“You better not shout, you better not cry. You better not pout I’m telling you why. Santa Claus is coming to town”

We all know the song and we all know the story. Santa Claus makes his list of children who are naughty and those who are nice. He sees you at every moment of your young life so you better be good, for goodness sake. Yikes, writing it the way I have here makes Santa sound like a major creeper!

Most of us know that Santa Claus started as the story of Saint Nicholas who gave children presents. I remember being told that he was from a small German village and that he became popular thanks to Coca-Cola. Like with so many legends, a lot of the history of our protagonist has become lost and/or distorted. This isn’t a surprise since it take many decades, if not, centuries to become a legend in the first place and that’s a lot of time for things to get twisted. So, what is the story?

The man known as Saint Nicholas was born on March 15, 270 AD in Patara, near Myra, in modern day Turkey during the Roman Empire. Also known as Nicholas of Bari, he was thought of as a pious man who wandered the countryside helping the poor and sick. He was apparently wealthy but had given away his fortune to help those in need. A few stories do exist of his deeds but we do know that many “miracles” were attribute to this bishop leading to him becoming a saint although there seems to be no record of when this happened. It seems that many different churches have him as a patron saint of many different things but in modern times, most think of him as the patron saint of children. Saint Nicholas died on December 6, 343.

So, how do we get from a Roman bishop to a fat man with a white beard who brings toys for all the good girls and boys? News of Saint Nicholas’ deeds spread throughout Europe and December 6th became a day to honor him with a feast and, of course, the giving of gifts has he had done in life. Despite these deeds having taken place so long ago, Saint Nicholas was the most popular saint in Europe by the Renaissance. He was particularly well loved in The Netherlands so when Dutch people began immigrating to North America, particularly New Amsterdam (today known as New York), they brought the story and traditions of Sint Nikolaas or for short, Sinter Klaus. In 1773 and again in 1774, a newspaper printed the story of the Dutch immigrants and their celebrations.

Once the legend reached North America, it started spreading and capturing the minds of writers and artists alike. In 1809, Washington Irving portrayed St. Nicholas as a sage Dutchman instead of a bishop. An 1821 poem called, “The Children’s Friend” told that Sante Claus delivered toy to all the good children by riding a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer. A few years later, it was a jolly elf with a sleigh pulled by reindeer that showed up in the poem, “A Visit From St Nicholas”.

In 1863, artist, Thomas Nash created several drawings of Santa for Harper’s Weekly. While there were many variations to Santa look that Nash created, the white beard was first seen at this point. Haddon Sundblom is often credited with the image of Santa that we know today. In 1931, he drew 40 images of Santa for the Coca-Cola Company’s winter campaign thus creating not only a great advertising figure but cemented a character we all know and love today.

While poking around on eBay, I came across a stamp that I had seen before but had forgot about. USPS doesn’t allow philatelists from other countries to purchase US stamps so I often don’t bother even looking. But with December around the corner, I had to get my hands on this gorgeous Santa Claus/Coca-Cola advert stamp.

Art Director, Greg Breeding used original art work from Sundblom to create a set of 4 ‘Forever’ stamps. In this particular one, the stamp itself is actually just a small part of the image but is made into an adorable keepsake and piece of history. The stamps were released on October 11, 2018 in Pigeon Forge, VA.

I’m sure there are countless stamps around the world with images of Santa Claus. A super quick look through my Canadian books found these 3 but I know I have more. It’s an enduring image of childhood but based on a real person who, if history is correct, was someone that every child (and even us adults) needs in their corner.

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