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Author: Ilona Bērziņa
The image of Santa Claus goes back to the story of Saint Nicholas, who was Archbishop of Myra Lycia in the 4th century. Even as a bishop, St. Nicholas secretly helped people, and this gave rise to the tradition of Christmas gifts. The image of the cozy Santa Claus we know, however, only emerged about a hundred years ago.
The legend of Saint Nicholas says that in Patara there lived a poor man who had three beautiful daughters but no money to give them to husbands. The unfortunate father even wanted to sacrifice the honor of his daughters in order to receive money for their dowries. However, Saint Nicholas received a revelation about his husband’s intentions and at night, when everyone was sleeping, he went to his father’s hut, threw a bundle of gold into it through the window, and the poor man was able to marry his daughter. The version of this event says that Nicholas Throw money down the chimney and it fell. In socks dried on the fire – this is where the legend of Santa Claus coming down the chimney comes from, and the tradition of placing socks next to the Christmas tree, in which gifts will later be placed, originated.
After the Reformation, the veneration of Catholic saints, including Saint Nicholas, ceased throughout Europe, but people did not want to give up this tradition so quickly. So, instead of the image of Saint Nicholas, Santa Claus appeared, or, as he was called in England, Santa Claus.
The words are different – the tradition is the same
It is said that the legend of Saint Nicholas was brought to New York by Dutch immigrants in the 18th century, but since the Dutch were quick to pronounce his name – Sinterklaas – English speakers quickly changed it to Santa Claus. In English-speaking countries, Santa Claus is also known as Kris Kringle and Saint Nick. Interestingly, the name Kris Kingle is derived from Christkindl, a celebration of the Christ child. The Germans, on the other hand, call Santa Claus Pelznickel, and this is said to have originated from the word “Pelz,” which means fur in German, and the name Nikolaus or Nicholas. So Saint Nicholas became a man in a fur coat who comes once a year with gifts for good children. In many Spanish-speaking countries, Papa Noël visits children at Christmas, while in France Père Noël puts presents in children’s shoes. Santa Claus has different names in different countries around the world. For example, in Scandinavia it was believed that an elf named Jultomten delivered the gifts, while in Italy the gifts were flown on a broom by the good witch La Befana.
The only ones with Saint Nicholas and. Santa Claus has nothing to do with it, they are Father Frost and Snow White from the Soviet era. In 1918, Christmas and the Christmas tree fell out of favor, but the Christmas tree remained banned until 1935, when a Soviet official came up with the idea of celebrating the New Year instead of Christmas. The Star of Bethlehem turned into a red five-pointed star, and the entire huge Soviet empire, on Stalin’s orders, rushed to wait for the coming of the New Year under fir trees decorated in this way. Back then, Papa Sala and Snow White were also an integral part of the New Year’s celebration.
Santa Klauss a Coca Cola
Until 1931, Santa Claus was depicted as both a tall man and a ghostly elf and was often dressed primarily in blue or gray clothing, his beard also being common. Santa Claus also had his counterpart – Krampus, an animal with long horns and claws that puts disobedient children in a bag and carries them away at Christmas.
The well-known character of Santa Claus was created in 1863 by the American cartoonist Thomas Nest. Although the old man he drew was dressed in the colors of the American flag, his cart was pulled by reindeer. While drawing this picture, Nest is said to have remembered how, when he was a little boy, a kind old man gave toys and cakes to children at Christmas. This husband then also became the prototype of Santa Claus. Nest also gave Santa a workshop at the North Pole made of ice and snow, elves and a woman, Mrs. Claus.
Everything changed when Santa Claus became the “advertising face” of Coca-Cola in the 1920s. The first Christmas advertising campaign by “TheCoca-Cola Company” featured a “regular” Santa Claus drawn by cartoonist Thomas Nast, and in 1930 artist Fred Maisen painted a Santa Claus in a red vest drinking Coca-Cola in the crowd of a department store. When the company began placing its advertisements in popular magazines in 1931, the idea of creating a realistic and symbolic image of Santa Claus arose. Inspired by the image of Saint Nick in The Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore, illustrator Haddon Sandblom also created the jovial man with the long white beard that we know.
Victory March of Rudolph the Reindeer
Today, countless children firmly believe that far north – in Lapland – Santa Claus lives with his reliable reindeer helpers. But the story of Santa’s flying reindeer sleigh isn’t that old. The world first learned about them in 1823 from the poem “The Visit of St. Nicholas,” but the now-popular story of Rudolph the Reindeer was written in 1938 by a poor Chicago advertising copywriter, Robert May. To make his little girl happy, he made up a story about Rudolph, the only reindeer in the world with a bright red nose. Brieden was lonely and sad because everyone laughed at him. Then one Christmas, when the entire country was shrouded in thick fog, Santa Claus saw the reindeer and put him in charge of the trip. Even in thick fog and falling snow, Rudolph always led Santa Claus from one chimney to the other. After this trip, not only Rudolph the reindeer became famous, but also his guide Robert May.
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