When you are told as a child that a chubby benevolent old man is going to bring you presents for free, you don't question it. You go to bed and in the morning - wish fulfillment galore. But why do we see Santa as we do :
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf...
Our modern image of Santa was aided by a poem called A Visit From Saint Nicholas. The first line : "'Twas the night before Christmas" is often quoted as the poem's title. A Visit From Saint Nicholas was published anonymously in the Troy, New York newspaper The Sentinel on December 23, 1823. By 1837 Clement Clark Moore to credit for writing the poem. Moore was a professor of oriental, Greek and biblical literature at a Theological Seminary in New York city, and became wealthy due to a person off and developing of a largest state of land he had inherited.
New Year's Day had been the main celebratory holiday, with Christmas being a day of pious reflection - not revelry and gift-giving. Gifts were given, but not in the child-centric magical sense we have today. A Visit From Saint Nicholas gave and named Santa's reindeer, but Blitzen maybe a misnomer. Sinterklaas, the Dutch Christmas figure, was one of the models for American Santa. New York City was an Old Dutch city. Giving the reindeer Dutch base names is logical, but Blixem should be paired with Donder, as they are the Dutch terms for thunder and lightning. Santa had never had a jolly robust appearance prior to the poem, and certainly never arrived via chimney. In the poem Santa only fills stockings - gifts piled under trees came from Victorian era traditions instilled by German Prince Albert. A Visit From Saint Nicholas is cemented in the American Christmas tradition.
SOURCES :
A Visit From St. Nicholas. Wikipedia.
Clement Clarke Moore. Wikipedia.
A Visit From St. Nicholas. Poets.Org.
FURTHER MEDIA :
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