Sunday, December 20, 2009

Twas the Night Before Christmas

I know we all have heard the story "twas the night before ChristmasBUT did you know who drew the illustrations to give us today's images of Santa Clause and his eight tiny reindeer?

In 1822, Clement Clark Moore, an Episcopal minister, wrote a long Christmas poem for his three daughters entitled, "An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas." Moore's poem, which he was initially hesitant to publish due to the frivolous nature of its subject, is largely responsible for our modern image of Santa Clause as a "right jolly old elf" with a portly figure and the supernatural ability to ascend a chimney with a mere nod of his head! Although some of Moore's imagery was probably borrowed from other sources, his poem helped to popularize Christmas Eve - Santa Claus waiting for the children to get to sleep the now-familiar idea of a Santa Claus who flew from house to house on Christmas Eve-in 'a miniature sleigh' led by eight flying reindeer, whom he also named-leaving presents for deserving children. "An Account if a visit from St. Nicholas," created a new and immediately popular American icon. In 1881, political cartoonist Thomas Nast drew on Moore's poem to create the first likeness that matches our modern image of Santa Claus. His cartoon, which appeared in Harper's Weekly, depicted Santa as a rotund, cheerful man with a full, white beard, holding a sack laden with toys for lucky children. It is Nast who gave Santa his bright red suit trimmed with white fur, North Pole workshop, elves, and his wife, Mrs. Claus.

5 comments:

Sharron Riddle said...

Very intersting post! I love this Christmas trivia! Thank you and have a lovely Christmas.

Cecile Smutty Hussy said...

Did not know that, thank you for sharing yet more Christmas trivia with us!!!
Hope you have/had a great weekend!

Unknown said...

Terrific post. I love seeing trivia that is easily accessible to everyone. Thanks for making it interesting.

Have a great holiday season.

Houston A.W. Knight said...

Hi!

Sorry I'm so late...had a busy week. Oh, I didn't know the history of the story...that's interesting!

Have a great X'mas darlin'

Hugs
Hawk

Houston A.W. Knight said...

Hey hon...

Hope you had a Merry Christmas and don't forget to stop by me place, this weeks blog is not one to miss!

Hugs
Hawk