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The American version of the Santa Claus figure received its inspiration
and
its name from the Dutch legend of Sinter Klaas, brought by settlers to
New
York in the 17th century. 
As early as 1773 the name appeared in the American
press as "St. A Claus," but it was the popular author Washington Irving
who
gave Americans their first detailed information about the Dutch version
of
Saint Nicholas. In his History of New York, published in 1809 under the
pseudonym Diedrich Knickerbocker, Irving described the arrival of the
saint
on horseback (unaccompanied by Black Peter) each Eve of Saint Nicholas.
This Dutch-American Saint Nick
achieved his fully Americanized form in 1823 in
the poem A Visit From Saint Nicholas more commonly known as The Night
Before
Christmas by writer Clement Clarke Moore. Moore included such details as
the
names of the reindeer; Santa Claus's laughs, winks, and nods; and the
method
by which Saint Nicholas, referred to as an elf, returns up the chimney.
(Moore's phrase "lays his finger aside of his nose" was drawn directly
from
Irving's 1809 description.)
The American image of Santa Claus was further
elaborated by illustrator
Thomas Nast, who depicted a rotund Santa for Christmas issues of
Harper's
magazine from the 1860s to the 1880s. Nast added such details as Santa's
workshop at the North Pole and Santa's list of the good and bad children
of
the world. A human-sized version of Santa Claus, rather than the elf of
Moore's poem, was depicted in a series of illustrations for Coca-Cola
advertisements introduced in 1931 that introduced and made the red Santa
Suits an icon. In modern versions of the Santa Claus
legend, only his toy-shop workers are elves. Rudolph, the ninth
reindeer,
with a red and shiny nose, was invented in 1939 by an advertising writer
for
the Montgomery Ward Company.
In looking for the historical roots of Santa Claus, one must go very
deep in the past. One discovers that Santa Claus as we know him is a
combination of many different legends and mythical creatures.
The basis for the Christian-era Santa Claus is Bishop Nicholas of Smyrna
(Izmir), in what is now Turkey. Nicholas lived in the 4th century A.D.
He was very rich, generous, and loving toward children. Often he gave
joy to poor children by throwing gifts
in through their windows.
The
Orthodox Church later raised St. Nicholas, miracle worker, to a position
of great esteem. It was in his
honor that Russia's oldest church, for example, was built. For its part,
the Roman Catholic Church
honored Nicholas as one who helped children and the poor. St. Nicholas
became the patron saint of children and seafarers. His name day is
December 6th.
In the
Protestant areas of central and northern Germany, St. Nicholas later
became known as der Weinachtsmann. In England he came to be called
Father Christmas. St. Nicholas made his way to the United States with
Dutch immigrants, and began to be referred to as Santa Claus.
In North
American poetry and illustrations, Santa Claus, in his white beard, red
jacket and pompom-topped cap, would sally forth on the night before
Christmas in his sleigh, pulled by eight reindeer, and climb down
chimneys to leave his Christmas
gifts in stockings children set out on the fireplace's mantelpiece.
Children naturally wanted to know where Santa Claus actually came from.
Where did he live when he wasn't delivering presents? Those questions
gave rise to the legend that Santa Claus lived at the North Pole, where
his Christmas-gift workshop was also located.
In 1925, since grazing reindeer would not be possible at the North Pole,
newspapers revealed that Santa Claus in fact lived in Finnish Lapland.
"Uncle Markus", Markus Rautio, who
compared the popular "Children's hour" on Finnish public radio, revealed
the great secret for the first time in 1927: Santa Claus lives on
Lapland's Korvatunturi - "Ear Fell"
The fell, which is situated directly on Finland's eastern frontier,
somewhat resembles a hare's ears - which are in fact Santa Claus's ears,
with which he listens to hear if the world's children are being nice.
Santa has the assistance of a busy group of elves, who have quite their
own history in Scandinanvian legend.
Over the centuries, customs from different parts of the
Northern Hemisphere thus came together and created the whole world's
Santa Claus - the ageless, timeless, deathless white-bearded and red
suited man who gives out gifts
on Christmas and always returns to Korvatunturi in Finnish Lapland.
Since the 1950s, Santa has happily sojourned at
Napapiiri, near Rovaniemi, at times other than Christmas, to meet
children and the young at heart. By 1985 his visits to Napapiiri had
become so regular that he established his own Santa Claus Office there.
He comes there every day of the year to hear what children want for
Christmas and to talk with children who have arrived from around the
world. Santa Claus Village is also the location of Santa's main Post
Office, which receives children's letters from the four corners of the
world.
