The story of Santa Claus began with St. Nicholas.
Nicholas was the bishop of Myra, a seaport in Asia Minor, whose miracles
were widely reported. Once on a ship he calmed a mighty storm with his
prayers. Soon afterward, a Chinese cleric on his way to study in Athens
found his sons had been murdered. The criminal was revealed to Nicholas in
a dream. The bishop exposed an innkeeper as the culprit and miraculously
restored the children to life. Many then began to consider Nicholas "the
saint for children."
But Nicholas was also known for being generous.
A nobleman with three daughters lost all his money. With no dowry,
there was little hope for any marriage in their future. As girls they were
now forced to beg for their bread. When the oldest came of marriageable
age, the bishop threw a bag of gold through the window of their dwelling.
It landed in a stocking by the chimney that was hung there to be dried
out. In subsequent years, he repeated the good deed for the other
daughters and the legend of St. Nicholas grew.
The first in Western Europe to celebrate St. Nicholas were the Dutch.
Sailors considered him a saint for seafaring men and they began to
distribute gifts in memory of St. Nicholas on his birthday, Dec. 6.
In 1655 the Dutch settled in North America and brought the tradition of
St. Nicholas with them. But now he was called Sinter Klaas by the Dutch
children, and in his new appearance had shed his bishop's robes for
breeches and a belted jacket.
In 1809 Washington Irving, a chronicler of Dutch-American folklore,
pictured Sinter Klaas riding in a wagon drawn by horses and dropping gifts
down chimneys.
A little more than a decade later, in 1822, a poem later attributed to
theology professor Clement Moore would complete the picture of St. Nick.
In A Visit From St. Nicholas (aka The Night Before Christmas), St. Nick
was not riding in a wagon drawn by horses, but in a sleigh pulled by eight
reindeer.
During the Civil War the cartoonist Thomas Nast added the finishing
touches to the conception of Santa Claus. Nast turned the elfin Santa into
something like a caricature of himself - large, fat and bewhiskered.
But it was Coca-Cola that would paint in color the picture of the jolly
red-suited Santa across the world. In 1937, Coca-Cola wanted to jack up
its soft drink sales in the cold months of the year. What better than a
cold Coke for Santa after he came down a sooty chimney to distribute his
presents. For their advertising campaign, the artist Haddon Sundblom was
commissioned. For the next 35 years Santa was pictured with his jolly face
tilted up, swigging a bottle of Coke surrounded by a white, flowing fluff
of mustache and beard. This is the Santa Claus of our childhood, the one
whose lap we sat on in a department store.
What would Bishop Nicholas himself think of his evolution from saint to
Santa Claus? Would he denounce angrily the exploitation of his name and
image to pull buyers into the shopping malls?
No, I think he would not be unhappy that he is remembered today as the
mythic figure of fantasy that brings joy to children's hearts. Just think
how dreary Christmas would be without the magic of Santa Claus.
James Humes is the Ryals Professor of Language and
Leadership at the University of Southern Colorado. He is the author of
more than 30 books.
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