughout Europe who were believed to give children presents on Christmas. Saint Nick?s most popular competitor for the title of official gift giver was a little elf known as Christkindlein, ?the Christ child?. Christkindlein was so popular in fact that the Catholic Church began to change the origin of Nicholas until he and Christkindlein became one entity (so that Christmas gift giving would remain religious.)

One would think that everyone loves this jolly old fat man who delivers presents, but they would be horribly mistaken. To some Christians Santa Claus is thought to make a mockery of Christmas by promoting its commercialization. The Puritans were the first documented group to hate Santa, and went so far as to make it illegal to even utter his name. It was also illegal for them to exchange gifts, or even sing carols.

So ends our magical trip through the miracle that is Santa Claus. Was there ever a man who delivered presents under the name ?Nicholas?? What kind of food does he feed those darn reindeer to make them so fast? And how does a fat man get down those chimneys? The world may never know for sure the true answers to these important questions, but regardless of what he is called, or how he delivers presents, Santa Claus will always be part of the Christmas tradition.

-Shy

[MathGuy2]

Nice article. I never thought of the point that the Santa equivalents in each country can split the load between themselves. However, I thought that there was an actual Nicholas, who was made a saint, who gave toys to children or something. Though I'm not surprised today's Santa is a mix of legends from many cultures, I believe I have heard of an actual St. Nicholas.

[Defcon5]

Yeah i'm pretty sure that there was a real St Nicholas.

[GinnyLyn]

[color=crimson]The legend of Santa Claus can be traced back hundreds of years to a monk named St. Nicholas. It is believed that Nicholas was born sometime around 280 A.D. in Patara near Myra in modern-day Turkey. Much admired for his piety and kindness, St. Nicholas became the subject of many legends.

It is said that he gave away all of his inherited wealth and traveled the countryside helping the poor and sick. One of the best known of the St. Nicholas stories is that he saved three poor sisters from being sold into slavery or prostitution by their father by providing them with a dowry so that they could be married.

Over the course of many years, Nicholas's popularity spread and he became known as the protector of children and sailors. His feast day is celebrated on the anniversary of his death, December 6. This was traditionally considered a lucky day to make large purchases or to get married.

By the Renaissance, St. Nicholas was the most popular saint in Europe. Even after the Protestant Reformation when the veneration of saints began to be discouraged, St. Nicholas maintained a positive reputation, especially in Holland.
~~~~~~~~~~
Santa has not always appeared the way we think of him today. The first well-known gift-giver was a [b]true person[/b]--St. Nicholas. He lived in Myra (today we know it as Turkey) in about 300A.D. Born an only child of a wealthy family, he was orphaned at an early age when both parents died of the plague. He grew up in a monastery and at the age of 17 became one of the youngest priests ever. Many stories are told of his generosity as he gave his wealth away in the form of gifts to those in need, especially children. Legends tell of him either dropping bags of gold down chimneys or throwing the bags through the windows where they landed in the stockings hung from the fireplace to dry. Some years later Nicholas became a bishop--hence the bishop's hat or miter, long flowing gown, white beard and red cape. After his death he was elevated to sainthood. Eventually the Catholic Church started celebrating Christmas and St. Nicholas was incorporated into the season.

So, no, he wasn't Christian, Shyguy--but he was Catholic, which is a little closer in spectrum to the Christian faith than Ghandi. ;) And he existed, too--just plug "St Nicholas history" on Yahoo. Just wanted to point that out, heh. (Flamies bad, no flame me.)

A final note--When the Reformation took place, the new Protestants no longer desired St. Nicholas as their gift-giver as he was too closely tied to the Catholic Church. Therefore, each country or region developed their own gift-giver. In France he was known as Pere Noel. In England he was Father Christmas (always depicted with sprigs of holly, ivy or mistletoe). Germany knew him as Weihnachtsmann (Christmas man). When the communists took over in Russia and outlawed Christianity, the Russians began to call him Grandfather Frost, who wore blue instead of the traditional red. To the Dutch, he was Sinterklaas (which eventually was mispronounced in America and became Santa Claus). These Santas were arrayed in every color of the rainbow--sometimes even in black. But they all had long white beards and carried gifts for the children.
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[Shy]

[size=1]Heh, I'd like to see your sources Ginny. ;)

But yeah, this is Santa Claus. It seems that everything I have read on the subject contradicts something else. Mine is just one of the dozens of other origin stories for Santa Claus.

-Shy[/size]

[GinnyLyn]

[color=crimson]Sources include:
[url]http://www.santalady.com/history.html[/url]
[url]http://www.vampyra.com/xmas/santa.htm[/url]

And so and so forth...but I sense an argument brewing on the horizon, so let me reiterate that St. Nicholas WAS real (even if Santa Claus isn't), and I'll stop at that.[/color]

[TheShinje]

[size=1] [color=crimson] [FONT=century gothic]

Very interesting shy, but you forgot the Coca cola connection...

In 1931, the Coca-Cola Company commissioned Chicago illustrator Haddon Sundblom to develop the image of a human-like Santa Claus, based on the positive public response to a magazine advertisement for Coca-Cola depicting such a character that appeared in late 1930. Prior to Sundblom's first rendition in 1931, people envisioned Santa Claus as leprechaun-like, or as a queer mixture of a gnome and a bishop. Over the next third of a century, Sundblom's Santa would be embraced by the public worldwide, and become a holiday tradition.

For inspiration in creating his Santa Claus, Sundblom turned to Clement Moore's 1822 poem "A Visit From St. Nicholas". Moore's description of the toy maker as "chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf" led to an image of Santa that was warm, friendly and human.

Sundblom often used neighborhood kids, dogs and family members as models, changing their hair color, clothes, even genders to suit his subject. Sundblom's original model for Santa was his friend and neighbor Lou Prentice, a retired salesman. After Prentice died in the late 1940's, Sundblom would often find his model by looking in the mirror.

The remaining Santa paintings use Sundblom as his own model -- although he said he added the beard as he painted, rather than growing one.

Haddon Sundblom painted 35 years of Santa portraits that were used in magazine ads and posters, and which now also appear in special exhibitions around the world.

"Of the thousands of pieces of art in our archives, none is as valuable as the Sundblom Santas," said Philip F. Mooney, the Company's archivist. "But their value goes beyond the worth of the paintings themselves."

Another one of Haddon Sundblom's famous creations for the Coca-Cola Company was the Sprite Boy, which was originally used to introduce the brand name Coke in 1942. The Sprite Boy wore either a soda-jerk's cap to promote fountain sales of Coke or a bottle cap to advertise bottled Coca-Cola. After 1949, the Sprite Boy would not appear with Santa again, and he disappeared altogether from advertising for Coca-Cola by 1958.

Haddon Sundblom, who died in 1976, created numerous illustrations used in advertising for Coca-Cola over the years, but is best known for the Santa and Sprite Boy characters.
heh.
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[Renee]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by GinnyLyn [/i]
[B][color=crimson]Sources include:
[url]http://www.santalady.com/history.html[/url]
[url]http://www.vampyra.com/xmas/santa.htm[/url]

And so and so forth...but I sense an argument brewing on the horizon, so let me reiterate that St. Nicholas WAS real (even if Santa Claus isn't), and I'll stop at that.[/color] [/B][/QUOTE]

What do you mean, Santa Claus isn't real?:bawl:

Ginny, I never knew you were a sluggy fan!

[Genkai]

Why you all hatin' on my main man Santa Claus?!?!?!? a "reindeer jockey who only works one night of the year"?!?!?! I'm sorry...But NO!

Duh he goes that fast, but not quite as fast as you said.. But pretty fast.. About twice as fast s an airplane..And he flies in da clouds... That's why you don't see him all that often, man! He's one mad chimney hoppin' fool! Don't you know your facts?!?!? And you forgot the elf factor!!!! Elves are MAGIC!!!!!!!! THEY CAN SLOW DOWN TIME!!!! OR EVEN TURN IT BACK!!! But only for Santa.

Goddam y'all! Santa isn't always goin' at the same speed, tho, you all know that, right? He stops in on his favorite kids for a bit longer sometimes, knumsayin?

Now, Santa is a great man, not to mention he's immortal!!!!

Anyway,he does only work one night a year, in theory..But for about a zillion hours.

Now that you know that Santa is REAL and is more than a reindeer jockey who only works one night of the year, I'll shut up now.

^______________________^

Heh heh.. That was fun.

[Renee]

O.o

....so Santa [B]is[/B] real? Yay! ^-^ :D

[Genkai]

Pssh... DUH Santa is real............... :rolleyes:....

But the tooth fairy isn't....Only the tooth faerie.... *sigh*...

^____________^

[Jamvis]

santa ran over my family with a sled.... i am the sole survivor.... i filled the fat dude up with buckshot tho..... and i kept my house warm with the large lump of coal he dropped on mah head..... *the box he lives in begins to burn* AHHH!!! *saves computer*