For most of us Santa Claus is the jolly old man in the red suit that brought us presents as children. But Santa – or St Nicholas, or Sinterklaas, or Odin as he’s also been known – has had a colourful history. Here are some fun facts we bet you didn’t know about Santa!
- According to the legends of Belgium and the Netherlands Sinterklaas comes from Spain by steam boat to give gifts to children. This is the version of Santa that first started keeping a list of children who’ve been naughty or nice.
- Before 1931 Santa dressed in a range of colours including blue, green and brown. But then Coca-Cola used Santa in an advertising campaign that saw him wearing his red and white suit, and he’s dressed that way ever since!
- Santa is well-fed on his Christmas Eve excursions. Across the world he’s given snacks including cookies and milk, sherry, beer and mince pies, rice porridge, or Christmas pudding.
- Before Santa, Scandinavian countries were delivered presents by the Yule Goat. The goat brought presents throughout the 19th century, but was replaced by Santa Claus in the 1900s.
- We all know Santa’s flying reindeer, but did you know he used to be pulled around by a flying warhorse? In Germanic regions around the winter solstice children would leave out food for Odin’s flying, eight-legged horse Sleipnir, and Odin would put candy and treats in place of the food. After that, Saint Nicholas was supposed to have had a flying horse when he delivered gifts, and at some point the eight legs of Sleipnir inspired Santa’s eight flying reindeer.
Do you know any other fun facts about Santa’s history? What about Christmas stories from other countries? Head over to our Facebook page and let us know!