The Real Thing?

A few days ago FinHall mentioned the popular myth that the modern image of Santa is the creation of a 1930s Coca-Cola advert campaign. It has also sometimes been suggested that Santa's red & white costume is due to the colours of the Coke brand.
In fact a red & white clad Santa had already been used in an advert for White Rock Beverages mineral water in 1915.

It seems that Santa, as we know him today, is an amalgamation of European traditions brought together by settlers in 18th century America. Chief among these are the Dutch Sinterklass (who has a book recording the behaviour of children throughout the year & gives gifts to those who have been good), the Norse God Odin (children leave food by the fireplace for his flying horse & are rewarded with treats), & the English Father Christmas (the spirit of good cheer but not a giver of gifts, dressed in green. Possibly originally Woden, the Old English counterpart to Odin).

The name "Santa Claus" first appears in print in America in 1773, but it wasn't until the publication of the poem "A Visit From St. Nicholas" ("T'was the night before Christmas...") in 1823, that Santa really emerges. His image finally established by popular illustrations by Thomas Nast in the 1880s.

The picture here is by Charles Robinson (brother of Heath Robinson), & appears in "The Child's Christmas" by Evelyn Sharp, published in 1900.
Sharp (sister of the folksong collector Cecil) was an interesting character in her own right. As well as writing for children, she was active in the women's suffrage movement & spent 14 days in Holloway prison for smashing windows in a government building.

I've always been more of a Pepsi man anyway...