History of Christmas Part 3: Santa touches his nose

I read in The Battle for Christmas by Stephen Nissenbaum that Clement Moore had St. Nicholas face the narrator (or us as the reader) and place his finger "aside of his nose." "This is a meaningless phrase today, but in the late 18th and early 19th century the gesture seems to have represented the equivalent of a secret wink--a visual way of saying something like 'Shh! I'm only kidding' or 'Let's keep it between the two of us'" (85).

In fact, this is attributed back to Washington Irving's book A Kickerbocker History in his story also entitled "A Visit from St. Nicholas" because he has St. Nicholas appearing in someone's dream, which concludes "'And when St. Nicholas had smoked his pipe, he twisted it in his hat-band, and laying his finger beside his nose, gave the astonished Van Kortland a very significant look, then, mounting his wagon, he returned over the tree-tops and disappeared'" (86).I found it so interesting that the signal of touching his nose meant that St. Nicholas was indicating the understanding that "'We know I don't exist, but let's keep that between you and me!'" (86). I remember seeing various pictures of Santa during my life with him touching his nose, just like this one from a Christmas card:


And remember from yesterday's post about Santa Claus that St. Nicholas turned into an elfin size? Eventually, he grew larger, especially through the cartoons (1863 to 1886) drawn by Thomas Nast (87-88).And here is the famous Nast portrait of Santa that you may already be familiar with (where I think he looks much larger):


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