A brief history of Santa Claus
December 19, 2018 at 9:00 am
On 23 December 1951, the Catholic clergy at Dijon organised an execution of Santa Claus. An image of him was hanged from the railings of the cathedral and then burned in front of several hundred Sunday School children. Santa Claus arouses strong feelings.
The Anglo-American Santa Claus or Father Christmas has come to dominate the modern Christmas. You can find him in the department stores of Tokyo and Singapore as well as New York and London. But who is he? His characteristics were set out by Clement Moore in his poem, A Visit from Santa Claus, published in 1823 in the Troy Sentinental: he was “chubby and plump, a right jolly old elfâ€; he arrived on a sleigh drawn by flying reindeer; and came down the chimney with a sack of toys for children.
https://www.historyextra.com/period/stuart/the-changing-faces-of-santa-claus/
