Christians claim Santa Claus of Christmas myths is none other than a historical Christian Saint named Nicholas. This thread gives us a glimpse of the real man behind Santa Claus. It shows us how his character was drastically recreated by American commercials.
Today, Santa is everywhere. He is on Stickers. Cakes. You name it. He is shown as a warm, happy character with rosy cheeks twinkling eyes, and laughter lines who sends gifts to Children. This is a modern creation. Here is how real Santa Claus was depicted in historical paintings.
The “real Santa Claus” had nothing to do with today’s Santa Claus that is largely a modern commercial creation. The real Santa was a hot beaded, abusive, threatening & intolerant zealot who reveled in breaking the temples of Non-Christians & physically attacking his opponents.
One of the earliest references to “real Santa Claus” comes from an early, almost contemporary, account named Stratelatis written around c.400. This account and its story have also been corroborated by the high praise of Saint Proclus in his Encomium on Saint Nicholas (c.440 CE).
In these earliest accounts, “Santa Claus” comes in the defense of some prisoners. He threatens emperor Constantine and warns “Constantine, free the prisoners. If not, I will stir up a revolt against you, and hand over your dead body and your entrails to the wild beasts for food”
He also threatens a local governor named Ablabius: “Ablabius, free those three men. If not, you will fall ill and end as food for worms, and your whole family will perish evilly”. This image of Santa Claus issuing dεath threats is hardly compatible with his image today.
According to Christian sources., “Santa Claus” was an attendee of the Council of Nicaea convened by Emperor Constantine. In this council, he slaps a fellow Christian pastor named Arius who had opposed Trinitarian doctrine. For this physical assault, he was briefly imprisoned.
This deed has been alluded to by his early Hagiographers like Andrew of Crete (8th century) and Michael the Archimandrite (9th century). The real Santa Claus belonged to Myra (today’s Turkey). Myra housed a great temple to Goddess Artemis. It rivaled the temple of Artemis at Ephesus, one of the wonders of the ancient world. Santa Claus saw every Non-Christian God as a demon. He waged a crusade against temples.
Just about this time, Constantine became the first-ever Christian emperor in History. Making full use of the opportunity, Santa Claus broke the temple of Artemis with his own hands. A Christian painting depicts St. Nicholas/ Santa Claus breaking the idol of Goddess Artemis.
Who reshaped the image of Santa? On its official website, Coca-Cola claims the credit for reshaping Santa Claus through its 1931 commercial. Although many attempts were made in the 19th century itself, this advertisement played a major role. Link - https://www.coca-colacompany.com/faqs/did-coca-cola-invent-santa
