You know Dasher and Dancer and vicious misuse of a historical figure for profit. But, do you know the story of how St. Nick turned into the Santa Claus we know today? The story is a long one that flows through many changes throughout history. The jolly bearded man didn’t become what he is today until recently. It wasn’t until Capitalism got its greedy hands on old St. Nick that he became the main mascot of Christmas. Here’s the story of the transformation from Saint to Santa.
Saint Nick and Gift Giving
The story of Santa is best began with the story of Saint Nicholas. St Nick was a bishop in the town of Myra in 4th century Greece. But before that, he was an orphan adopted by a local bishop. His upbringing led him to praise charity and service of those less fortunate than others. That passion set the stage for a moment that would lead to an enduring legacy.
Nicholas heard the story of a local father who did not have the budget to marry his three daughters. In that day and culture, fathers had to pay for the marriage of their daughters. If the father could not afford the wedding, the daughter could not be married and would likely be sold into slavery. Saint Nick did not think it was fair, but knowing he couldn’t topple the culture, he did the next best thing.
Late one winter evening, the saint journeyed across town with his inheritance in a bag. He found the family’s home and tossed gold coins into their chimney. That night he threw enough money to marry off one of the man’s daughters. Over the coming months, Nick returned and eventually paid for all three daughters to be married.
Stockings Under the Chimney
On one such night, St Nick was caught. A local witnessed him throwing the gold into the chimney, and the word spread like wildfire. The actions of Saint Nicholas were quickly reformatted into myth. Part of the tale included the daughters hanging their socks out to dry by the chimney and the gold filling their stockings by morn. Children across the city began leaving their socks out at night in hopes of finding them full of gold the next day. Many did because of this type of charity Nick chose to spend his inheritance on.
St Nick becomes Santa Claus
After his death, Nicholas was venerated as a Catholic church saint. A holiday was named in his honor to promote charity and giving. The traditions included hanging stockings by the fireplace and giving money and later toys to children.
Over the next several hundred years, the holiday morphed, changed, and was moved to December 25th to fall in line with the winter solstice. At that point, people added many pagan rituals to the new Christmas holiday. Including the morphing of St. Nick to resemble a conglomeration of figures from various holidays throughout paganism.
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
Santa Claus Becomes an Influencer
By the end of the 19th century, Santa was solidified into the form we see today. The salvation army even began using people dressed like him outside of retail districts to raise money during the holidays. That event opened the doors for the person of Santa to radically change.
A small tonic water brand saw an opportunity to dress the character in red and use him for marketing their cold beverage during the winter months when cold drinks were out of style. Quickly, a competitor latched onto the idea as well. That competitor? You guessed it, Pepsi. That’s right, Pepsi did it, first folks. Then Coca-Cola took the picture and ran with it for nearly 100 years.
Santa Today
Today just about every brand uses Santa to market their products each holiday season. Stories of Santa have captivated the minds of children worldwide, and the film industry has run with it. Movies depicting the Santa story or referencing Santa are produced every year. It’s been a long road leading to Santa becoming what he is today. First, a Saint, then a splash of paganism, then a heavy dose of capitalism, and you get the jolly old fellow himself.
Things I Learned Last Night is an educational comedy podcast where best friends Jaron Myers and Tim Stone talk about random topics and have fun all along the way. If you like learning, and laughing a whole lot while you do, then you’ll love TILLN. Watch or listen to this episode right now!
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