‘Twas the Night Before Christmas…
Actually, today’s the day after Christmas, but let’s not focus on the details. Instead, let’s divert our gazes towards the main protagonist of this merry season. The big fat man with the long white beard, or, as I like to call him—Nick.
The origins of our beloved Santa Claus, although his modern depictions portray him as a white northern European man, are quite different from what we envision today. The jolly Father Christmas is in fact based on a very real person whose influence persists even centuries after his death. We know him as St Nicholas of Myra (a city in our modern Turkey), but apart from his grand reputation as a gift-giver, he was also a bishop and a true icon of the church. His figure is still incredibly relevant all around the world, but the story that transformed him into the merry symbol he is today begins a long time ago, during a tumultuous time for the Roman Empire. Nicholas was born in the 200s AD, amid a chaotic century of poverty, invasions, and upheavals. However, he was also born into a wealthy family. A peculiar situation, for the majority of people were not in his same circumstances. But Nick must have had good in his heart since he was born, as he didn’t care for money nor for how rich his family was (personal take, but that’s exactly what a loaded person would say). He, instead, devoted himself to Christ and religion (even getting imprisoned and tortured during Diocletian’s empire) but first and foremost to helping people. Anything he inherited, he gave to those in need, and it was precisely his generosity and gentle spirit, along with the fact that St. Nicholas’ Day falls in the middle of the Advent Season, that helped create the legend of Father Christmas. He was a man of kind nature, exactly like Santa Claus.
History overflows with tales about his great acts of grace, but the most popular and well-known one is certainly the one about a father and his three daughters. It is an unfortunate story of a common family falling into poverty and the father’s drastic decision of selling his offspring into prostitution. Although that makes us question a lot of things, the tale narrates St Nick and his kind of humorous measures and efforts he takes to deliver the three sacks of gold he plans to gift the man. To add another quality to this magnanimous saint, Nick does not want fame, nor for people to discover he is the one behind those gestures. Therefore, for three nights, he goes to the family’s house and tosses the bag full of money through a window. After the first one, the eldest of the daughters is married off. During the second night, instead, the bag lands in a shoe drying by the fireplace (perhaps the origin of gifts in stockings). And at last, on the third night, the father sees and discovers the identity of the good Samaritan, revealing for all how noble and altruistic the bishop of Myra was.
This is just one of the many tales of St. Nicholas. Many paint him as someone who sails around the world, helping mariners calm down the seas. And perhaps from these legends comes the idea of Father Christmas visiting every continent in 24 hours.
But the most important question still is—how did he become Santa Claus?
We could simply answer by saying that Christianity has the bad habit of stealing and unifying pagan concepts with Christian ones—as usual. Some historians believe there’s a connection between the Norse God Odin and Santa, as well as other figures, which, with the Wild Hunts I swiftly mentioned in my Yuletide blog post, makes a lot of sense. However, without documents, we can just assume how it has developed through the centuries.
About the modern representation, instead, we know for certain that it was born in the US. His name comes from the Dutch Sinterklaas, which literally means and translates to Saint Nicholas, as it was the Netherlands’ colonists who imported Sinterklaas to New York. And by the end of the 18th century, it was anglicised to Santa Claus.
In 1809, Father Christmas was described as a man who rides a waggon through the sky and brings presents to children through chimneys; however, it was the 1823 poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas”, better known as “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas”, and the cartoonist Thomas Nast that solidified Santa’s appearance, establishing his North Pole backstory as well. Quite the whirlwind journey across the globe, much like Santa’s on Christmas Eve.
He may not have had a sleigh pulled by nine reindeer, scarlet clothes, or a long white beard, but Nick did indeed exist. What is important, however, is how humans have the enchanting capacity of bringing magic to everything they create, and that believing in Father Christmas is what this is all about.
At least someone must be eating my chocolate chip cookies with a glass full of milk, because I can assure you it’s not me.
And to anyone who says that Santa is not real?
I’ve got one thing to say.
I guess I’ll see your name on the naughty list, you little Ho, Ho, Ho!
Up, A Christmas Tree for Santa Claus by Frederic Richardson (1916)
Sources:
The History of Father Christmas
The History of Santa Claus: Tracing the Evolution of a Beloved Icon
The Library of the Unseen 
Beautiful description of my sign! Thank you ☺️ 😘😘