The Invention of Santa Claus: From Thomas Nast to Coca-Cola

The cult of Saint Nicholas did not escape Europe’s religious upheavals. In Germany, where the Reformation led by the monk Martin Luther banned saint worship, Nicholas was replaced by ChristKindl (Christ Child). Even as Saint Nicholas was “chased away” from the Lutheran Protestant regions, he was welcomed in the Netherlands, despite its Calvinist majority. The Feast of Saint Nicholas painting – executed in the 17^th century by Jan Steen – for the first time depicts a family celebrating the Feast of Saint Nicholas. A child weeps after receiving a stick as a present, while a little girl lovingly cuddles a miniature of the bishop saint the way she would a doll.

When a group of Dutch Calvinists fleeing religious persecution in the 17^th century set sail for the New World, they carried the legends and exploits of Sinterklaas with them. These immigrants, founders of Nieuw Amsterdam (the future New York), introduced Sinterklaas in their new homeland. Yet his Dutch name was distorted and Americanized into Santa Claus. By the end of the 18^th century, at the time of the 1776 Revolution, Santa Claus became the symbol of American resistance against the British occupying forces! Saint Nicholas was “borrowed” from this Dutch tradition – introduced in America by the earliest Dutch immigrants – for political reasons: as a kind of antidote to Christmas, which was celebrated by the English enemy and by the British colonial monarchy. His new fame spread all over the New World.

from Hacker News https://ift.tt/31UbAqi