History of Santa Claus
A reference to a “St. A Claus” can be traced back to 1773 in the American press but it wasn’t until Washington Irving’s 1808 publication of the book “History of New York” that a new description of St. Nick took form. Writing under the name “Diedrich Knickerbocker”, in this satire Irving described a Santa who rode over treetops in a horse drawn wagon, “dropping gifts down the chimneys of his favorites”. Irving’s St. Nick was a jolly, elfish Dutchman with a long stemmed clay pipe, baggy pants, and a broad brimmed hat. The first reference to Santa “laying his finger beside his nose” also appeared in this story.
A fully Americanized Santa came in to fruition in the 1823 poem by Clarke Moore, “A Visit From Saint Nicholas”, or as it is more commonly known, “The Night Before Christmas”. In Moore’s description, eight tiny reindeer and a sleigh were substituted for Irvings’ horse and wagon and details such as the names of the reindeers were added. Just as the image of Santa created by Moore has become an accepted part of American culture, the reindeer names Moore invented also stuck. Of course, Rudolph (the 9th reindeer) wasn’t created until years later by a different person, but Moore’s names for the original eight have remained relatively unchanged – Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixon, Comet, Cupid, Donder (now called Donner), and Blitzen.
Similar to Irving’s St. Nick, Moore’s elfish figure flies through the sky, delivers presents to children down chimneys, lays his finger aside his nose as a method of magically traveling up chimneys, and smokes a pipe. The physical description of Moore’s jolly St. Nicholas is still incorporated in to the most popular images of Santa invoked today by Americans: Twinkling eyes, merry dimples, rosy cheeks, nose “like a cherry”, white as snow beard, broad face, dressed in fur, chubby and plump with a round belly that shakes when he laughs “like a bowl full of jelly”.
In 1863, Thomas Nast created a visual of Moore’s Santa when he was asked to illustrate the popular poem. Compared to older versions of St. Nick, “The Night Before Christmas” character Nast drew was more human like and less stern. Nast also dressed his Santa in red and white and, for the first time, listed St. Nick’s residence as the North Pole. He added details of Santa’s toy workshop at the North Pole and described the list Santa consulted of all the good and bad children worldwide. Harper’s Weekly published annual illustrations of Santa created by Nast for 23 years, offering American’s a glimpse into Santa’s world and helping to shape the public persona of St. Nick.
