Santa Claus is coming
Dec. 24th, 2023 09:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luckykaaT'was the night before Christmas and all through the house...
So begins the1823 Clement Clarke Moore's Poem, "A Visit from St. Nicholas", more popularly referred to by its iconic first line. And from this we get a alot of the traditional depiction of Santa Claus - while the reindeer pulled sleigh was a concept, the poem really cemented the idea, and named the reindeer - although originally the first two reinder had the Dutch names Dunder and Blixem, leading some to speculate that the author was in fact Henry Livingstone Jr - an author with Scottish and Dutch roots.
The character goes back a long time, originating in stories is St. Nicholas/Sinterklaas. A Bishop in Turkey , of Greek Descent, who gave away his parents fortune to the poor and needy. Sinterklaas traditionally wears a bishop's hat, and rides a white horse. His feast day is the 6th December and that was once the day of gift exchange.
In this country, we call the character Father Christmas, of course, except he originates from a very different tradition.
Father Christmas is a traditional folklore character more about the feasting than the exchange of gifts - the most recognisable representation would be the Ghost of Christmas Present in A Christmas Carol. As with a lot of depictions at the time, Father Christmas wore green rather than red. Rather than a hood, or a long pointed hat, he wore a crown, usually of holly but sometimes of yew and ivy. It wasn't until the 20th century that American Santa depictions were merged with the British character, and red became common.
So, how did Red become the colour? Was it really all because of Coca Cola? Well, no. Coca Cola may have popularised the red outfit as the standard, but that campaign wasn't until the 1930s. There are many depcitions of Santa in red from long before then.
As an aside, a Christmas tradition that was commercially produced, is Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. A poem created for Montgomery Ward (A US mail order company) by Robert May. Unusually, Robert May was allowed to keep the copyright on the work, and it was adapted into the popular song several years later. This is why Rudolph so rarely appears as a character in movie depictions of Santa Claus.
Thrown into the mix is Kristkind - German for Kristkindl (I think this essentially means Christ Child but perhaps German scholars will be able to clarify here) that later became Kris Kringle, and according to some, a tradition where Odin would leave presents in childrens' boots.
Of course, it's worth mentioning one other, much more recent tradition- NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) Santa tracking. Every year NORAD rund a website keeping track of where Santa is.
Sears printed a Christmas ad with a telephone number to talk to Santa. The stroy has varied inthe retelling nd there are claims it was a misprint but it was more likely a misdial that connected one child to CONAD (NORAD's predecessor). The base commander assured the child that they were tracking Santa and told staff that any further calls from children they should make up a location for where Santa is. He then decided to mention this to the base's public relations officer who sent a press release assuring that the US will contuinue to track and defend Santa from those who don't believe in Christmas. In the 1980s NORAD added a dedicated hotline number, and a website.
And so ends our brief history of Christmas gift bringers. A mishmash of Dutch, German, and Turkish folklore adopted by America and merged with English traditions.
So begins the1823 Clement Clarke Moore's Poem, "A Visit from St. Nicholas", more popularly referred to by its iconic first line. And from this we get a alot of the traditional depiction of Santa Claus - while the reindeer pulled sleigh was a concept, the poem really cemented the idea, and named the reindeer - although originally the first two reinder had the Dutch names Dunder and Blixem, leading some to speculate that the author was in fact Henry Livingstone Jr - an author with Scottish and Dutch roots.
The character goes back a long time, originating in stories is St. Nicholas/Sinterklaas. A Bishop in Turkey , of Greek Descent, who gave away his parents fortune to the poor and needy. Sinterklaas traditionally wears a bishop's hat, and rides a white horse. His feast day is the 6th December and that was once the day of gift exchange.
In this country, we call the character Father Christmas, of course, except he originates from a very different tradition.
Father Christmas is a traditional folklore character more about the feasting than the exchange of gifts - the most recognisable representation would be the Ghost of Christmas Present in A Christmas Carol. As with a lot of depictions at the time, Father Christmas wore green rather than red. Rather than a hood, or a long pointed hat, he wore a crown, usually of holly but sometimes of yew and ivy. It wasn't until the 20th century that American Santa depictions were merged with the British character, and red became common.
So, how did Red become the colour? Was it really all because of Coca Cola? Well, no. Coca Cola may have popularised the red outfit as the standard, but that campaign wasn't until the 1930s. There are many depcitions of Santa in red from long before then.
As an aside, a Christmas tradition that was commercially produced, is Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. A poem created for Montgomery Ward (A US mail order company) by Robert May. Unusually, Robert May was allowed to keep the copyright on the work, and it was adapted into the popular song several years later. This is why Rudolph so rarely appears as a character in movie depictions of Santa Claus.
Thrown into the mix is Kristkind - German for Kristkindl (I think this essentially means Christ Child but perhaps German scholars will be able to clarify here) that later became Kris Kringle, and according to some, a tradition where Odin would leave presents in childrens' boots.
Of course, it's worth mentioning one other, much more recent tradition- NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) Santa tracking. Every year NORAD rund a website keeping track of where Santa is.
Sears printed a Christmas ad with a telephone number to talk to Santa. The stroy has varied inthe retelling nd there are claims it was a misprint but it was more likely a misdial that connected one child to CONAD (NORAD's predecessor). The base commander assured the child that they were tracking Santa and told staff that any further calls from children they should make up a location for where Santa is. He then decided to mention this to the base's public relations officer who sent a press release assuring that the US will contuinue to track and defend Santa from those who don't believe in Christmas. In the 1980s NORAD added a dedicated hotline number, and a website.
And so ends our brief history of Christmas gift bringers. A mishmash of Dutch, German, and Turkish folklore adopted by America and merged with English traditions.
