What is the History of Santa Claus

The legend of Santa Claus starts in Asia Minor, modern day Turkey, way back in the 4th century with the legend of Saint Nicholas. It was customary back then to enter a monastery at a young age and if a family had more than one son, one was given to the church. Saint Nicholas did just that and he rose to the rank of Bishop.

So how does a bishop from centuries past get to be associated with Santa Claus? Remember, Bishops back then had wealth. And the story goes, there was a nobleman who had fallen on hard times and he had no money for a dowry for his three daughters. And back then, no dowry, no marriage. Saint Nicholas heard about his problem, and being the good person he was, decided to help. One night he took a bag of gold and threw it in an open window. The next day the nobleman used it as a dowry for the oldest daughter. That very same night, another bag of gold arrived courtesy of Saint Nicholas. And that was used for the second daughter. Now understandably by this time the nobleman was a bit curious about where the heck all this gold was coming from, so he decided to stay up and see what he could discover. And sure enough, Saint Nicholas showed up with a third bag. The nobleman was asked to keep Nicholas' identity secret, but evidently someone spilled the beans.

Saint Nicholas' fame spread far and wide. And eventually made its way to Europe, especially to Belgium and even more to Holland. When the Dutch came over to settle the New World and established New Amsterdam, today's New York, the legend of Saint Nicholas came with them. At this time, he was pictured with a long, white beard and a long red robe. But he was a lot slimmer than our Santa Claus, So how did a skinny Saint turn into our rolly polly Santa Claus? In Dutch Saint Nicholas is Sinter Klaas, Getting closer. Now back in 1773 after the Dutch had lost control of their colonies to the British, a newspaper referred to him as St. A Claus. Evidently they had heard the name, but did not see it in print. Now along comes Washington Irving, the one of Sleepy Hollow fame, and in 1809. He wrote a book of New York history under the pseudonym Diedrich Knickerbocker. He told the story of Saint Nicholas bringing gifts to the children in Holland. Just ahead a few years to 1823 and a fellow named Clement Clark Moore who wrote The Night Before Christmas to keep his own children entertained during the cold New York winter. He is the one who thought of the reindeer and Santa Claus coming down the chimney, but in his poem Santa Claus is an elf, so we are not quite there yet.

Fast forward a few years to around 1860 and an artist for Harper's, Thomas Nast. His picture of Santa Claus is almost as we see him today. Nast made him life size and moved him to the North Pole. I suppose to stop children from asking where Santa lived and trying to find him. And there we have it. From Saint Nicholas to Santa Claus in about 14 centuries.