History of Christmas Part 2: Santa Claus

1810 by Alexander Anderson
commissioned by New York Historical Society

Although many of us believe that the idea of "Saint Nicholas" originated in the New World in New Amsterdam or during the British occupation, this is not true according to modern scholars. A preeminent scholar of Saint Nicholas, Charles W. Jones, states that "nobody has ever found any contemporaneous evidence of such a Saint Nicholas cult in New York during the colonial period" (63). The claim that Dutch settlers, in 1626 introduced Sinter Claes to New Amsterdam (to be New York) is an invention of Washington Irving (A History of New York, started in 1809).

• One of author Washington Irving's most lasting contributions to American culture is in the way Americans perceive and celebrate Christmas. In his 1812 revisions to A History of New York, Irving inserted a dream sequence featuring Saint Nicholas soaring over treetops in a flying wagon—a creation others would later dress up as Santa Claus.

• The New York Historical Society influenced Washington Irving, who helped promote the "new tradition" of Saint Nicholas and Christmas. Further emphasis was brought by Clement Moore with his publication of A Visit from St. Nicholas [or ''Twas the Night Before Christmas]. It was composed for Christmas 1822 in New York and published 1823.

• The image of Saint Nicholas changed from a patron saint of the New York Historical Society to an elf-sized person dressed in fur with miniature sleigh and reindeer in the first two decades of the 19th century. He also changed from a judgmental figure who left good things for good children and a switch for bad ones to someone who gave presents to all (74-78).This illustration appeared in the first book-length edition

of "A Visit from Saint Nicholas" by Clement Moore in 1848.

• In the United States in 1819 and 1820, Washington Irving published a successful book of short stories entitled The Sketch Book, which contained two stories that were destined to become classics: "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." This book also included five stories about Christmas, which were set in a big estate in modern day England called Bracebridge Hall. Old customs of Christmas are presented as the norm, even though it was "'the invention of tradition,' as the historian Eric Hobsbawm has dubbed this kind of self-conscious re-creation of ostensibly old-time customs" (58).

• The Bracebridge Hall stories were very popular. They combined with the stories of Charles Dickens to create "the enduring imagery of Christmas" which we still see on Christmas cards and advertisements, where "jovial squires entertain friends and retainers by roaring fires, and stout coachmen, swathed in greatcoats, urge horses down snow-covered lanes as they bring" forth guests (60).

• Until about 1830, Christmas celebrations were celebrated with one's own social class. Slowly this changed to become a child-centered event. This was definitely new, because before the 19th century, "children were merely dependents--miniature adults who occupied the bottom of the hierarchy within the family, along with the servants" (62).

Nissenbaum, Stephen. The Battle for Christmas. NY: Vintage Books, 1996.