He goes by many names — St. Nick, Kris Kringle, Father Christmas — but Santa's likeness is always the same: a big man in a red coat, fat and jolly, riding a sleigh through the night to deliver gifts to the good children of the world.
Just like everything else about Christmas, this seems to have little to do with the birth of Jesus Christ, for whom the holiday is named.
This time of year, Santa Claus can be seen on street corners, in advertisements and shopping malls across the country. How did this image become so ubiquitous? Who decided that a portly old man who lives in the North Pole should be the symbol of Christmas cheer?
Like most holiday traditions, Santa has a long history. Few would guess that the Santa we know today was once a Dutchman, or the Saint of New York, or actually preferred green, blue and yellow to red.
The lineage of Santa Claus can be traced back to a monk named St. Nicholas, who lived near modern-day Turkey
Born sometime around 280 A.D., the stories of St. Nicholas centered around kindness and giving, especially when it came to children. His feast day, December 6th, was considered a good day to get married or make large purchases. At one point, he was considered the most popular saint in Europe.
Connections have also been drawn to the Germanic god Odin, who rode across the sky on an eight-legged horse. The Christianization of the Germans left Odin behind but kept the concept intact.
In Dutch traditions, Sinter Klaas wears bishops robes and goes around the country finding out which children have been good or bad. After the Protestant Reformation, gift giving switched from the feast day on the 6th to Christmas Eve.
Sinter Klaas crossed the Atlantic Ocean with the Dutch, who celebrated his feast in New York, and with the Germans who celebrated the Feast of St. Nicholas in Pennsylvania. In New York, the increasingly popular Sinter Klaas was alternately described as a rascal with a blue hat and yellow stockings, and a man with a broad-brimmed hat and "Flemish trunk hose."
Another inspiration for modern day Santa comes from England's Father Christmas, who worn green and lived at the North Pole
This figure dates back to 17th century England. Most pictures of Father Christmas before 1880 showed him wearing a big green coat. He wasn't much a gift-giver: he preferred wandering from house to house, feasting with random families.
This legendary figure merged with Sinter Klaas once they both arrived to the New World.
The American melting pot took these stories and created Santa Claus, who was first detailed in "Twas The Night Before Christmas"
In 1822, "Twas The Night Before Christmas" by Clement Clarke Moore— originally titled "An Account of a Visit From St. Nicholas" — was a story meant for the minister's children. It ended up having greater significance, giving us the modern American description of Santa Claus.
In the poem, Santa is portrayed as a portly elf with a sleigh and eight reindeer. The description was a hit, and gave America a popular Christmas icon to believe in — just in time for the emergence of Christmas shopping, which was beginning to become popular. Santas began popping up in malls and as Salvation Army bell ringers everywhere in the 1830s and 40s.
Though "Santa Claus" had been mentioned in American texts before, including in a "History of New York" book by Washington Irving, nothing quite like this had been published on Santa Claus to this point.
Santa first appeared in Harper's Weekly in 1863, draped in an American flag and visiting a Union Army camp (it was a bit of Civil War propaganda). In another illustration, Santa is seen with a tan suit.
Later editions in Harper's included Santa's red suit with fur trim, his elves, a sack of toys, his North Pole workshop and even Mrs. Claus.
But it wasn't until Coca-Cola got its hands on Santa that he became standardized in his appearance
While Nast's iteration of Santa looks much like the version we have today, there were still variations on his appearance, including many versions of Santa looking "strict."
As Coca-Cola ramped up their holiday advertising in the 1920s, they wanted to move away from the strict looking Santa. Coke turned to illustrator Haddon Sundblom for this project in 1931. Sundblom would create a more lovable Santa: embracing children, raiding the fridge and of course sipping bottles of Coca-Cola.
The Coca-Cola Santa became the most popular of all, running in Coke ads for 35 years and appearing throughout popular culture
Sundblom continued to create original Santa Claus/Coke ads until 1964. The ads became so popular that rumors of Coke having invented Santa began to circulate, despite the fact that Santa had appeared in advertisements for other products well before Coke's introduction in the 1930s.
Santa's workshop may now be a mechanized assembly line, but Santa continues to ride to his sleigh all over the world, delivering presents in his red suit. The endurance of his look is a testament to fantastic advertising, as well as a sentimentality that thousands of years of tradition has helped embed in our collective consciousness.
No matter what people's religion, or how fed up they may be with the commercialism of Christmas, almost everyone can agree that Santa's reputation as a benefactor and protector remains.