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Santa Facts

As the magical night of Christmas Eve creeps ever closer, children around the world are sure to be putting pen to paper in the hope that plenty of Christmas goodies will be waiting for them under the tree this year.

It’s only November but already the spirit of the season is in the air; the anticipation, the streets filled with twinkling lights, freshly roasted chestnuts on every corner and inappropriately early Christmas songs blasting out from shop doors. Here at Amuso we too would like to think we’re fully prepared for the holiday season, so to get things started here are some fun and festive facts about the man in red: Santa Claus!

• The main influence behind the modern-day Santa that we all know and love was Saint Nicholas of Myra. “St. Nick” was known for his generosity and had a tendency to leave gifts for the less fortunate, who often found coins waiting for them in their shoes!

• Another possible inspiration for Santa Claus was Odin, a God of Norse paganism, who was depicted as having a long white/grey beard and was said to ride an 8-legged horse, capable of jumping incredibly large distances and comparable to the legend of Santa’s flying reindeer.

• Tales of Saint Nicholas described him as throwing coins in people’s windows, or where a window was closed, tossing them down the chimney — which may have influenced Santa’s preferred method of delivering his presents!

• It is said that children used to fill their boots with tempting snacks for Odin’s flying horse and leave them next to the chimney.  In return, the tasty horse-treats would be replaced by gifts. …… Sound familiar?!

• In the 1800’s, Santa was commonly depicted as a being tall and slender… until drawings by Thomas Nast, German-American caricaturist, represented him as the fat, jolly, bearded man popular today.

• Before sticking with red and white robes, Santa had been seen donning a variety of different colours, with green being a very popular choice. In Charles Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol”, which was first published in 1843, the “Ghost of Christmas Present” is portrayed as a warm and cheerful man wearing a big green coat with fur lining.

• Many people believe that Santa Claus used to wear a green robe until Coca-Cola changed the colours to red and white to suit their corporate image in the 1930’s.  In reality, they were not even the first company to use the modern day image of Santa Claus in their campaigns, let alone the first to depict him wearing red and white. White Rock Beverages used today’s traditional representation of Santa to advertise mineral water and ginger ale back in 1915 and 1923 respectively — the Coca-Cola advertisement simply helped to popularize the image.

• Santa’s flying reindeer were named for the first time in the famous poem, “A Visit From St. Nicholas”, more commonly known as “Twas the Night Before Christmas”.

• In the state of Maine, there was an attempt to ban a particular type of festive beer called “Santa’s Butt”, the label of which displays a beautiful illustration of Santa perching his rather large bottom on a barrel, whilst he enjoys a well-earned pint. It was said that this picture might appeal to children and therefore should not be used to advertise an alcoholic drink. Bah Humbug!

• Based on calculations made by scientists in Massachusetts, we can assume that on Christmas Eve, Santa won’t be feeling quite as jolly as his usual bubbly, cheerful exterior would suggest! With approximately 822 homes to visit per second, and only 1/1000th of a second at each one, in which to park and dismount his sleigh, slide down the chimney, sort the presents, scoff down his mince pies and cookies, climb back up the chimney, give Rudolph his carrot and jump back into his sleigh, Santa undoubtedly has the most stressful job in the world!
• These scientists also declared that if it was necessary for Santa to carry a small present for each of these children then his sleigh would weigh over 320,000 tons, which in turn would require nearly 215,000 super-strength reindeer to pull it at the required speed (650 miles per second!). Not an easy task by far! Still, at least he has a few bottles of “Santa’s Butt” waiting for him at home…

• In Gällivere, Sweden, Santa wannabees from all around the world flock together annually to battle it out for the title of “Santa of the Year”. This Christmassy competition includes games such as chimney-climbing, porridge-eating (without messing up the beard!), kick-sledding, reindeer racing and gift wrapping!

• Children around the world can track Santa’s Christmas Eve journey through a program developed by Google and the North American Aerospace Defence Command. His flight path and position can be checked via mobile phone or internet so now everyone can know when to expect to hear the sound of sleighbells jingling above their house and pretend to be asleep!