The first Europeans to arrive in the New World brought St. Nicholas. The first Colonists, primarily Puritans and other Protestant reformers, did not bring Nicholas traditions to the New World. From St. Nicholas to Santa Claus: the surprising origins of Kris Kringle. His wealthy parents, who raised him to be a devout Christian, died in an epidemic while Nicholas … All of this began to change as a new understanding of family life and the place of children was emerging. The 19th century was a time of cultural transition. In 1773 New York non-Dutch patriots formed the Sons of St. Nicholas 1, primarily as a non-British symbol to counter the English St. George societies, rather than to honor St. Nicholas. “The first surviving mention of [Nicholas] in America is in the New York Rivington’s Gazetteer for 23 December 1773: ‘Last Monday the anniversary of St. Nicholas, otherwise called St. a Claus, was celebrated at Protestant Hall, at Mr. Waldron’s, where a great number of the sons of that ancient saint celebrated the day with great joy and festivity.’ And on 8 December 1774 in the same journal: ‘Monday next, being the anniversary of St. Nicholas, will be celebrated by the descendants of the ancient Dutch families.’ These two are the only survivors until well after the Revolution. There is growing interest in reclaiming the original saint in the United States to help restore a spiritual dimension to this festive time. More than anything else, “A Visit From St. Nicholas” introduced the custom of a cozy, domestic Santa Christmas tradition to the nation. Such a focus helps restore balance to increasingly materialistic and stress-filled Advent and Christmas seasons. Dutch families took the tradition of celebrating the feast day of Saint Nicholas with them to New Amsterdam in the American colonies, beginning as early as the 17th century.They referred to him as Sinterklaas. Even though both reformers and counter-reformers tried to stamp out St. Nicholas-related customs, they had very little long-term success except in England where the religious folk traditions were permanently altered. Rotating images: Luca Brühart, Musée d’art et d’histoire, Fribourg, Switzerland. These drawings established a rotund Santa with flowing beard, fur garments, and an omnipresent clay pipe. The growth of Sunday Schools in cities exposed hundreds of thousands of children to Christianity. A bishop, Nicholas put Jesus Christ at the center of his life, his ministry, his entire existence. Although it is almost universally believed that the Dutch brought St. Nicholas to New Amsterdam, scholars find scant evidence of such traditions in Dutch New Netherland. Santa illustrations from the popular children's magazine St. Nicholas. New York writers, and others, wanted to domesticate the Christmas holiday. This “Sante Claus” arrived from the North in a sleigh with a flying reindeer. Santa was then portrayed by dozens of artists in a wide variety of styles, sizes, and colors. Not exactly St. Nicholas, the children’s gift-giver. 1. This society was similar to the Sons of St. Tammany in Philadelphia. Livingston was a farmer/patriot who wrote humorous verse for children. Vikings dedicated their cathedral to him in Greenland. The New York Historical Society held its first St. Nicholas anniversary dinner on December 6, 1810. Used by permission. Moore was a friend and neighbor of William Gilley, who had published Sancte Claus in 1821: However, a case has been made by Don Foster in Author Unknown, that Henry Livingston actually penned it in 1807 or 1808. Hageman, Howard, Book review: Saint Nicholas of Myra, Bari, and Manhattan: Biography of a Legend by Charles W. Jones, Theology Today, October 1979, Jones, Charles W., “Knickerbocker Santa Claus,”The New-York Historical Society Quarterly, Volume XXXVIII Number 4, October 1954, St. Nicholas Future at VTSSt. Initially opposed to Christmas observance, by the 1850s Sunday Schools had discovered that a Christmas tree, Santa and gifts, greatly improved attendance. Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nicholas the Wonderworker. The holiday season, coming after harvest when work was eased and more leisure possible, was a time when workers and servants took the upper hand, demanding largess and more. Childhood was coming to be seen as a stage of life in which greater protection, sheltering, training and education were needed. John Pintard, the influential patriot and antiquarian who founded the New York Historical Society in 1804, promoted St. Nicholas as patron saint of both society and city. In Florida, Spaniards named an early settlement St. Nicholas Ferry, now known as Jacksonville. The poem and other descriptions of the Santa Claus ritual appeared in more and more local papers. Families, churches, and schools are embracing true St Nicholas traditions as one way to claim the true center of Christmas—the birth of Jesus. All of these appeared long before Haddon Sundblom created the Cola-Cola Santa in 1931. John Pintard, the influential patriot and antiquarian who founded the New York Historical Society in 1804, promoted St. Nicholas as patron saint … On his first voyage, Columbus named a Haitian port for St. Nicholas on December 6, 1492. Rather, it was characterized by raucous, drunken mobs roaming streets, damaging property, threatening and frightening the upper classes. Christmas of old was not the images we imagine of families gathered cozily around hearth and tree exchanging pretty gifts and singing carols while smiling benevolently at children. Moore’s poem was printed in four new almanacs in 1824, just one year after it was in the Troy, New York, paper. For indeed, St. Nicholas, lover of the poor and patron saint of children, is a model of how Christians are meant to live. 1821 brought some new elements with publication of the first lithographed book in America, the Children’s Friend. The anonymous poem and illustrations proved pivotal in shifting imagery away from a saintly bishop. After the American Revolution, New Yorkers remembered with pride their colony’s nearly-forgotten Dutch roots. That name became Santa Claus to the early United States’ English-speaking majority. St. Nicholas, too, took on new attributes to fit the changing times. However, St. Nicholas had a difficult time during the 16th century Protestant Reformation which took a dim view of saints. Nicholas was shown in a gift-giving role with children’s treats in stockings hanging at a fireplace. After the American Revolution, New Yorkers remembered with pride their colony’s nearly-forgotten Dutch roots. So, in a strange twist of fate, the new “secular” Santa Claus, no longer seen as a religious figure, helped return Christmas observance to churches. The New York elite succeeded in domesticating Christmas through a new “Santa Claus” tradition invented by Washington Irving, John Pintard and Clement Clarke Moore. The poem generally has been attributed to Clement Clark Moore, a professor of biblical languages at New York’s Episcopal General Theological Seminary. St. Nicholas Center All rights reserved. Washington Irving’s St. Nicholas strongly influenced the poem’s portrayal of a round, pipe-smoking, elf-like St. Nicholas. This commercial success led to the North American Santa Claus being exported around the world where he threatens to overcome the European St. Nicholas, who has retained his identity as a Christian bishop and saint.

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