Source: John McCulloh, 785-532-0373, jmmcc@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Michelle Hall, 785-532-6415

Wednesday, November 27, 2002

SANTA CLAUS HAS EVOLVED OVER MANY YEARS INTO JOLLY OLD ELF WE KNOW TODAY

MANHATTAN -- Just think, if Coca-Cola's trademark colors were purple and yellow, or powder blue and pink, that might be what Santa Claus would wear as he delivers presents to children across the country each Christmas.

No one really knew what Santa looked like until the soda company commissioned trays of the jolly old elf in the mid-1900s, said John McCulloh, a professor of history at Kansas State University.

"Santa was appropriately dressed in Coke's colors," McCulloh said of the paintings by the late illustrator Haddon Sundblom.

The Coca-Cola ads were only one of a number of cultural items throughout the history of the United States that have built up to the image of Santa we know today: fat, bearded, jolly, dressed in red and white and riding in a sleigh pulled by nine reindeer, one of them named Rudolph.

Perhaps the most influential on Santa's appearance and behavior is the poem "A Visit From Saint Nicholas" or "'Twas the Night Before Christmas." The famous work by Clement Moore was penned in 1822 and was circulated anonymously before Moore published it. Two versions made their way around: "'Twas the Night Before Christmas," and "'Twas the Night Before New Year's." It wasn't until Moore officially published the poem using the reference to Christmas that Santa became firmly associated with Dec. 25.

Many important religious and cultural days are celebrated between Dec. 6 and Jan. 6. Dec. 6 is Saint Nicholas Day, and in Europe the mythical bishop visits children, giving them presents – or lumps of coal and switches. Other dates include Christmas, celebrating the birth of Jesus; Dec. 28, which is Holy Innocents' Day, a commemoration of all the boy babies killed by Herod after Jesus' birth; and Jan. 6, Epiphany, or the day the Three Wise Men arrived to see the newborn Jesus. All represented opportune times to give gifts and recognize children.

"Moore really tied the Santa Claus figure down to Christmas," McCulloh said.

Although Moore may have solidified Claus' ties to Dec. 25, Washington Irving, an American author of the early 19th century, introduced Santa Claus to Americans in one of his works, "Knickerbocker History," in 1809.

Then, starting in 1863, political cartoonist Thomas Nast took Moore's poem and gave Americans an image of Santa, complete with a big white beard, in his illustrations for Harper's Weekly.

"He in effect produced a visual image of what Moore had described," McCulloh said. "His drawings solidified the image of Santa we live with today."

Although his existence has not been verified, legend says Saint Nicholas, the figure from which Santa Claus evolved, was a bishop in the fourth century from the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. In European countries, he is portrayed as a bishop riding a white horse; a distinctly Christian figure.

"Our Santa is very different from Saint Nicholas," said McCulloh, who studies saints, particularly those from the Middle Ages. America's Santa is not distinctly religious, as is Saint Nicholas. McCulloh said settlers of the United States came from Protestant countries and did not bring the celebration of Saint Nicholas with them to the new country. Later, when Americans did develop an interest in Nicholas, they adopted him without his traditional religious context.

Since the development of Santa Claus in America, he has been exported to other countries, McCulloh said. In England we see Father Christmas; Germany has the Weinachtsmann (Christmas Man). Although these countries have offshoots of Santa, they often celebrate Dec. 6 with the appearance of Saint Nicholas as well.

McCulloh said although the image of Santa has not changed much for about 100 years, he has taken on new "accessories" over the years. Although Santa Claus was equipped with his sleigh and reindeer in the middle of the 19th century and associated with the North Pole in the 1860s, Rudolph didn't appear until the 1940s.

McCulloh predicts more subtle changes will come to the man of Christmas over the years – although two things will remain the same: his commercial appeal and his popularity with children.

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