ALTHOUGH the festive traditions seem to start earlier than many of us would like, there is no denying the ‘season to be jolly’ and it’s patron, Father Christmas, hold a special place in the hearts of most.
Virtually all of us accept the folklore of Father Christmas exactly as it was muttered down to us from generation to generation.
In reality, the King of the North Pole has a much more complicated and interesting origin story than many of us are aware of and we know Coca Cola had nothing to do with it because he did not feature in their adverts until 1931.
Ultimately, the origins of Father Christmas or Santa Claus remain fractured by changes in religious beliefs in the 16th century and ever evolving depictions throughout Europe and around the world.
But all roads seem to lead back to the stories of one man – St Nicholas, the Greek Christian Bishop of Myra (modern day Turkey).
Wherever you look for the origins of the gift giving ‘saint’, you will stumble upon tales of St Nicholas sharing his inherited wealth during the times of the Roman Empire – transforming the lives of children on the morning of his very own day, December 6.
It is believed the Greek bishop would leave gifts for children on the Eve of St Nicholas’ Day. In one of the original tales, he is said to have thrown three bags of gold down the chimney of a poor father with three daughters.
The gold is said to have landed in the girls stockings, which were drying by the fire. This very tale has cemented two of the longest running Christmas certainties. First, that Father Christmas delivers his gifts via chimney and second, always hang your stockings up for those extra little gifts.
The tales of St Nicholas became more widely known after spreading through Italy and the rest of Europe thanks to the discovery of the bishop’s relics around the year 1,000.
He would become known as ‘Sinterklass’ in the Netherlands, and later ‘Santa Claus’ in the USA thanks to the Dutch colonies of New Amsterdam – now New York.
It is also believed it was here in the Netherlands where the folklore of Krampus, who would scare naughty children during the Advent, originated from.
And despite attempts from Protestants to ban Christmas in 1647 to dilute the significance of saints in order to promote baby Jesus as a more ‘appropriate’ custodian of the festive season during the Reformation, the tales of St Nicholas lived on.
In England, before and after the Reformation, he was known as Father Christmas and although he remained a symbol of the Christmas season, he was depicted as an altogether different fellow.
Rather than a gentle gift giver, he was regarded as a merry old man who presided over festive parties as Christmas was celebrated with much more emphasis on entertainment for adults.
It seems only later in the 1800s that the jolly and plump, red felt wearing, big snow white bearded lovable version of Santa Claus came to be – thanks to the cartoonist Thomas Nast, who is also believed to have welcomed the world to the notion of Santa’s Workshop and base of operations at the North Pole.
This version of Santa Claus would eventually be adopted by Britain despite all but one detail – we still call him Father Christmas.
