by Mark Zeiger

Created on: December 10, 2008   Last Updated: December 06, 2009

Santa Claus! The name conjures so many images. For Americans, a common perception of Santa Claus solidified during the 20th century. As the United States' influence on world culture increased, this image spread across the globe.

Nicholas, the Bishop of Myra, lived in the third century A.D. Legends grew around him, and soon after his death he achieved sainthood. His popularity grew until he is now invoked in prayer more than anyone other than the Virgin Mary and Jesus. In 1969 the Roman Catholic Church demoted Nicholas and other popular saints such as St. Christopher and St. George, but his popularity has hardly diminished as a result. Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of Russia, sailors, vagabonds, students, bankers, pawnbrokers and even thieves. Most of all, though, St. Nicholas is the patron saint of children.

This association with children and the legends surrounding St. Nicholas giving gifts led to his status as a bringer of gifts at Christmas time, either on his feast day, December 6th, or on Christmas Eve. In true folkloric fashion, St. Nicholas appeared in numerous guises that varied not just from country to country, but from region to region within those countries.

Settlers from Holland brought St. Nicholas to the new world when they founded New Amsterdam. As that settlement became New York, St. Nicholas, or "Sinter Klass" became Santa Claus. The writings of Washington Irving ("Diedrich Knickerbocker's A History of New York . . .") and Clement Moore ("A Visit from Saint Nicholas, or The Night Before Christmas") further shaped America's ideas of Santa Claus, while the 19th Century cartoonist Thomas Nast illustrated Santa Claus for the masses, solidifying his interpretation in the American mind.

In the 20th Century, illustrator Haddon Sundblom painted holiday advertisements for the Coca-Cola Company showing a man-sized, full-color Santa Claus in his now familiar white fur-trimmed red suit. In that year, 1920, the modern vision of Santa Claus became fully formed, and persists to this day. Sundblom not only codified Santa's physical appearance, but also his role as the ultimate consumer and purveyor of goods and services. The Santa Claus of the 20th Century is primarily the face of American commercialism and marketing.

Beyond that monumental shift, changes in the popular image of Santa Claus during the 20th Century were far subtler. Mostly centering on the physics and logistics of his activities, these changes reflect a wider awareness of science.

In the

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