St. Nicholas of Myra, a Christian monk who is supposed to have lived in what is now modern-day Turkey sometime in the third century (270-343 AD) may have been the origin of Santa Claus. Although we know almost nothing about Nicholas of Myra, the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox celebrate his Saints Day on December 6th, the date they believe that he died.
According to legend St. Nicholas gave charity to children and his good deeds included saving three young sisters from slavery. During the European Renaissance (roughly 1350-1600 AD), Nicholas of Myra was the most popular saint in Europe. As Christianity spread into northern Europe and Scandinavia, the story of St. Nicholas was enriched with Germanic beliefs and practices including the decorated Christmas tree, elves, and a flying chariot.
In the Netherlands, St. Nicholas was known as Sinterklaas, and the Dutch brought him with them to their New Netherland colony in North America. The Dutch Sinterklaas was a tall, white-bearded man who wore a red robe. He arrived at homes on December 6, St. Nicholas’ Saints Day, and brought deserving children gifts and lumps of coal for children who hadn’t behaved.
In New York the story of Santa Claus gradually evolved into the way we see him today. In a story by Washington Irving included in his 1809 book The History of New York, St. Nicholas was a rotund Dutchman who arrived in a flying wagon and dropped gifts down chimneys for the children of the house.
In Clement Moore’s 1823 poem “A Visit from Saint Nicholas,” Saint Nicholas’ wagon became a sleigh pulled by a team of “eight tiny reindeer.”
After the Civil War, Thomas Nast’s drawing for Harper’s Weekly continued to show a rotund and jolly St. Nicholas but Nast added a lot of new features to the legend. St. Nicholas, now generally known as Santa Claus, lived at the North Pole where he had his toymaking workshop.
With the commercialization of Christmas in the late 19th century, gift giving was moved from December 6 to December 25 and the name St. Nicholas receded. An editorial addressed to 8-year-old Virginia in the New York Sun in 1897 promised her that “Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus.” Over the years it has been repeatedly republished.
Since 1924, Santa on his sled has been the finale of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Read more about Christmas in New York State.
Illustrations, from above: Detail of a late medieval Greek Orthodox fresco showing Saint Nicholas slapping Arius at the First Council of Nicaea; Thomas Nast first drew Santa Claus in the January 1863 issue of Harper’s Weekly distributing gifts to United States soldiers during the Civil War; and Thomas Nast’s 1881 image of “Merry Old Santa Claus.”
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