We all know the classic Christmas song, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, but do you really know the history of Santa Claus and how he came to be the popular children's figure he is today? Let's start at the beginning.

Saint Nicholas was a Bishop who lived in the fourth century AD in what is now present day Turkey. The son of wealthy parents, Nicholas was known for his kindness and generosity to the poor and sick. Many legends have evolved about his miracles in helping children and sailors, but the most well-known is the story of the three poor sisters who were about to be sold into slavery or prostitution. In those days, it was customary for the father to provide a dowry for his daughters to be eligible for marriage. Yet, the father was poor. It is said that Nicholas dropped small bags of gold down the chimney for each daughter that landed in their stockings hung by the fireplace to dry. Upon learning it was Nicholas, the father told the villagers of his miraculous gifts and his popularity spread. During the Persecution of the Roman Empire, Emperor Diocletian imprisoned Nicholas where he remained until his death around 352 AD. Nicholas was later officially recognized by the Orthodox Church as the patron saint of children, sailors and unmarried girls. A feast day was named for him on December 6, the day of his death.

St. Nicholas and Christmas
While Nicholas was still alive, Pope Julius I established a holiday to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ on December 25. Although the actual date of Jesus' birth was not known at the time, the Pope chose the month and day to coincide with a pagan midwinter festival in hopes of Christianizing the celebration. Over the course of the years, St. Nicholas' feast day became more closely related to Christmas. The tradition grew to include a visit from St. Nicholas on Christmas Eve to all the children's homes. During the European Reformation, however, the popularity of Nicholas and other Catholic saints declined in many of the Protestant countries. Only Holland kept the tradition of "Sinter Klaas" (a shortened version of "Sint Nikolaas").

America's Santa Evolution

Following the Revolutionary War, an interest in Dutch customs, like the December 6 feast day celebration, grew. Depictions of St. Nicholas and stockings filled with toys and fruit hung over a fireplace were distributed by John Pintard at the New York Historical Society's annual meeting in 1804. Several years later, Washington Irving referred to St. Nicholas as the patron saint of New York in his book, The History of New York.  

In 1820, stores caught on to the gift-giving tradition and began to advertise Christmas shopping. Two years later, Clement Clarke Moore penned the infamous poem, A Visit from St. Nicholas (more commonly known as 'Twas the Night Before Christmas) as a gift for his daughters. An Episcopalian minister, Moore was reluctant to publish the poem which depicts Santa Claus as a "right jolly old elf" with a stout, portly figure and the ability to supernaturally travel up and down the chimney with a nod of his head. The poem also describes Santa traveling from house to house each Christmas Eve in a "miniature sleigh" and eight flying reindeer leaving presents for good children.

Our modern Santa Claus is attributed to Thomas Nast, a cartoonist for Harper's Weekly. He used the image created in Moore's poem and over the course of 18 years, created a rotund, cheerful Santa with a full, white beard, a big belly and dressed in the red and white outfit we see him wearing today. This Santa was no longer elfish in size and was usually pictured holding a sack full of toys and smoking a pipe. The North Pole workshop, Santa's naughty and nice list, the elves and Mrs. Claus were also created by Nast.  

By now, retail stores were anxious to get in on the Santa craze. They began having a "live" Santa at their stores for children to come and tell him what they wanted for Christmas and for parents to purchase the items before leaving the store. Even the Salvation Army jumped on board the Santa train. When money was scarce to pay for the free Christmas meals they provided to needy families, they began dressing up unemployed men in Santa suits and sending them into the New York City streets to solicit donations. The bell-ringing Santa tradition continues today.   

By 1931, Coke began using the Santa image in their advertising. The "Coke Santa" was even more larger than life and jolly. Naturally, his pipe was replaced with a bottle of coke.

Today, even though some countries still maintain their own traditions of St. Nicholas, the American Santa is the most well-known, thanks to artistic depictions and aggressive advertising campaigns. Whether you include Santa during your Christmas celebration--or if you dislike the association with the special day commemorating the birth of Christ--there is one thing that stands true about this glorious season: It is miraculous.