The True Santa Claus

The Santa we know today originally came from Saint Nicholas of Myra where he was a Greek bishop in the 4th century in what is now Turkey. From the beginning of his life he devoted his whole life to Christianity and he could often be found giving gifts to poor people. In the 11th century Saint Nicholas' tomb was raided by Italian sailors and a basilica was created to display the loot from the tomb and the location became a major pilgrimage location for devout Christians. Later he became the Patron Saint of Moscow and Amsterdam. The idea of Saint Nicholas was later adopted by other cultures and given their own unique spin on Santa Claus.

The Santa Claus we know today was formed from a combination of British and Dutch versions of Father Christmas and Sinterklaas respectively. The two combined together to form Santa Claus and is image was created soon after. The first to take a stab at creating an image of Santa was Clement Clarke Moore in "The Night Before Christmas" where he is described as a large man with 8 reindeer which are named for the first time. Thomas Nast was the first to actually draw a picture of Santa Claus which first appeared in Harper's Weekly in 1863. The story of Santa coming from the north pole comes from the story of Sami people moving to Alaska and teaching the Inuit people to herd reindeer and then went on a trip with a large Santa being pulled by several reindeer. The Santa Claus that solidified the future images that we now have was created by the Coca-Cola company which used a picture of Santa with his red and white clothing to promote their soda. Santa's giving character came from his association with organizations such as Salvation Army where volunteers dress up as Santa to raise funds for charity. Santa's image developed over hundreds of years and still continues to develop new stories and images of Santa.

The Coca Cola Santa is the most famous Santa ever to be seen and it is the basis for many of the Santa ideas that we now have. So let's just take a look at where that came from. It all started back in 1931 when Coca Cola used the Santa image in magazine ads and since magazines were so popular back then it was seen all over and the image became a hit. Ever since then when someone thinks of Santa it is usually this image that comes to their mind and that's all thanks to Coca Cola.