Santa Claus is known all over America as a jolly old man dressed in red, with a white beard, a little round in the stomach, and flies around in his reindeer-driven sleigh to go from house to house, sliding down chimneys and delivering gifts. Everyone knows his name, but what about his origin? This article plans to point out the history of Santa Claus and why he does what he does, from why he’s named “Santa” and why he delivers gifts.

First, why is his name Santa Claus or, in other terms, Saint Nick? Well, the name Saint Nick comes from the name of a Christian monk named St. Nicholas. It is suspected that he was born around 280 A.D. in Patara, near Myra, which is now modern-day Turkey (1). It is said that Nicholas gave/donated all of his money that he inherited and traveled around the country helping the sick and those in need, and the idea of Santa giving gifts to people most likely came from the stories of St. Nicholas giving his wealth to the poor. Over the course of many years, St. Nicholas became a wildly popular hero of the people, especially to children and sailors. This also is the root of the idea that Santa Claus gives gifts on Christmas especially to children.

So, there’s the name and the ideology, but how did he become popular in America? The idea of the modern day “Santa Claus” most likely came from Dutch immigrants in the U.S. In the late 18^th century, Newspaper articles in New York reported that Dutch families would come together to honor the anniversary of St. Nicholas’s death (1). The name “Santa Claus” came from the Dutch nickname, Sinter Klaas, the shortened version of Sint Nikolaas (2). The idea of Santa Claus, the one that is most popular, was already very much celebrated in most parts of Europe, ranging from Germany, France, and even in the U.K. (3). As Santa Claus became more popular, both in name and ideal, this gave way into American pop-culture. In the 1820’s, stores began advertising for Christmas shopping, “…and by the 1840s, newspapers were creating separate sections for holiday advertisements, which often featured images of the newly-popular Santa Claus,” (1). The idea of a mall Santa came about when stores in the late 1800’s began to advertise to children and their parents a life sized-model of Santa Claus, and this really worked. As this progressed more and more, stores hired people to dress up as the popular Santa Claus and interact with children. Even the Salvation Army hired people to dress up as Santa and go to the street corners asking for donations (2).

The origin of Santa Claus has come a long way. From a saint on the other end of the world, to people dressing up in red clothes and a fake beard claiming that they’re the “real” Santa to children. Hopefully, this short summary will allow people to reflect on our Christmas traditions, and see that humans have come a long way in culture.

Sources:

(1): http://www.history.com/topics/christmas/santa-claus

(2): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus

(3): http://www.whychristmas.com/customs/fatherchristmas.shtml

Picture: http://weknowyourdreams.com/santa-claus.html