Saint Nicholas arrives in the US.

The tradition of St. Nicholas became widely popular in Holland after the 13th century. The Dutch described a man with a white beard dressed in priestly garb, mounted atop a donkey and carrying a bag of gifts for the good boys and girls while carrying a bundle of sticks for the bad ones. He was called Sinter Klaas, and his fame as a bearer of presents for children was transplanted across the Atlantic during the 17th century colonization of North America. From New Amsterdam (now New York), the symbol of Saint Nicholas spread throughout the young country and became widely popular.

Saint Nicholas becomes Santa Claus

New York was the home of the two writers claimed to be responsible for popularizing the myth of Santa Claus in the U.S. In 1809, Washington Irving published a piece that stripped Saint Nicolas of his priestly clothes, dressed him in a fur-trimmed suit and transformed him into a generous, good-natured fellow who rode a winged horse and tossed presents through chimney tops. This figure became very popular. When Americans adopted English as their language, they changed the Dutch name of Sinterklaas to Santa Claus. In 1823, Clement C. Moore, a university professor, wrote a poem where he adapted the sense of magic that Irving had bestowed upon the character and made him more believable. He replaced the white horse with a reindeer-drawn sleigh, and the wooden shoes left by Dutch children evolved into stockings. Moore's Santa turned into a wide, squat, somewhat gnomish, jolly old man, who distributed presents on the night of Christmas Eve rather than on the night of December 6th.

Santa Claus Today

Throughout the 19th century, Santa Claus was described in a variety of ways: having different sizes, attires and expressions, from a jovial gnome to a big, strong fellow with a stern brow. In 1862, an American illustrator of German descent, Thomas Nast, was the first to depict Santa Claus climbing down a chimney, although in this particular drawing he was still the size of an elf. As time went on, Santa Claus became taller, wider and jollier, with a full white beard. His home in the North Pole was full of items such as fir trees and mistletoe. The advent of color lithography allowed his clothes to be drawn in bright red, a change that can be attributed to many sources. The symbol of Santa Claus was soon commercialized. In 1931, Coca-Cola commissioned artist Habdon Sundblom to remake Nast's version of Santa Claus into a more credible and palpable personality. Sundblom found his inspiration in a retired salesman, and the company's sales campaign was an unqualified success. The new Santa Claus was born. In Spain, he is known as Papa Noel; in Chile he is referred to as the Viejo Pascuero.

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