How Father Christmas became the secret gift-giver for believers across the globe

Every Christmas, children eagerly anticipate looking under the tree to find out what Santa Claus has brought them. At that age, the magic of Christmas is alive and well.

Then, as they get a little older, they start to wonder how Santa can visit all the houses in the world in one night. Eventually, they decide believing in Santa is silly and childish, and they choose not to believe anymore.

During the teenage and early adult years, Santa is a fairytale to them and his sleigh no longer flies.

Then one day, something unexpected happens. That same child, now a grown adult, gets married and has a child of their own. Santa Claus is back! And he is more jolly and magical than before.

This cycle repeats itself with every generation.

The United Nations Childrens Fund reports there are about 1.9 billion children throughout the world, but not all of them celebrate Christmas. About 45% of the world’s population commemorates the holiday, which means the number of kids who receive gifts every year is around 900 million.

Assuming Santa gives every child one gift at a cost of $100, Christmas is costing him a minimum of $90 billion every year. That’s not including production, labor and delivery costs. How does he do it?

Americans trace Santa’s beginning to the early 19th century. This year marks 200 years since the publication of a popular children’s story that made Santa a household name. On a global scale, his origin dates back much farther.

The origin of Santa Claus

The man we now know as Santa Claus was born sometime during the 4th century A.D. His name was Nicholas, one source says. He lived in a place called Myra, known today as Demre, Turkey.

Nicholas was born to a wealthy family, and as the only child, he became the sole beneficiary of that wealth at a young age when his parents died.

Nicholas grew up to be a Catholic bishop and people in his village thought highly of him.

“He was … a very kind man and had a reputation for helping the poor and giving secret gifts to people who needed it,” the website says.

At some point, his empathy for the downtrodden earned him the title of Saint Nicholas.

Most of his life is shrouded in legend, but there is one story about how he once helped a poor man and his three daughters by dropping a bag of gold down their chimney.

Back then, in order to get married, the bride’s parents were required to pay the bridegroom a dowry (money). Since the man was unable to provide a dowry for his oldest daughter, Nicholas allegedly dropped a bag of gold down his chimney in secret. It landed in a stocking hanging by the fire.

He did the same thing when it was time for the second daughter to be married.

“Determined to discover the person who had given him the money, the father secretly hid by the fire every evening until he caught Nicholas dropping in a bag of gold. Nicholas begged the man to not tell anyone what he had done because he did not want to bring attention to himself. But soon the news got out and when anyone received a secret gift, it was thought that maybe it was from Nicholas,” the website says.

St. Nicholas was reportedly exiled and imprisoned for a time because of his Christian beliefs. He is estimated to have died on Dec. 6, 343.

How St. Nicholas became Santa Claus

But not even death could stop St. Nicholas from spreading goodness and cheer. Somehow, he’s continued to live as Santa Claus. He’s become the face of Christmas for millions of people around the world and pop culture has helped him become one of the most loved and recognizable figures in history.

In a recent interview, Gerry Bowler, author of “Santa Claus: A Biography” explains St. Nicholas was first credited as a “midnight gift-giver” sometime around 1200 A.D.

During the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s, St. Nicholas Day became a popular holiday. In the early 1800s, a New York businessman named John Pintard helped establish St. Nicholas Day in the U.S. It was celebrated on Dec. 6, the day historians believe St. Nicholas died.

On Dec. 6, 1809, Washington Irving published a book that referenced St. Nicholas landing on a rooftop with a horse and wagon delivering gifts to people. It was the publication of a poem from an unknown author 12 years later that officially revealed Santa Claus to the world.

“This is the first time we see the word ‘Santa Claus’ printed and the first time that we see a picture of Santa Claus, not as a Catholic Bishop in a Catholic Bishop’s robes, but as a nonsectarian adult in a fur-lined robe and a fur-lined cap coming into people’s houses on Christmas Eve,” Bowler said.

The poem also marks the first time Santa appears in a sleigh pulled by reindeer.

The poem was illustrated and printed in color, which was expensive at the time, and therefore, not widely available to everyone. Clement Clark Moore’s poem, “T’was the Night Before Christmas,” published in 1823, made Santa’s fame go viral.

Cementing Santa’s image

More than 40 years later, two illustrations from artist Thomas Nast cemented Santa’s image as a jolly old elf to the American public. In January 1863 at the height of the Civil War, Harper’s Weekly published Nast’s illustration of Santa distributing presents in a Union Army camp. Nast’s most famous image of Santa (the featured image above at the beginning of this story), which shows him with a big red belly, an arm full of toys and smoking a pipe, was printed in the same publication 18 years later.

“By 1900, we have the platonic ideal of Santa Claus,” said Bowler. “The 20th century has spent countless hours trying to change Santa Claus … It doesn’t work. He is always lodged at the North Pole and he always comes on Christmas Eve.”

From his birth in Asia Minor more than 1,700 years ago to his arrival in the United States 200 years ago, Santa Claus remains a prominent figure and has continued to demonstrate his timeless appeal and everlasting influence during the holiday season.

Despite his old age, he shows no signs of slowing down.

Though Old Saint Nick is now widely known as the man who delivers gifts on Christmas Eve, the question of how he’s able to do it is still a mystery. But for those who believe in him, he’ll always be the secret gift-giver that ensures a magical and Merry Christmas for children and adults throughout the world.