Who Invented Santa Claus? (From Thomas Nast to Coca-Cola)

Still, Santa’s modern image has little to nothing to do with his origin. Some insist it was created by Coca-Cola, others – by Clement Clark Moore.

The contemporary Santa was invented by a large group of people – cartoonists, authors, and regular folk – throughout many centuries.

The truth is, Santa’s image never stops changing. Each of us can have an influence on how our children will perceive the main Christmas symbol, and none of Santa’s representations are right or wrong.

The Real Santa from Myra

Technically speaking, Santa wasn’t “invented.” He’s a real person – or, more specifically, is based on a real person who was born in the 4th century in Myra, a town situated on the territory of modern Turkey.

So, who is Santa Claus, exactly? The original inspiration for Santa was a bishop named Saint Nicholas. He inherited a lot of money at a young age but gave them up to devote his life to Christianity.

Saint Nicholas was known for his generosity, secretly giving gifts to the poor. The most famous legend about Saint Nicholas involves a poor man who didn’t have anything to give as a deity for his three daughters.

One night, Saint Nicholas dropped a bag of gold down the man’s chimney (ever wondered why Santa gets inside the house through a chimney?).

The man was then able to find a husband for his daughter, and Saint Nicholas repeated the same act of charity with the remaining daughters.

On the third time, he was caught by the man, whom he begged not to tell anyone about his deeds.

Saint Nicholas wanted to remain anonymous because he didn’t seek gratitude or honor for his good deeds. And yet, the man told the entire town about it.

This legend is only one of a few describing Saint Nicholas’ kindness. Some stories also involve magic – for instance, the one where he miraculously brought three murdered boys back to life.

Saint Nicholas Turns Santa Claus

You may wonder – how did Saint Nicholas become Santa Claus? After all, he wasn’t the only Christian saint helping those in need.

This was a long process. Over the course of years, Saint Nicholas’ popularity has spread across the country and reached Europe. He was called the patron of children and sailors, but not yet Santa Claus.

A Greek bishop Saint Nicholas didn’t turn into the jolly, white-bearded Santa Claus we know today in one specific moment. His cultural transition didn’t happen until the 19th century.

In Denmark, Saint Nicholas was known as Sinterklaas. The name is derived from Dutch for “Saint,” “De Sint,” and a shortened version of “Nicholas.”

When Dutch colonists came to the New World, the name transformed into the English version “Santa Claus.”

But even after Santa acquired his modern name, his appearance wasn’t yet clearly defined.

Artists and authors tended to portray the main Christmas symbol differently until a couple of notable cultural pieces forever established his perception in our minds.

Clement Clark Moore

The person for a large part responsible for inventing the modern image of Santa Claus is Clement Clark Moore. Born in 1779 in the U.S., Clement Clark Moore created his infamous poem A Visit from Saint Nicholas in 1837.

This poem, also known as The Night Before Christmas, is justifiably considered one of the most influential literature pieces related to Christmas and one of the best-known verses ever written by an American author.

Funnily enough, initially, the poem was published anonymously. Clement Clark Moore only claimed the authorship in 1844 when he included it in the book of his poems for children.

This poem narrates a simple story – a regular family is settling down to sleep when the parents hear a noise outside. They then see Saint Nicholas in the sky, sitting in a sleigh pulled by reindeer.

After Saint Nicholas lands on their roof, he enters the house through the chimney with a bag of toys and fills the stockings hanging on the fireplace.

Before fleeing away, he wishes the family “Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.”

Prior to this poem publishing, Saint Nicholas was seen as a lanky, stern Greek bishop who, along with gifts, dispensed to children discipline and wisdom. Both his appearance and personality were far from our current perception of Santa.

The Night Before Christmas has established Saint Nicholas’ image in public minds as a jolly and cheerful, rose-cheeked old man giving children gifts without any educational intentions.

Furthermore, illustrations to the poem of different periods let us track Santa’s evolution over time. In the very first illustration dating 1849, Saint Nicholas wears a fur jacket, hat, and knee britches.

In the following decades, he’s wearing a long coat trimmed with white fur, though its color constantly changes.

Only by the 1960s did the illustrations start to resemble the modern representation of Christmas gift-giver.

Thomas Nast

Thomas Nast was a German-American cartoonist born in 1840, about at the same time when Moore’s infamous poem was published. Throughout the 1860s, he was working for Harper’s Weekly, creating Christmas illustrations.

When you look at Nast’s works, you can clearly see the impact of Moore’s poem – Santa riding a sleigh with reindeer, Santa at the chimney, smiling Santa with a large sack… Of course, the author also drew inspiration from his surroundings and politics.

Many of Nast’s works were influenced by the Civil War – for instance, in his 1863 illustration, Santa is issuing gifts to soldiers. He’s wearing a blue fur-trimmed coat embellished with stars and a fur-trimmed hat.

Santa’s fashion preferences in Nast’s works often changed at first, but by the late 1860s, his image became more or less constant. Nast portrayed Santa as a white-bearded, rose-cheeked man in a red suit.

Unlike his prototype Saint Nicholas, Nast’s Santa was plump and always cheerful. He often smoked a pipe and inevitably carried at least a few toys in his hands.

Coca-Cola

The last but not the least cultural piece that has immortalized the contemporary perception of Santa in the U.S. and Europe was Coca-Cola’s 1931 Christmas campaign.

Although Nast became rather persistent to the image of white-bearded Santa in a red suit by the end of the 1860s, other illustrators depicted him differently.

The biggest debate was going on about Santa’s attire – he was commonly envisioned in a green, tan, or blue coat.

In other words, the concept of Santa before Coca-Cola was rather inconsistent. The dispute had ended when Coca-Cola hired a Swedish-American illustrator Haddon Sundblom to create a Christmas advertisement.

After the campaign saw the world, Sundblom himself admitted he drew inspiration from Moore’s poem The Night Before Christmas and Nast’s latest illustrations.

In the campaign, Santa was portrayed with a thick white beard, in a red suit with a brown buckled belt, and a cheerful smile. Of course, he was drinking Coca-Cola from a branded glass.

The truth is, Santa was occasionally featured in Cola’s ads since the 1920s, but none of them had such an immense success. The early campaigns depicted a strict-looking Santa like the one people used to know until the 19th century.

Since 1931, the company started producing Christmas campaigns featuring Santa annually. Perhaps, you’ve seen some yourself when you were a kid.

So, did Coca-Cola invent Santa Claus? Of course not. But the company certainly helped to popularize his modern image.

Over time, Coca-Cola’s Santa acquired Christmas trucks to help him with gift delivery, an array of elves, and a Mrs. Claus.

Modern Santa

As you can see, there was no one person who invented Santa. His image is a blend created by numerous people that morphed from a slim and strict middle-aged Greek bishop into a jolly and plump, white-bearded old man.

Each of the people who influenced our perception of Santa Claus drew inspiration from earlier popular depictions. None came up with their concept of Santa out of the blue.

While Santa’s image is long-established, it would be brave to suggest it will remain in the same state forever.

Santa Claus’s appearance and personality are a reflection of a specific period in culture, and we can already see some innovations.

For instance, in the 2018 movie The Christmas Chronicles, Santa performed by Kurt Russell is neither old nor white-bearded. In 2020 Fatman, he’s a true rebel with a gun, married to a black Mrs. Claus.

In some comedies, Santa is portrayed as a man in his thirties who likes to have fun just like any ordinary young person. Some people even admit they wish Santa was a woman or a gender-neutral character.

Of course, these ideas of Santa are extremely far from his origin, but so are Moore’s or Coca-Cola’s Santa concepts.

One thing is for sure – today, Santa Claus is no longer associated with a 4th-century bishop from Myra. He became an allegorical embodiment of the Christmas spirit residing on the North Pole and spreading joy around the world.

This image was created jointly by numerous people throughout the centuries, and each of us can have an effect on how Santa will look in the future.