10 Fun Facts About Santa Claus

Fact 1

Santa Claus is actually loosely based on a real person, St. Nicholas. He was the Bishop of Myra and often used to give gifts to the needy anonymously. He would also often hand out coins and treats to kids. St. Nicholas has also been canonized as the patron saint of children.

Fact 2

In around 1773, the name “St. A Claus” first appeared in the American press. This name later became Santa Claus.

Fact 3

Americans got the first description of Saint Nicholas from author Washington Irving. He described him as “a chubby little man with a jolly smile, drawn by a team of reindeer.”

Fact 4

Santa has many names. He is known as Father Christmas in England and Christindl, the Christ Child in Germany. The French call him Pere Noel (Father Christmas) while in China he is known as Shengdan Laeoren.

Fact 5

Did you know that Santa Claus was recently declared a Canadian citizen? What’s more, he even has his own zip/post code: HOH OHO.

Fact 6

For Santa to deliver all his Christmas presents around the world, he would have to travel about 510,000,000 km at a speed of 10,703,437.5km/hr all through the night.

Fact 7

The first company to actually use Santa Claus’ image for promotional purposes was Coca-cola. This happened in the early 1930’s and the image was designed by Haddon Sundblom. It was he who first introduced Santa as wearing the color red. Santa’s original suit is believed to have been green!

Fact 8

It is interesting to note that until around 1849, Santa Claus was a bachelor! The first mention of him having a spouse (Mrs Claus) was in “A Christmas Legend”, a short story written by James Rees. His spouse became really popular after Katherine Lee Bates’ 1889 poem, “Goody Santa Claus on a Sleigh Ride”.

Fact 9

While in England and the US, he is seen wearing red and white, in many European countries Santa is believed to have sported a red or black bishop’s cloak with bishop hat. You could also see him wearing a long green furry robe at times.

Fact 10

In some cultures, Santa is not known to have elves. For instance, in Holland, he is believed to have a freed slave called Peter. It is said that when kids do not behave well, then Peter gets annoyed and leaves them a lump of coal.