Who is Santa Claus?

Children are taught that he is the person who performs miracles and wonders every Christmas Eve. He is able to create and deliver virtually any present any child can imagine. He can fly through the sky and deliver these gifts to billions of children all over the world - all during one night. And not just any old presents but exactly the ones desired by each individual child. But Santa Claus is not just omnipresent, he is also all-seeing and all-knowing. He has the divine power of omniscience, and this not only on Christmas Eve but all through the year.

He sees you when you're sleepin'
He knows when you're awake,
He knows if you're been bad or good,
So be good for goodness sake ...
People imagine similar powers for their god:
You see me, whether I am
working or resting;

In addition, children are taught that Santa Claus is all-good and all-just; He rewards the good children and leaves the bad ones empty handed. Perfect goodness and justice are also attributes of deity. In other words, Santa is really a god who performs miracles by his own powers. To be sure, he is a kind of childish god. He is concerned only about children, and he brings childish presents. But that's the only sort of god who could have any meaning for the young child. Adults think of their deity as the creator of all things visible and invisible, but such an entity is beyond a child's comprehension. What children can relate to is a creator of toys and goodies. While grownups characterize their god as all-holy, all merciful, all-just, all-powerful, omnipresent and infinitely perfect, this conception is too vast, nebulous and remote to have any meaning for a little child. Children from 2 to 8 - the Santa Claus years - cannot grasp such a transcendent abstraction; they can only relate to a material being. Santa is such a god-in-the-flesh - a deity tailor-made for children.


Santa has not always appeared the way we think of him today. The first well-known gift-giver was a true person--St. Nicholas. He lived in Myra (today we know it as Turkey) in about 300A.D. Born an only child of a wealthy family, he was orphaned at an early age when both parents died of the plague. He grew up in a monastery and at the age of 17 became one of the youngest priests ever. Many stories are told of his generosity as he gave his wealth away in the form of gifts to those in need, especially children. Legends tell of him either dropping bags of gold down chimneys or throwing the bags through the windows where they landed in the stockings hung from the fireplace to dry. Some years later Nicholas became a bishop--hence the bishop's hat or miter, long flowing gown, white beard and red cape. After his death he was elevated to sainthood. Eventually the Catholic Church started celebrating Christmas and St. Nicholas was incorporated into the season.

Finally, from 1931 to 1964, Haddon Sundblom created a new Santa each Christmas for Coca-Cola advertisements that appeared world-wide on the back covers of Post and National Geographic magazines. This is the Santa we know and love today with a red suit trimmed with white fur, leather boots and belt, long white beard and a pack of toys slung onto his back.
History of Santa in America:

Santa Claus can be traced back for four centuries in the U.S.:

1600's: The Puritans made it illegal to mention St. Nicolas' name. People were not allowed to exchange gifts, light a candle, or sing Christmas carols.
17th century: Dutch immigrants brought with them the legend of Sinter Klaas.
1773: Santa first appeared in the media as St. A Claus.
1804: The New York Historical Society was founded with St. Nicolas as its patron saint. Its members engaged in the Dutch practice of gift-giving at Christmas.
1809: Washington Irving, writing under the pseudonym Diedrich Knickerbocker, included Saint Nicolas in his book "A History of New York." Nicolas is described as riding into town on a horse.
1812: Irving, revised his book to include Nicolas riding over the trees in a wagon.
1821: William Gilley printed a poem about "Santeclaus" who was dressed in fur and drove a sleigh drawn by a single reindeer.
1822: Dentist Clement Clarke Moore is believed by many to have written a poem "An Account of a Visit from Saint Nicolas," which became better known as "The Night before Christmas." Santa is portrayed as an elf with a miniature sleigh equipped with eight reindeer which are named in the poem as Blitzen, Comet, Cupid, Dancer, Dasher, Donner, Prancer, and Vixen. Others attribute the poem to a contemporary, Henry Livingston, Jr.
1841: J.W. Parkinson, a Philadelphia merchant, hired a man to dress up in a "Criscringle" outfit and climb the chimney of his store.
1863: Illustrator Thomas Nast created images of Santa for the Christmas editions of Harper's Magazine. These continued through the 1890's.
1860s: President Abraham Lincoln asked Nast to create a drawing of Santa with some Union soldiers. This image of Santa supporting the enemy had a demoralizing influence on the Confederate army -- an early example of psychological warfare.
1897: Francis P Church, Editor of the New York Sun, wrote an editorial in response to a letter from an eight year-old girl, Virginia O'Hanlon. She had written the paper asking whether there really was a Santa Claus. It has become known as the "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" letter.
1920's: The image of Santa had been standardized to portray a bearded, over-weight, jolly man dressed in a red suit with white trim.
1931: Haddon Sundblom, illustrator for The Coca-Cola ™ company drew a series of Santa images in their Christmas advertisements until 1964. The company holds the trademark for the Coca-Cola Santa design.
1949: Johnny Marks wrote the song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Rudolph was relocated to the North Pole where he was initially rejected by the other reindeer who wouldn't let him play in their reindeer games because of his strange looking nose. The song was recorded by Gene Autry and became his all-time best seller. Next to "White Christmas" it is the most popular song of all time.
1993: An urban folk tale began to circulate about a Japanese department store displaying a life-sized Santa Claus being crucified on a cross. It never happened.
1997: Artist Robert Cenedella drew a painting of a crucified Santa Claus. It was displayed in the window of the New York's Art Students League and received intense criticism from some religious groups. His drawing was a protest. He attempted to show how Santa Claus had replaced Jesus Christ as the most important personality at Christmas time.




The Theology of Santa
Santa, as taught to most children, has most of the attributes of God:

He is virtually omnipresent. He can visit hundreds of millions of homes in one night.
He is omniscient. He monitors each child; he is all-seeing and all-knowing; he knows when they are bad and good.
Although not omnipotent, he does have great powers. He can manufacture gifts for hundreds of millions of children, and deliver them in one night -- each to the correct child.
He is all-good and all-just. He judges which children have shown good behavior and rewards them appropriately. Bad children are bypassed or receive a lump of coal.
He is eternal.
He rewards good and punishes bad behavior.

However, there are negative aspects to Santa's behavior that can damage a child's self-esteem: