Feast day of St Nicholas of Myra (Santa Claus)

Nicholas (Nikolaus) (c. 270 - 345/352) became a Bishop of Myra in Lycia, Asia Minor when quite young. From this fact arose the old European tradition of Boy Bishops, who reigned from December 6 to 28, in a parody of church officials ...

The German-American Thomas Nast and other immigrants popularised their ‘Saint Nicholas’ and other Christmas traditions in the USA. The tall, thin European St Nicholas gradually became a fat, jolly, red cheeked old man, with a contracted version of ‘Saint Nicolas’ as his name: Santa Claus. One theory for this unaccountable transition in appearance of St Nicholas imagery may be the influence of Hotei, the Laughing Buddha; strikingly similar in nature and benevolence.

The Coca-Cola Company featured in its advertising a Santa Claus designed by artist Haddon Sundblom, which helped to popularise the design of Santa that Clement Moore and Nast originated. To this day Santa Claus still appears on Coca-Cola products each year around Christmastime. Santa Claus was not dressed in red and white until Coke gave him that apparel, in its own corporate livery. In fact, St Nick was a fur-clad elf, and quite sooty:

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack ...
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf ...
''Twas the Night Before Christmas', or Account of a Visit from St Nicholas
Either by Clement Clarke Moore or Major Henry Livingston Jr (1748 - 1828)

Tagged: christmas, customs, folklore, lore, santa+claus