We all know that Christmas honors the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem over two thousand years ago. This religious holiday has been a part of many cultures, and the way we celebrate the holiday in America today is related to those religious roots. But what about all the other parts of our Christmas celebrations?
Where did Santa Claus come from? Saint Nicholas was a Christian bishop in Myra, a city in what is now Turkey, during the Roman Empire, around 300 AD. He is the patron saint of children, and legend says he secretly gave gifts and could work miracles.
Stories of Saint Nicholas spread throughout Europe. The variation that had the biggest influence on America was the Dutch Sinterklaas. He is an older man with white hair and a long beard. Sinterklaas wears a long red cape over a white bishop’s alb, along with a red mitre hat. Sinterklaas rides a white horse and carries a big, red book which lists all the children and whether they have been naughty or nice in the past year.
A Visit from St. Nicholas, or ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, was written in 1823 by Clement Clark Moore in an area of New York heavily settled by the Dutch. This poem is where we get so much of our Santa Claus story! Two years earlier the poem Old Santeclaus with Much Delight depicted Santa in a sleigh being pulled by a reindeer, and Moore developed that idea. Santa is a jolly old elf who comes down the chimney on Christmas Eve to leave gifts for children. Moore gave him eight reindeer and named them all. And he gave our children the expectation that Santa would bring them a gift!
Thomas Nast, political cartoonist, invented the image of Santa Claus that we use today. Nast first drew Santa Claus for the 1862 Christmas season Harper’s Weekly magazine cover to memorialize the family sacrifices of the Union during the Civil War. A few years Nast’s cartoons depicted Santa making toys, and watching for naughty and nice children and making a note in his record book. He created images of children sending letters to Santa, talking to him on the telephone, and affectionately embracing ecstatic children. Nast’s illustrations are also the first time that Santa’s home is depicted as the North Pole.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was created by Robert L. May in 1939. His employer, Montgomery Ward, had been giving away coloring books to customers’ children every year. That year they decided to create their own storybook. May’s daughter adored reindeer, so he started with the idea of one who was being bullied. Looking out his office window in Chicago, he saw heavy fog settle over Lake Michigan. The idea of a bright red beacon – no, a nose – could shine through the fog and guide Santa. 2.4 million copies of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer were given away the first year! May’s brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, adapted the story of Rudolph into a song.
My childhood years brought many of the Christmas specials we still see on TV. Not only did Rudolph get made into a show where he visited the Island of the Misfit Toys, we also enjoyed Frosty the Snowman, the Little Drummer Boy, and Santa Claus Is Coming to Town. The best would be a toss-up between How the Grinch Stole Christmas and A Charlie Brown Christmas. These are shows we still watch every December.
How many ways have we adapted Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol? or The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry? I can come up with multiple versions from Disney and the Muppets – and so many more. How many music specials have we enjoyed over the decades? There are new, wonderful stories and programs every year. At some point between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we can watch most of these programs on our televisions.
Look at all the ways Christmas stories have developed over the decades, even over the centuries. They all follow the basic theme of good over evil and the ways we can help each other, especially those who have little and feel left out. How much fun these stories have brought us as we celebrate the Christmas season!