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nt nicholas and santa claus in a variety of facets including his long white beard and his grey horse for nightly rides compare odin s horse sleipnir or his reindeer in north american tradition 22 23 the folklorist margaret baker maintains that the appearance of santa claus or father christmas whose day is the 25th of december owes much to odin the old blue hooded cloaked white bearded giftbringer of the north who rode the midwinter sky on his eight footed steed sleipnir visiting his people with gifts odin transformed into father christmas then santa claus prospered with st nicholas and the christchild became a leading player on the christmas stage 24 in northern europe the yule goat was an earlier bearer of gifts which has to some degree become conflated with santa claus for instance in the finnish joulupukki tradition 25 history origins early representations of the gift giver from church history and folklore especially saint nicholas 26 merged with the english character father christmas to create the mythical character known to the rest of the english speaking world as santa claus a phonetic derivation of sinterklaas in dutch in the english and later british colonies of north america and later in the united states british and dutch versions of the gift giver merged further for example in washington irving s history of new york 1809 sinterklaas was anglicised into santa claus a name first used in the u s press in 1773 27 but lost his bishop s apparel and was at first pictured as a thick bellied dutch sailor with a pipe in a green winter coat irving s book was a parody of the dutch culture of new york and much of this portrait is his joking invention irving s interpretation of santa claus was part of a broader movement to tone down the increasingly wild christmas celebrations of the era which included aggressive home invasions under the guise of wassailing substantial premarital sex leading to shotgun weddings in areas where the puritans waning in power and firmly opposed to christmas still held some influence and public displays of sexual deviancy the celebrations of the era were derided by both upper class merchants and christian purists 28 associations of the modern western santa s colors and magical attributes with the mushroom amanita muscaria and shamans of the sámi kamchadals or koryaks are unsupported by historical evidence 29 30 19th century illustration to verse 1 of old santeclaus with much delight in 1821 the book a new year s present to the little ones from five to twelve was published in new york it contained old santeclaus with much delight an anonymous poem possibly written by clement clarke moore 31 describing santeclaus on a reindeer sleigh bringing rewards to children some modern ideas of santa claus seemingly became canon after the anonymous publication of the poem a visit from st nicholas better known today as the night before christmas in the troy new york sentinel on 23 december 1823 moore later claimed authorship though others have argued that the author was henry livingston jr although he had never claimed authorship of the piece and died nine years before moore revealed himself as the author 7 32 saint nicholas is described as being chubby and plump a right jolly old elf with a little round belly that shook when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly in spite of which the miniature sleigh and tiny reindeer still indicate that he is physically diminutive the reindeer were also named dasher dancer prancer vixen comet cupid dunder and blixem dunder and blixem came from the old dutch words for thunder and lightning which were later changed to the more german sounding donner and blitzen 33 by 1845 kris kringle from christkindl e german for christ child was a common variant of santa in parts of the united states 34 a magazine article from 1853 describing american christmas customs to british readers refers to children hanging up their stockings on christmas eve for a fabulous personage whose name varies in pennsylvania he is usually called krishkinkle but in new york he is st nicholas or santa claus the author 35 quotes moore s poem in its entirety saying that its descriptions apply to krishkinkle too 36 nast s 1863 depiction of santa claus distributing gifts in a union army camp introduced our modern image of santa claus as the years passed santa claus evolved into a large heavyset person one of the first artists to define the modern image of santa claus was thomas nast a german born american cartoonist of the 19th century who immortalised santa claus with an illustration for the 3 january 1863 issue of harper s weekly in which santa was dressed in an american flag and had a puppet with the name jeff written on it reflecting its american civil war context nast was inspired by the belsnickel part of the folklore in southwestern germany where he was born 37 in this drawing santa is also in a sleigh pulled by reindeer 38 the story that santa claus lives at the north pole may also have been a nast creation his christmas image in the harper s issue dated 29 december 1866 was a collage of engravings titled santa claus and his works which included the caption santa claussville n p 39 a colour collection of nast s pictures published in 1869 had a poem also titled santa claus and his works by george p webster who wrote that santa claus s home was near the north pole in the ice and snow 40 the tale had become well known by the 1870s a boy from colorado writing to the children s magazine the nursery in late 1874 said if we did not live so very far from the north pole i should ask santa claus to bring me a donkey 41 the idea of a wife for santa claus may have been the creation of american authors beginning in the mid 19th century in 1889 the poet katharine lee bates popularised mrs claus in the poem goody santa claus on a sleigh ride is there a santa claus is the title of an iconic editorial by francis pharcellus church in the 21 september 1897 edition of the new york sun that became the most reprinted in the us and included the famous reply yes virginia there is a santa claus 42 43 20th century joulupukki the finnish santa claus visits the lönn family in 1901 a man dressed as santa claus fundraising for volunteers of america on the sidewalk of street in chicago illinois in 1902 he is wearing a mask with a beard attached l frank baum s the life and adventures of santa claus a children s book was published in 1902 much of santa claus s mythos was not firmly established at the time leaving baum to give his neclaus necile s little one a variety of immortal support a home in the laughing valley of hohaho and ten reindeer who could not fly but leapt in enormous flight like bounds claus s immortality was earned much like his title santa decided by a vote of those naturally immortal this work also established santa s motives a happy childhood among immortals when ak master woodsman of the world exposes him to the misery and poverty of children in the outside world santa strives to find a way to bring joy into the lives of all children and eventually invents toys as a principal means santa later appears in the road to oz as an honored guest at ozma s birthday party stated to be famous and beloved enough for everyone to bow even before he is announced as the most mighty and loyal friend of children his supreme highness santa claus rose o neill s illustration for the 1903 issue of puck images of santa claus were conveyed through haddon sundblom s depiction of him for the coca cola company s christmas advertising in the 1930s 7 44 the image spawned urban legends that santa claus was invented by the coca cola company or that santa wears red and white because they are the colours used to promote the coca cola brand 45 coca cola s competitor pepsi cola used similar santa claus paintings in its advertisements in the 1940s and 1950s historically coca cola was not the first soft drink company to utilise the modern image of santa claus in its advertising white rock beverages had used a santa figure in monochrome advertisements for mineral water in 1915 and in 1923 25 the same company used colour images of santa claus in adverts for drink mixers 46 earlier santa claus had appeared dressed in red and white and essentially in his current form on several covers of puck magazine in the first few years of the 20th century 47 the image of santa claus as a benevolent character became reinforced with its association with charity and philanthropy particularly by organisations such as the salvation army volunteers dressed as santa claus typically became part of fundraising drives to aid needy families at christmas time in 1937 charles w howard who played santa claus in department stores and parades established the charles w howard santa school the oldest continuously run such school in the world 48 in some images from the early 20th century santa was depicted as personally making his toys by hand in a small workshop like a craftsman eventually the idea emerged that he had numerous elves responsible for making the toys but the toys were still handmade by each individual elf working in the traditional manner the 1956 popular song by george melachrino mrs santa claus and the 1963 children s book how mrs santa claus saved christmas by phyllis mcginley helped to standardise and establish the character and role of mrs claus in the us 49 seabury quinn s 1948 novel roads draws from historical legends to tell the story of santa and the origins of christmas other modern additions to the story of santa include rudolph the red nosed reindeer the 9th and lead reindeer created in 1939 by robert l may a montgomery ward copywriter and immortalised in a 1949 song by gene autry in popular culture santa on the december 1905 cover of puck magazine v 58 no 150 santa portrayed by jonathan meath see also santa claus in film and santacon elves had been portrayed as using assembly lines to produce toys early in the 20th century that shift was reflected in the modern depiction of santa s residence now often humorously portrayed as a fully mechanised production and distribution facility equipped with the latest manufacturing technology and overseen by the elves with santa and mrs claus as executives or managers 50 51 in 1912 the actor leedham bantock became the first actor to be identified as having played santa claus in a film santa claus which he also directed the film includes scenes photographed in a limited two tone colour process and featured the use of detailed models 52 since then many feature films have featured santa claus as a protagonist including miracle on 34th street the santa clause and elf in the cartoon base santa has been voiced by several people including mickey rooney jim cummings mel smith ricky tomlinson jim belushi and alec baldwin santa has been described as a positive male cultural icon santa is really the only cultural icon we have who s male does not carry a gun and is all about peace joy giving and caring for other people that s part of the magic for me especially in a culture where we ve become so commercialized and hooked into manufactured icons santa is much more organic integral connected to the past and therefore connected to the future tv producer jonathan meath who portrays santa 2011 53 norman corwin s 1938 comic radio play the plot to overthrow christmas set entirely in rhyme details a conspiracy of the devil mephistopheles and damned figures of history to defeat the good will among men of christmas by sending the roman emperor nero to the north pole to assassinate santa claus through a battle of wits santa saves himself by winning nero over to the joys of christmas and gives him a stradivarius violin the play was re produced in 1940 and 1944 santa claus with reindeer at hersheypark hershey pennsylvania 2021 many television commercials comic strips and other media depict this as a sort of humorous business with santa s elves acting as a sometimes mischievously disgruntled workforce cracking jokes and pulling pranks on their boss for instance a bloom county story from 15 december 1981 through 24 december 1981 has santa rejecting the demands of petco professional elves toy making and craft organization for higher wages a hot tub in the locker room and aggressive recruitment of a wider gender spectrum of employee short broads with the elves then going on strike ronald reagan steps in fires all of santa s helpers and replaces them with out of work air traffic controllers an obvious reference to the 1981 air traffic controllers strike resulting in a riot before santa vindictively rehires them in humiliating new positions such as his reindeer 54 in the 2001 the sopranos episode to save us all from satan s power paulie gualtieri says he used to think santa and mrs claus were running a sweatshop over there the original elves were ugly traveled with santa to throw bad kids a beatin and gave the good ones toys 2009 liverpool santa dash in kyrgyzstan a mountain peak was named after santa claus after a swedish company had suggested the location be a more efficient starting place for present delivering journeys all over the world than lapland in the kyrgyz capital bishkek a santa claus festival was held on 30 december 2007 with government officials attending 2008 was officially declared the year of santa claus in the country the events are seen as moves to boost tourism in kyrgyzstan 55 the guinness world record for the largest gathering of santa clauses is held by thrissur kerala india where on 27 december 2014 18 112 santas overtook the previous record derry city northern ireland had held the record since 9 september 2007 when a total of 12 965 people dressed up as santa or santa s helpers a gathering of santas in 2009 in bucharest romania attempted to top the world record but failed with only 3 939 santas 56 santa claus has been featured in many video games 57 in brazil a version of santa with green clothes instead of red became popular through television commercials for the soft drink brand dolly appearing along with their mascot dollynho since the 2000s as a form of patriotism adapting the character to the colours of the brazilian flag and at the same time rivalling coca cola commercials 58 another attempt to adapt santa claus to the colours of the brazilian flag occurred in 2024 in balneário camboriú santa catarina where a sculpture wearing yellow clothes with green gloves and bag was installed generating controversy being accused of making an association with the political extreme right due to the colours being seen in protests by supporters of jair bolsonaro 59 traditions and rituals chimneys the feast of saint nicholas by jan steen c 1665 1668 the tradition of santa claus being said to enter dwellings through the chimney is shared by many european seasonal gift givers 60 christmas eve in hungary saint nicolaus mikulás or father winter télapó comes on the night of 5 december and the children get their gifts the next morning they ...
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