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The earliest signs of the Santa Claus of Christmas can be traced back to St. Nicholas,
the beloved religious figure who traveled Turkey in the third century
to help the poor and, as part of his efforts, left children secret gifts
to brighten their days.
However,
many hallmarks of Santa’s style didn’t appear until much later in the
decades that followed the American Revolution — the 1800s, to be exact —
and most can be attributed to literary descriptions or early sketches
of the mysterious man with the bag.
Washington Irving’s 1809 book “A History of New York”
described a St. Nicholas-like character who flew above the city. But it
was Clement Clarke Moore’s 1822 poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (you
may know it as “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas”) that first referenced
the sleigh, the bag of toys, and the grand entrance through the
chimney.
Later, starting in 1862, artist Thomas Nast contributed holiday drawings of Santa to Harper’s Weekly magazine.
The illustrations portrayed a jolly, portly figure in the familiar fur
who lived at the North Pole and had a bustling toy workshop. From then
on, the image of Santa — and his position as a beacon of Christmas cheer
— was firmly entrenched in American culture.
Advertisers
and retailers jumped on Santa’s sleigh, and faster than you can say,
“Ho, ho, ho,” he was in shopping malls across the country. So this year,
when you’re knocking back some eggnog and waiting for Kris Kringle to
decide whether you’ve been naughty or nice in 2015, at least you can
say, “Now I get it.”
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