Dec 20, 2013

Christmas is creeping around the corner, and that means another year has come and gone. It also means our good friend, Santa Claus, will be paying all of us (well, only the good ones) a visit very soon. What's gotten us thinking this holiday season is who Santa Claus really is and how he become the icon he is today? Traditionally Santa is thought of as an American tradition with European origin. Many people believe that the Dutch brought St. Nicholas to America, but little evidence support this. What we've put together below is a timeline of events in history that has contributed to the story of the jolly red-suited man we know today. Late 1800s: The Dutch apparently settled in America bringing along St. Nicholas AKA Sinter Klass. On 5th December, St Nicholas would visit children and leave small gifts in their shoes. 1770s: In New York, a group of people created a society called 'Sons of St. Nicholas' as a non-British symbol to break free from British Colonial dominance. 1809: Washington Irving published the first imaginative interpretation of St. Nicholas in his book Knickerbocker's History of New York. 1810: The first American image of Nicholas was created by artist Alexander Anderson. 1823: The poem A Visit from St. Nicholas AKA The Night Before Christmas boosted Santa's jolly image. 1863: Political cartoonist, Thomas Nast, started an annual set of pictures (which went on for 20 years!) based on the above interpretations of St. Nicholas for Harper's Weekly. With the changes of his appearance over the years, his name also changed to the commonly known, Santa Claus. 1930s: Coca-Cola began its 35 years of Santa advertisements, which solidified Santa's image as the round and jolly man in a red suit. 1950s: By this time, Santa was appearing everywhere and growing to become a commercial success. Whatever the origin of Santa Claus, we're happy the holiday season has arrived. The New Horizons Team wishes you and your loved ones a happy holiday season and a very prosperous new year in 2014. We'll be closed as of today, 20th December and will reopen on the 6th Jan, 2014. As always, we look forward to getting in touch with you then. *The information in this article has been sourced from the Wesley Mission and the Catholic Education Resource Center.