The History of Santa Claus

Ah, Santa Claus. Is there a single person in the world who doesn’t know the generous, plump, and jolly old elf? But who is he, anyway? And why is he synonymous with Christmas?

The history of Santa Claus is one that’s fascinated me for a long time. His history shows how a legend forms over many, many centuries. Throughout his history, he’s gone from Turkish Saint to Dutch folk tale to American propaganda mascot to a popular icon. How could this have happened? Read on and find out!

Saint Nicholas

In life, Santa Claus was Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, a Catholic saint. He was an early Christian bishop from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor (now called Turkey). He lived from 270 to 343 AD. From the very beginning, he devoted his life to Christ, becoming a monk at a young age. After his parents died, he distributed all the property he inherited to the poor so he could live in poverty. He’d have stayed in the monastery, but the Lord called upon him and told him to “set about your work among the people if you desire to receive a crown from Me.” Immediately after that, he was chosen as archbishop of Myra. The Romans persecuted and imprisoned him along with many other Christians, but these trials only let him grow in faithfulness. He went on to take part in the First Ecumenical Council of Nicea in 325, where he’s said to have punched Arius the arch-heretic in the face. He died of old age.

Like many of the early Christian saints, his popularity exploded after death, as did the stories surrounding him. One time, he rescued three girls from forced prostitution by giving a sack of gold coins to each of them at night to pay off their debts. Another time, he saved three soldiers from wrongful execution. One legend even has him resurrecting three murdered children from the dead. After his death, his body parts became holy relics, and many miracles were attributed to his intercession. For all this, he gained the title of “the Wonderworker.”

By the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church decided to celebrate the Feast of St. Nicholas on December 6th. In honor of the Saint’s generosity and love of children, people gave gifts to children on this day. To this day, Catholics all over the world celebrate St. Nicholas Day, including my family. Growing up, I’d wake up early in the morning each December 6 and finding my stockings full of toys, fruit, and clothes. It was like having a second Christmas Day!

Now, the popular image of St. Nicholas differs from Santa Claus. Although he shares Santa Claus’ white hair and long, full beard, he wears traditional liturgical vestments of a Catholic bishop: a white bishop’s alb, a red stole, and a red miter. In one hand he holds a gold-colored crosier, a long ceremonial shepherds’ staff with a fancy curled top, and in the other, he carries a big, red book which records whether each child has been good or naughty in the past year. Rather than riding in a sleigh pulled by reindeer, he traditionally rides a white horse. He does come in the dead of night to put toys and other presents in children’s stockings every December 6, or so my parents said. This practice of leaving anonymous gifts in the dead of night was something he did in life. He followed Christ’s advice concerning giving to the needy to the letter:

Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Matthew 6:1-4

That being said, Saint Nicholas Day isn’t often celebrated in America. America is a heavily Protestant, Puritan country, as I’ve talked about before. I remember one time in elementary school when I asked my friends what they got from Saint Nicholas. None of them knew who he was! I was flabbergasted. How could they not know that Saint Nicholas was Santa Claus’ real name and that his special day was December 6? It was only many years later that I learned the convoluted history of Santa Claus.

The Puritan Origins of Santa Claus

The name “Santa Claus” started as the Americanized version of Sinterklaas (the Dutch name for Saint Nicholas, derived from Sint-Nicolaas). The first mention of a Santa Claus appeared in the December 1773 edition of the New York Gazette:

Last Monday [i.e., 13 December] the Anniversary of St. Nicholas, otherwise called St. A Claus, was celebrated at Protestant-Hall, at Mr. Waldron’s, where a great Number of the Sons of that ancient Saint celebrated the Day with great Joy and Festivity.

Years later, in the Jan. 25, 1808 issue of the short-lived paper Salmagundi, famous writer Washington Irving lampooned the Dutch culture of New York with his depiction of “Santa Claus.” Gone was Sinterklaas’ bishop’s apparel. Now, Santa Claus was a thick-bellied Dutch sailor with a pipe in a green winter coat. “In this season of festivity when the gate of time swings open on its hinges,” the paper says. “[A]n honest rosy-faced New-Year comes waddling in, like a jolly fat-sided alderman, loaded with good wishes, good humour and minced pies.”

This humorous depiction wasn’t for fun and games, however. As this Bloomberg article explains, Irving’s depiction of Santa Claus was a part of a broader movement to tone down the wild Christmas celebrations of the era. In those days, December 25th was the time of the year when people would invade each other’s homes, go on drunken rampages, and engage in deviancy. But America, that land of the Puritans, hated this. The ruckus offended good Christians. Also, it was bad for business, so upper-class merchants also derided the Christmas havoc. Together, these groups exerted a cultural force that would transform the Christmas holiday into what it is today.

The mention of Santa’s reindeer was first introduced in the anonymous 1821 poem Old Santeclaus with Much Delight. Here, we see a more modern depiction of Santa Claus – a man who brings presents to children on a reindeer-driven sleigh. Two years later, another poem “A Visit From St. Nicholas” (better known today as “The Night Before Christmas”) cemented in the minds of the public the qualities of Santa Claus – that he was “chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf” with “a little round belly”, that “shook when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.” A reference to Old Santeclaus with Much Delight appears in the form of a “miniature sleigh” and “tiny reindeer.”. These lines show that this early version of Santa Claus was smaller than a normal person.

The Creation of the Modern Santa Claus

Two creators made Santa Claus who he is today. The first was a Bavarian immigrant and political cartoonist named Thomas Nast, the “Father of the American Cartoon.” Nast was a staunch Republican who supported abolitionism, civil rights, and militarism and opposed the corrupt politicians of New York City. He was responsible for making the elephant the symbol of the Republican Party and the donkey the symbol of the Democratic Party.

On January 3, 1863, Nast immortalized Santa Claus in a pro-Union propaganda cartoon. Here, Santa Claus is a large, heavyset man dressed in the American flag. In his hands, he holds a puppet with a rope around its neck named “Jeff” that represented Confederate president Jefferson Davis. From then on, Nast would annually make drawings of Santa Claus until 1886. As the creation of a rather opinionated political cartoonist, Nast’s Santa Claus made many pointed political statements. While his messages may not be relevant today, the image of Santa Claus he gave to us has endured. Thomas Nast may have also given us the story of Santa Claus living in the North Pole. In his December 29, 1866 college of engravings entitled “Santa Claus and His Works”, Nast included the caption “Santa Claussville, N.P.” Later poets popularized the notion such that, by the 1870s, the tale was well known.

The other creator that made the modern Santa Claus possible was L. Frank Baum, the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its sequels. In 1902, he wrote the book The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. Here, Santa Claus couldn’t fly, but he could leap great distances in a single bound. In his backstory, “Santa” was a title he received along with his immortality from naturally-born immortals as a reward for his good deeds. He is an individual moved by the misery and poverty of children around the world to bring joy to their lives. So, he makes toys at his home in the “Laughing Valley of Hohaho” before going out with his ten reindeer. Santa Claus would later appear in Frank Baum’s famous Land of Oz series as a beloved monarch and a guest of honor at Princess Ozma’s birthday party. Through his books, L. Frank Baum greatly increased the popularity of Santa Claus in popular culture. After that, advertisements, movies, and songs would be made about Santa Claus.

Merry Christmas

The story of Santa Claus shows how far a single character can come. The depiction of Saint Nicholas has changed so much over the years. If researching this has taught me anything, it’s that the cultural icons we consider to be simple and eternal become dynamic and multi-faceted once we look at their history and see their origins. This Christmas, be grateful for Santa Claus and his predecessors.

Also, as a reminder, December 6 is once again the Feast of Saint Nicholas. If you truly believe in the spirit of Santa Claus, you ought to celebrate his feast day. He’s a great saint, so if you pray to St. Nicholas and ask him to intercede for you, he’ll be sure you have a Merry Christmas.