Well, Coca-Cola will have played a significant role in disseminating the image of Santa Claus in its current form, because the now familiar depiction of Santa Claus dressed in red and white with a pointed hat was illustrated by the illustrator Haddon Sundblom in 1931 on behalf of Coca-Cola, However, he was not the first to do so. As early as 1923, Santa Claus appeared in a red and white robe in an advertisement for the beverage manufacturer White Rock .
The term “Santa Claus” in German-speaking countries is also much older than the illustration from 1931
Santa Claus is more common than St. Nicholas, especially in Protestant regions, and he can be visually distinguished from St. Nicholas in that he does not wear a bishop's robe with a miter and a bishop's crosier. Santa Claus and his relative, Santa Claus, are red and white, have a beard and a pointed hat.
However, the figure is definitely based on Bishop Nicholas of Myra. It developed into different forms in different countries: in the Netherlands you can find Sinterklaas , from this and the English Father Christmas became Santa Claus and in Russia you meet Father Frost.
The song with the text “Tomorrow comes Santa Claus” by Hoffmann von Fallersleben (1798–1874), which has been sung since 1835, clearly shows that Santa Claus already enjoyed a certain popularity in German-speaking countries in the 19th century, as he was a good 100 years before Coca -Cola illustration was discussed across the board.
Likewise, in 1821, in a poem by an unknown author published by the New York publisher William Gilley, there was already a description of “Sante Claus”, a figure that Dutch immigrants brought with them under the name Sinterklaas and who corresponds to Santa Claus. Shortly afterwards “Twas the night before Christmas” , to whose description of Santa Claus later depictions of Santa Claus are traced back.
This question “Who is this guy in red” answered quite comprehensively in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, but we don’t want to go into that any further now.
1897
This is the year to which the oldest colored finds of a red and white Santa Claus with a pointed hat can be dated. An APA press report from 2007 states:
The old man in the red and white suit is apparently not an invention of an American soda company.
(Source: APA )
His face has now been found on a postcard from the 19th century. Santa Claus in the red and white coat was around in the 19th century and therefore for much longer than previously thought.
This is what postcard collector Christl Hütten from Beuren in Eichsfeld, Thuringia, discovered, as the Erfurt-based “Thüringer Allgemeine” reports in its Christmas Eve edition. Corresponding postcards, which show Santa Claus in a red and white coat, are in the Thuringian collector's collection.
The oldest motif dates from December 18, 1897. The card, which was sent within Germany, has [sic! Note: Santa Claus is probably more likely to be trudging through the snow in a red coat with a white hem. Previously, an American lemonade company had claimed to have invented Santa Claus in his typical outfit as an advertising figure in 1931.
There are corresponding contemporary postcards with the Santa Claus motif that are owned by the postcard collector Christl Hütten from Beuren in Eichsfeld, Thuringia. This type of card was sent as a Christmas greeting in German-speaking countries and took up the motif of Santa Claus. In a Süddeutsche with the collector, we also learn that she is in possession of other cards with similar motifs that can be dated to 1904 and 1905 - also well before the Coca-Cola illustration.
However, he did not always consistently have the high-contrast red and white representation on all of these maps. Some of these older sources show Santa Claus depicted in brown, white, gold or blue.
In fact, Santa Claus had different colored embossings

In Northern Europe we also know a green or blue Santa Claus, but in the end the red robe became generally accepted, and even Father Frost was not immune to it.
So Santa Claus would still exist without Coca‑Cola.
Also read: No, you won't receive any spy SMS on December 8th!
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