History of Santa in the U.S.

Santa Clause in America

17th Century: Dutch immigrants brought with them the legend of Sinter Klaas, which is the Dutch pronunciation of Saint Nicholas. Because of pronunciation difficulties, this name was quickly changed to Santa Claus as the legend spread to other cultures and languages.

1773: Santa first appeared in the media as St. A Claus.

1809: Washington Irving, writing under the pseudonym Diedrich Knickerbocker, included Saint Nicolas in his book "A History of New York." Nicolas is described as riding into town on a horse.

3 years later, Irving, revised his book to include Nicolas riding over the trees in a wagon.

1821: William Gilley printed a poem about "Santeclaus" who was dressed in fur and drove a sleigh drawn by a single reindeer.

1822: Dentist Clement Clarke Moore is believed by many to have written a poem "An Account of a Visit from Saint Nicolas," which became better known as "The Night before Christmas." Santa is portrayed as an elf with a miniature sleigh equipped with eight reindeer which are named in the poem as Blitzem, Comet, Cupid, Dancer, Dasher, Donder, Prancer, and Vixen. Others attribute the poem to a contemporary, Henry Livingston, Jr. Two have since been renamed Donner and Blitzen.

1863: Illustrator Thomas Nast created images of Santa, based on Moore’s poem, for the Christmas editions of Harper's Magazine. These continued through the 1890's.

1920's: The image of Santa had been standardized to portray a bearded, over-weight, jolly man dressed in a red suit with white trim. Used to be monk’s cloak.

1931: Haddon Sundblom, illustrator for The Coca-Cola ™ company drew a series of Santa images in their Christmas advertisements until 1964. The company holds the trademark for the Coca-Cola Santa design. Christmas ads including Santa continue to the present day.

1939 Copywriter Robert L. May of the Montgomery Ward Company created a poem about Rudolph, the ninth reindeer.

1949: Johnny Marks wrote the song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Next to "White Christmas" it is the most popular song of all time.

1997: Artist Robert Cenedella drew a painting of a crucified Santa Claus. It was displayed in the window of the New York's Art Students League and received intense criticism from some religious groups. His drawing was a protest. He attempted to show how Santa Claus had replaced Jesus Christ as the most important personality at Christmas time.




Santa had his humble beginnings in Saint Nicholas (see the post "History of Saint Nicholas") but eventually grew to become a consumeristic giant. In many ways, Santa has replaced Jesus during Christmas time. May this never be the case.

Instead of focusing on what we will get (or what Santa will bring us) this year, let us focus on what we can give to others. Let this be our attitudes and our lifestyles year around. Let us be encouraged by the life of great people like Saint Nicholas, but let us never forget that Jesus Christ is our ultimate example of how we should live our lives. The gift he gave was his own life. Why? Because he loved, and still loves, us! Let us go and do likewise.