Today, we know that Santa Claus lives at the North Pole but that was not always his home, nor was he always known as Santa Claus. He was born in the third century in the village of Patara in present-day Turkey. His parents were probably in their fifties when he was born and were very surprised to be parents at that age. They celebrated his birth by giving him the name Nicholas, which means victorious.
Nicholas’ family was Christian and financially well off. People in that day did not live to an old age and Nicholas’ mother and father died the year he was nine. They left Nicholas well cared for financially and the priests at a local monastery were named his guardians. He was familiar with the teachings of Jesus and one that made a tremendous impact on him was to treat others as we want to be treated. As he grew older and heard of the hardships people endured he remembered this lesson and wanted to help those in need. He was kind-hearted and did not want to embarrass a recipient of his gift so he had to figure out a way to give his help in secret. The solution was to visit the home of the one needing help at night when everyone was asleep. At age nineteen Nicholas joined his guardians as a priest; before long he was made bishop. As busy as he was with his church activities he still continued his nocturnal benevolent visits. Bishop Nicholas was eventually made a saint.
A man as good as Saint Nicholas was certain to be popular and have many devoted followers. In Europe many churches were named to honor him. However, with the Reformation Protestants became more numerous in Europe and with the exception of Holland Saint Nicholas’ popularity plummeted. It was the Dutch who changed his name-eventually three times. He first was called Sint Nikolaas, then Sinter Klaas and later when the Dutch colonists settled in the American colony of New York he became known as Santa Claus. The name changed but the stories of the good Saint Nicholas remained.
Santa Claus has changed in his looks and the way he travels. In 1822, Clement Moore wrote a poem that was meant to be a treat for his children. He titled the poem ‘A Visit from St. Nicholas’ but its more popular name is ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’. The next year the poem was published without the author’s name in a small town’s local paper. Moore described St. Nicholas much as we know him today: a rather large man with a pipe, traveling in a sleigh powered by eight tiny reindeer. He made his visits on Christmas Eve when all the children were fast asleep.
‘Harper’s Weekly’, a popular magazine had a cartoonist, Thomas Nast, who from 1863 to 1886, created cartoons about Santa Claus. In these he was much like the Santa described in ‘A Visit from St. Nicholas’. In Nast’s cartoons, though, readers saw Santa and the elves making toys in the workshop and studying a list to be certain he had filled all the children’s requests for toys.
In 1897 an eight year old, Virginia O’Hanlon, was doubting the existence of Santa Claus because her friends had told her he wasn’t real. She asked her father about this; he told her to write to the editor of ‘The New York Sun’ asking if there really is a Santa Claus. Virginia did so because she knew that ‘The New York Sun’ was the newspaper everyone could trust. On September 21, 1897, Virginia’s letter was responded to by an unsigned editorial from Francis Pharcellus Church, a veteran newsman. In the editorial, ‘Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus’, Church assured Virginia that indeed there is a Santa Claus and he would continue to “make glad the heart of childhood.” This editorial has become the most reprinted newspaper editorial in history.
Over the years Santa Claus has become an advertising icon used to sell any and everything. Soft drink ads have made wide-use of Santa’s image. He has been shown drinking many of the various brands, it is open for questions whether Coca- Cola or White Rock was the first to use the jolly fellow, but both were instrumental in promoting the image that Clement Moore and Thomas Nast made popular.
Thrill your favorite child With a personalized letter from Santa Claus
