How the U.S. helped St. Nicholas become Santa Claus
A lot of people know Santa Claus sometimes goes by St. Nick, and many know that St. Nicholas was, in fact, a historic figure.
But far fewer know how an early Christian saint known for his generosity turned into the red suited, white bearded gift giver children wait up for each Dec. 24.
Let's get one thing out of the way up front, Virginia: this isn't about how “real” Santa Claus is — whether you believe is between you and the jolly old elf.
Instead, this is about how our modern idea of Santa was formed, and the role this country played in that.
Until relatively recently, Christmas Day was celebrated with mainly religious rites.
Many things we would recognize as modern Christmas traditions, including exchanging gifts and decorating a Christmas tree, first emerged in the late 18th century in Germany and slowly spread to other countries. In the 1830s, for example, reports start to appear of German families in Brooklyn, N.Y., decorating pine trees with candles.
Instead, gifts were exchanged at other times in December. Throughout Europe, there are a number of pre-Santa figures who bring gifts to people during December. Some areas celebrate Santa Lucia, while others tell stories about the Christkind — German for Christ child.
One of the figures was St. Nicholas.
St. Nicholas lived in what is now Turkey in the late third and early fourth centuries. A number of traditions speak to his generosity, including a story that he secretly gave money to a family to provide dowries for their three daughters.
The legend says that he threw the money in through the family’s window and it landed in the girls’ shoes, which inspired the tradition of St. Nicholas leaving gifts in shoes and stockings.
Over time, religious orders began to give donations to the poor in his name, particularly on his feast day. That led to a more general exchange of gifts, and, eventually, to children leaving shoes out for St. Nicholas to fill with gifts on the night of Dec. 5, the day before his feast day.
Communities in Germany and the Netherlands both adopted those traditions. The Dutch name for St. Nicholas is, of course, Sinterklaas.
The Dutch influence in New York eventually led to the creation of a charitable foundation in St. Nicholas' name, and, in 1810, the first American depiction of St. Nicholas.
But within a few decades, the idea of St. Nicholas would fade as a new bringer of Christmas cheer emerged.
In 1821, “Old Santeclaus with Much Delight” appeared. The poem is the first to use the name and begins by setting forth a strikingly modern idea of Santa, even if the spelling isn't so modern.
It starts, “Old SANTECLAUS with much delight/ His reindeer drives this frosty night,/ O’r chimney tops, and tracts of snow,/ To bring his yearly gifts to you.”
The poem is the first to associate Santa with Christmas, the first to lay out Santa's job as rewarding good behavior and punishing bad, and the illustrations show a bearded fellow driving a red sleigh.
Two years later, “A Visit From St. Nicholas” would establish everything from St. Nicholas' jellylike physique and his entry and exit through the chimney to the names of his reindeer and his jolly disposition. It doesn't ever call him Santa, but the image depicted is unmistakable.
Over the coming years, St. Nick, Sinterklaas and Santa Claus became one and the same in the popular imagination.
The modern depiction of Santa Claus began in 1862, when cartoonist Thomas Nast drew an image of a bearded man in an American flag outfit visiting a Union Army camp for the cover of Harper's Weekly.
He's shown entertaining the troops fighting the Civil War, and a two-page spread inside the magazine showed Santa visiting children in New York.
Over the next several years, Nast would continue to draw Santa, with his characterization turning into the portly, jolly fellow with a long beard that endures today. By 1881, Nast would create an image of a heavy-set, bearded fellow smoking a pipe and smiling, helping to secure that iconic look in the popular consciousness.
In 1866 his drawing, “Santa Claus and His Works,” Nast offers the very first depictions of many of the things Santa is best know for today. The drawing shows Santa watching the behavior of children, making toys and decorating a tree.
An 1869 reprint of that drawing included with a new publication of “A Visit From St. Nicholas” would turn Santa's suit red, the color it has remained ever since.
The version of Santa's suit most readers are probably picturing was first depicted shortly after the turn of the 20th century, on the cover of Puck, a humor magazine.
Much of what has become pop culture canon around Santa Claus started early, including the idea that he lives in the North Pole. Some historians credit that idea to Nast, along with so much else.
By the first decades of the 20th century, the iconic Santa image — red suit and cap trimmed with white fur, a long white beard, black boots and a sack full of presents — was solidified in the public consciousness. In subsequent years, artists such as Norman Rockwell with the Saturday Evening Post and Haddon Sundblom with Coca-Cola would refine and perfect that image.
From there, the explosion of mass media, and the United States’ massive influence on global culture, helped to truly cement the image of Santa Claus in the public consciousness.
There have been hundreds of films featuring Santa, for example, starting back in 1897 with “Santa Claus Fills Stocking.” Some, such as “Miracle on 34th Street” became so iconic that they have been remade, while others, such as “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians,” became punch lines.
But they all have the man in red in common.
The modern Santa is the product of multiple traditions that came together in the United States in the late 19th century, and his image both shaped American popular culture and was shaped by it. Santa lives at the North Pole,a symbolic nod to the fact that he belongs to all nations. But when you leave your milk and cookies for him this Christmas Eve, remember where he came from.
