How old is the myth of santa claus

In the early days Haddon called upon his friend, retired salesman Lou Prentiss, to act as a live model on which he based his images. When Lou passed away Sundblom used himself as a model and painted while looking into a mirror. From to , Coca-Cola advertising showed Santa delivering toys and playing with them! One year, Santa's large belt was backwards perhaps because Haddon was painting via a mirror. Another year Santa Claus appeared without a wedding ring causing fans to write asking what happened to Mrs Claus.

There has been little change to the popular representation of Santa Claus since the s. Sure, he may wear board shorts on Aussie Christmas cards but he still rocks a beard. These days Santa can be emailed directly and tracked online as he flies through the sky. The Santa we know today bears little resemblance to the original Saint Nicholas. Yet the character has proved an enduring icon of Christmas. For many people around the world, the jolly, red-suited, white-bearded figure is a central part of the holiday's celebration—and commercialization.

As you wait for Santa to come down your chimney tonight, browse through these images of Old Saint Nick from the National Geographic photo archive. Every December 6, the faithful celebrate St. Nicholas Day in cities all over the world, with the largest ones taking place in Europe. Images of St. Nicholas vary considerably, but none of them look much like the red-cheeked, white-bearded old man seen everywhere today. One of the most compelling views of the real St.

Nick, who lived in the third and fourth centuries, was created not by ancient artists but by using modern forensic facial reconstruction. Scholarly debate over where the remains of the Greek bishop rest continues to this day, but traditionally, it was believed that the bones of St. Nicholas were stolen by Italian sailors during the 11th century and taken to the crypt of the Basilica di San Nicola on the southeast coast of Italy. When the crypt was repaired in the s, the saint's skull and bones were documented with x-ray photos and thousands of detailed measurements.

For theories on other possible resting places of St. Caroline Wilkinson, a facial anthropologist at the University of Manchester England , used these data and modern software simulations to create a modern reconstruction of the long-dead man.

Wilkinson put a human face on Santa's original namesake—one with a badly broken nose, possibly suffered during the persecution of Christians under the Roman Emperor Diocletian. Much of her work is necessarily subject to interpretation. The size and shape of the facial muscles that once covered Nicholas's skull had to be inferred, and the shape of that skull itself was recreated from two-dimensional data.

Digital artists added details that were based on best guesses, including the olive-toned skin most common among Greek Mediterraneans like Nicholas, brown eyes, and the gray hair of a year-old man. How did this St. Nicholas turn into the North Pole-dwelling bringer of Christmas gifts? The original saint was a Greek born in the late third century, around A. He became bishop of Myra, a small Roman town in modern Turkey.

Nicholas was neither fat nor jolly but developed a reputation as a fiery, wiry, and defiant defender of church doctrine during the Great Persecution in , when Bibles were burned and priests made to renounce Christianity or face execution. Nicholas defied these edicts and spent years in prison before the Roman emperor Constantine ended Christian persecution in with the Edict of Milan. Nicholas's fame lived long after his death on December 6 in the mid-fourth century, around because he was associated with many miracles, and reverence for him continues to this day independent of his Christmas connection.

Nicholas-inspired gift-giver to make an appearance at Christmastime. There are similar figures and Christmas traditions around the world. Christkind or Kris Kringle was believed to deliver presents to well-behaved Swiss and German children.

Nicholas on his holiday missions. In Scandinavia, a jolly elf named Jultomten was thought to deliver gifts in a sleigh drawn by goats. In Italy, there is a story of a woman called La Befana, a kindly witch who rides a broomstick down the chimneys of Italian homes to deliver toys into the stockings of lucky children.

In the United States, Santa Claus is often depicted as flying from his home to home on Christmas Eve to deliver toys to children. Stockings can be filled with candy canes and other treats or small toys. Santa Claus and his wife, Mrs. Children often leave cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for his reindeer on Christmas Eve.

He sees you when you're sleeping He knows when you're awake He knows if you've been bad or good So be good for goodness sake! The red-nosed wonder was the creation of Robert L. May, a copywriter at the Montgomery Ward department store. In , May wrote a Christmas-themed story-poem to help bring holiday traffic into his store. Montgomery Ward sold almost two and a half million copies of the story in When it was reissued in , the book sold over three and half million copies.

It was recorded by Gene Autry and sold over two million copies. Since then, the story has been translated into 25 languages and been made into a television movie, narrated by Burl Ives, which has charmed audiences every year since But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us!

I think what stuck out to me was that Santa Claus at one time was described as an Elf, he was decisively taller than the Elves that ran around the Toy Shop building gifts. Hearing of the Elf angle that I read up on I found out that some Elves were supposedly good and other Elves, did not have the best interests at heart towards people.

I also discovered that it was believed Elves had certain abilities; probably why Santa Claus using magic, is so appealing to children and the young at heart. You know I often, wondered if they got Elves confused with Gnomes.

An then Horror comedy movie Krampus was introduced to Movie theaters and until that time I'd never heard of any Krampus beforehand. So it made me think what if Krampus an Elf was the true story of Santa Claus? Perhaps the original story was edited for understandable purposes because the real one was to horrifying to think of at all and that would make Krampus an Evil Elf, then somewhere down the line the story was changed to Jolly St.

Nick, a song comes along like "Up on the Housetop" like a warning of who was coming to one's house and not in a good way. It's important to know the original came from children to begin with, and Feel free to laugh but, I've forgotten how it went, I do know that it's purpose told the story of The Black Death. In the case of my mother when she grew up the family didn't do Christmas because they were Seventh Day Adventist; my maternal grandfather on the other hand did observe the practice I think done in The Netherlands; or possibly Holland, It involved a pair of Cobbler Shoes or Wooden Shoes?

In The Netherlands Sinterklaas is celebrated on December 5th. Not on the 6th. From the official arrival of Sinterklaas from Spain televised till December 5th. The important presents are given to children on December 5th. Often Sinterklaas and his helpers, Zwarte Pieten, visit the childrens' homes.

Sinterklaas is also an important educational tool as he has a big book describing the every child's good and bad behaviour during the past year. You had behaved badly, a Zwarte Piet would dole out birching and could even put the child into his sack to be taken away to Spain. Sinterklaas has nothing to do with Christmas or Santa Claus. Santa Claus is a distorted and commercial invention of the US. Ah, that also goes for Halloween. Nicholas or Dutch: "Sinterklaas" was the patron saint of Amsterdam already for centuries.

Immigrants from Holland in the 17th century took Sinterklaas with them to New Amsterdam in the new world. Sinterklaas already in the 17th century had become the patron saint of New Amsterdam as well. Nicholas made his first inroads into American popular culture towards the end of the 18th century. In December , and again in , a New York newspaper reported that groups of Dutch families had gathered to honor the anniversary of his death. The background of the engraving contains now-familiar Santa images including stockings filled with toys and fruit hung over a fireplace.

The scholarly conclusion has largely been that the settlement of New Amsterdam is much more like current New York than previously thought. Cultural diversity and a mind-set that resembles the American Dream were already present in the first few years of this colony.

Writers like Russell Shorto argue that the large influence of New Amsterdam on the American psyche has largely been overlooked in the classic telling of American beginnings, because of animosity between the English victors and the conquered Dutch. I would like to know what countries are stilling giving gifts on Dec. America needs to ditch the annoying BS that we've applie to christmas and go back to our roots. Start giving gifts on the Dec.