by Bar de Ness

Created on: November 26, 2008

The Christmas we celebrate today is chiefly the Christmas of the Victorians. Whilst we all understand that the celebration acknowledges the birth of Jesus Christ, and is a very special Christian holiday, few of us ever question the common symbolism in use. Santa Claus, Christmas trees, cards, crackers, and even turkey are all the result of Victorian influences, and before Queen Victoria ascended the throne in 1837 our Yuletides were very different affairs.

In Britain Father Christmas has all but been vanquished by the American influenced Santa Claus. Whilst both are now regarded as one and the same, they are in fact entirely different figures, one green the other red. Father Christmas was part of the old English Midwinter festival, and his green attire was a sign of the spring season returning. Santa Claus had a more convoluted route, beginning in Holland where he was known as Sinter Klaas, or Saint Nicholas, and sailing within the hearts and minds of the Dutch settlers to America in the 1600s. From around 1870 he returned to European shores with a bang and soon gained popularity in Great Britain along with his ubiquitous reindeer and sleigh.

His clothing appears to be credited to the American Clement C. Moore in 1822, when he wrote in a note to his children:

"He was dressed all in fur from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his sack...."

"Ashes and soot" being the first western reference to his knack of plummeting down chimneys. Later In 1866, the cartoonist Thomas Nast, a fellow American, portrayed him in this guise and also as a toy maker. The cartoon images were soon given colour by George P. Webster in 1869. It was also in Nast's book "Santa Claus and his Works" which first indicated the North Pole as Santa's home. The birth of modern Santa and his eponymous image can be attributed to the Coca-Cola advertising campaign of 1931. Some would argue he's never been the same since!

His British cousin "Father Christmas" was not renowned for climbing down sooty chimneys, and seemed to be stingier as far as giving presents are concerned, but he did go around from house to house eating merrily with families at each visit. Presumably that's why we leave him a mince pie and a glass of port. The mince pie incidentally is a medieval dish eaten around the time of the Yuletide ceremony, and consisted of spiced meat and fruit. The spices of which were

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>