Christmas is just around the corner. It is the time of the year when every corner of the city is lightened up and the aroma of cakes and cookies fills up the city. A very famous character of Christmas other than Jesus Christ is Santa clause. Santa Claus (Saint Nicholas) is said to be an old bearded monk who brings gifts and toys to the well-behaved children and coal or nothing to the bad children on Christmas night.
We have always seen Santa as an Old fat bearded man wearing a red hat and a red suit and carrying a red sack full of toys. But why red? Why not any other color? How is the color red associated with Santa? And how is coca-cola related to Santa wearing red?
Today we will try to answer this question.
It is said that the original Saint Nicholas traces back to a monk with the same name, estimated to be born around 280 AD in Patara, in modern-day Turkey. He was known in his time for his generosity and pious life. It is that said he gave away his inheritance and spent his whole life helping the needy and sick people. He was known to be a protector of children and sailors and his feast day is the 6th of December, his death anniversary, which became to known as a day when it was fortuitous to make large purchases and to get married. He was popular throughout Europe and by the Renaissance, he was one of the most popular saints.
It was said that in Dec 1773 a newspaper reported that groups of Dutch families celebrated St. Nicholas feast day in NY and Santa came from the jolly guy’s Dutch nickname Sinterklaas. Later his celebration was linked up with the celebration of Christmas which occurs during late December and giving gifts during the time become a trend in the 19th century in the US, especially gifts for young kids. By 1820 stores started advertising to encourage people to buy more gifts during the holiday season. Soon that spiraled into a whole section for Christmas ads in newspapers, many of which featured Santa Claus. Santa was illustrated in different looks from wearing reb robes, green robes, yellow stockings to violet robes. Some images showed him as alternately tall fat slim jolly or stren.
But his traditional red attire came into notice when coca-cola company during the 1920s showed him in their advertisement as a big jolly Santa in a big red coat and white fur. In 1931 they commissioned illustrator Haddon Sundblom to make December ads that featured that featured a red-suited Santa drinking coke to remind people they can drink coke all year. But even though there was a rumor saying that the red color suit was chosen to match the color of the brand logo, but the company said they stuck with a color that Santa was already seen before.
So this is how Coca-cola is associated with the creation of today’s red-suited Santa.
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