There are few figures so perfectly engrained in our minds as Santa Claus. You can picture him: red suit, white fur trim, black belt, white beard, red cheeks, bowl full of jelly, eight (plus one) reindeer, sleigh, etc.
But Santa didn’t always look like that.
Santa has his beginnings in Saint Nicholas, who Dutch children thought of as a somewhat stern bishop. Immigrants brought the figure to America, interestingly leaving behind some of his racist weirdness. Washington Irving penned one of the first written descriptions of the man in America, which most historians agree was more akin to a Dutch Bergher. Twelve years later, the above illustration of “Old Santeclaus” appeared in a hand-colored children’s book of anonymous authorship. No written description seems to have been put to paper in between, yet we get a figure that’s a whole lot closer to our idea of Santa… including the name.
The next year, “A Visit from St. Nicholas” helped solidify the big guy’s look. He picks up a pipe and a few pounds, “dressed all in furs from his head to his foot.” He gets a full team of reindeer, rosy cheeks, a white beard and a pipe.
But an interesting detail we often forget:
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick…And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
Reindeer absolutely do vary in size, coming in between 30 and 60 inches at their shoulder height. The smallest reindeer tend to live in the coldest climes. But the focus on the smallness may be an indication of how the elf gets down the dang chimney: he’s just a little guy!
(Fun fact: the “click, click, click” is absolutely a real attribute of reindeer. Their knees click in proportion to their size, with larger reindeer knees being audible from several hundred meters away. Same.)
Illustrations of Santa after this time generally seem to be some blend of Irving’s Dutch chap and the poem’s fur-clad chubbo. German-born political cartoonist Thomas Nast (who gave us the Republican elephant and Democratic donkey) illustrated Santa for Harper’s Weekly, bringing German-Bavarian elements to his look, and fun details like the belt.
Most illustrations were done in black and white for obvious reasons, but handpainted children’s books often included red, possibly based on those famous ruddy cheeks. When color printing became more common, Santa’s fur suit was often still brown, white or black – you know, realistic fur colors. But splashes of red, green and yellow kept appearing and it seems like red eventually won out, probably for its overall festive, fantastical note.
By the 1930s, all of the elements were more or less set. But it was Haddon Sundblom’s illustrations for the Coca-Cola Company that solidified Santa in our cultural eye. When you think of Santa, this is probably the version that comes to mind. That red happens to be Coke’s brand color was not a coincidence.
But let’s talk about the reindeer in the room: you probably think Santa is white. Attempts to make the jolly old elf more culturally diverse have generally met resistance in American culture. It’s currently viewed as another facet of the “woke” “War on ChristmasTM,” to give children the idea that a benevolent, kind, giving figure is anything but white (see also: Jesus.)
But surprising no one, the backlash against the idea of a Black, Asian or Latinx Santa isn’t new. White culture has loved creating images of racially diverse Santas to mock and abuse.
Santas of all races fought to help represent their communities and give children the chance to see themselves reflected in the generous cultural icon we all love. It took decades for malls, movies and holiday cards to seriously embrace non-white Santas. (The Mall of America didn’t hire a Black Santa until 2016.) If you are looking for a Santa that represents your family or your idea of what Santa could be, there are great online guides, such as Find Black Santa.