 The Invention of Santa Claus
The popularity of the image spawned urban legends that Santa Claus was invented by Coca-Cola
Most people can agree on what Santa Claus looks like - jolly, with a red suit, white beard and pleasantly plump. But he did not always look that way. The image of Santa Claus ranged from big to small and fat to tall. Santa even appeared as an elf and looked a bit spooky. As legend has it, St. Nicholas was born in A.D. 270 in the ancient Turkish port city of Patara. He became Bishop of a nearby town called Myra (now called Kale), and after a life full of miracles and acts of charity, died on December 6, A.D. 343. He was canonized a saint in the Ninth Century. During this time, the beliefs of Christianity blended with the existing religious heritage of its converts. The holy days of the Christmas season were celebrated side-by-side with many local feasts and festivals. By the 13th Century, French nuns celebrated the feast of St. Nicholas by leaving food at the doors of the poor. As his legend grew, the feast of St. Nicholas became a day of gift giving in Germany and Holland. Shortly thereafter, St. Nicholas became associated with Christmas and the birth of Christ. Through the centuries, Santa Claus has been depicted as everything from a tall gaunt man to an elf. He has worn a bishop's robe and a Norse huntsman's animal skin. The modern-day Santa Claus is a combination of a number of the stories from a variety of countries. For example, the reindeer and sleigh are from Scandinavia, while the pipe and chimney are from Holland. The Civil War cartoonist Thomas Nast drew Santa Claus for Harper's Weekly in 1862; Santa was shown as a small elf-like figure who supported the Union. Nast continued to draw Santa for 30 years and along the way changed the color of his coat from tan to the now traditional red. The Coca-Cola Company began its Christmas advertising in the 1920s with shopping-related print ads in magazines like the Saturday Evening Post. The first Santa ads used a strict-looking Claus, in the vein of Thomas Nast. In 1931, Coca-Cola in an effort to target children, popularized Sinterklaas (now known as Santa Claus) with the help of Haddon Sunbloom a commercial illustrator from Chicago. Thanks to the talented Sundblom, Santa Claus now had a human form (a big belly, a friendly face, a jolly good guy with a debonair demeanour) that made him all the more convincing and clearly more accessible. In the United States, the long red robe has since been replaced by a tunic and pants; in France, Santa Claus has kept his traditional garb. Up until 1965, Coca-Cola displayed this portrait in all of the world’s medias.
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Christmas 
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