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Following the Restoration in 1660, Father Christmas's profile declined. His character was maintained during the late 18th and into the 19th century by the Christmas folk plays later known as mummers' plays . Until Victorian times, Father Christmas was concerned with adult feasting and merry-making.
As England no longer kept the feast day of Saint Nicholas on 6 December, the Father Christmas celebration was moved to 25 December to coincide with Christmas Day. The Victorian revival of Christmas included Father Christmas as the emblem of good cheer.
- The Legend of St. Nicholas: The Real Santa Claus. The legend of Santa Claus can be traced back hundreds of years to a monk named St. Nicholas. It is believed that Nicholas was born sometime around A.D.
- Sinter Klaas Comes to New York. St. Nicholas made his first inroads into American popular culture towards the end of the 18th century. In December 1773, and again in 1774, a New York newspaper reported that groups of Dutch families had gathered to honor the anniversary of his death.
- Shopping Mall Santas. Gift-giving, mainly centered around children, has been an important part of the Christmas celebration since the holiday’s rejuvenation in the early 19th century.
- ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. In 1822, Clement Clarke Moore, an Episcopal minister, wrote a long Christmas poem for his three daughters entitled “An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas,” more popularly known as “‘Twas The Night Before Christmas.”
Dec 20, 2021 · St. Nicholas was a real person. The legend of Father Christmas can be traced back over a thousand years to a monk called St. Nicholas, who was born in 280 AD near Myra in modern-day Turkey. He was admired for his piety and kindness, and legend has it that he gave away all of his inherited wealth.
- The English Origins of Father Christmas. From his earliest days until the 19th century, Father Christmas was a strictly allegorical figure. He was a symbol of the Christmas season, rather than a mythical being.
- St Nicholas and Sinterklaas. Long before the symbol of Father Christmas emerged in England, the separate legend of Sinterklaas was gaining ground in Europe.
- Here Comes Santa Claus. It’s not entirely clear how Sinterklaas made his way across the Atlantic to North America to become Santa Claus. It's possible that his story made its way to the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, which later became New York.
- Father Christmas meets Santa Claus. Historians think that Santa Claus first stepped foot in England in 1864, when he featured alongside Father Christmas in a story by the American author Susanna Warner.
Dec 25, 2018 · From St. Nicholas to Santa Claus: the surprising origins of Kris Kringle. Santa Claus, Father Christmas, St. Nick—no matter the name, everyone knows the story of this plump, jolly, bringer of gifts.
Apr 19, 2024 · The current depiction of Santa Claus is based on images drawn by cartoonist Thomas Nast for Harper’s Weekly beginning in 1863. Nast’s Santa owed much to the description given in the poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (also known as “’Twas the Night Before Christmas”), first published in 1823.
