The word "Yule" is akin to the Old Norwegian hvël, (modern Norwegian hjul, old English hwëol) meaning "Wheel". The Celtic equivalent is cuidheal (pronounced "coo-yul"). Opposite to our contemporary linear (straight line) concept of time, the idea the Celts had was that the time was an eternal-rotating wheel. And just like other ancient peoples, they regarded the Yule as being both the re-birth of the Sun God (the Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year, so the light comes back then) as well as a feast for (and by) the dead (Think in this connection also to Halloween). The Celtic Sun-God was Bel ("Bright One"), which is akin to the Celtic dead-God Bíle ("Great Tree"). During the Yule, they appeared in the disguise of the Oak-King/King Forest (Bel) and the Holly-King (Bíle), summer and winter, respectively. As with the Summer Solstice or "Litha", the Oak King and the Holly-King fight for power. But at the Winter Solstice or Yule, it's the growing Oak-King (summer) that defeats the weakening Holly-King (winter).

The Oak-King

The Oak-King is also known as the Green Man and sometimes disguises as the Green Knight. The Holly-King is also known as the Red Man and often appears disguises as the Red demon or devil. During the middle-ages, this red, horned, bearded figure, merged together with the devil with annotation of the Christians. In many countries around the world, the two characters of the Oak-and-Holly King did remain separated, and usually it is the Oak-King who plays the role of the Good, the role of rewarder and gifts-giver, while the Holly-King did get the role of the evil-bad, the punisher/executioner or the robber. But it did happen (and still does) also that they come together and that Holly King was defeated (bounded, servient and subjected) by the Oak-King. For example at the assumption that Le Père Fouettard (France) is a by Saint Nicolas captived devil.

The Holly-King

The Oak-King or the green man is also called the Yule man, who sometimes is accompanied by goblins or elves, in the winter he did visit the people where he then got food and drinks. By this manor the people he hoped to make him benevolent, so that they in the new year would have a good harvest and the birth of many young animals. Then wore the Oak-King also often Hulst on his clothes on to indicate that he had overcome the Holly-King, and that all would be green (and fertile) again. So he di not spent gifts (except the expectation that there would come a spring again), but he did get gifts (food and drink) insted. Because Christmas (Kerstfeest, Weihnachten, Noël) did not exist at that time, therefore the Yule man does not originate from the Weihnachtsman, Pere Noel, or Father Christmas, though he has contributed to their later arise. But that is still discussed later. The colors that are regularly associated with Yule are red, green, and white. Red is for the weakening Hulst-King and everything he stands for; Green is for the growing Oak-King and everything he stands for; and white is for the cleanliness/purity and the hope of the rebirth of light. Midwinter is the celebration of the longest night. After the midwinter night, the days get longer and the nights getare shorter. The new light is reborn with Yule. To give more force to the return of the light, the Germans did chose a tree which they put on fired in honor of the god of light, so he would continue to stay among us until the harvest. The lights in our Christmas tree do originate from that.

In England they had long know a Father Christmas. Father Christmas was a kind of personification of Christmas and at the same time a pagan figure from the Joel time. In the stories around the Joel time there always played a kind of 'recommended' Father Christmas. This paternal end-of-year figure over time got something from many traditions but never anything directly of our St. Nicholas. He did receive much later though via Santa Claus some Dutch Saint Nicholas-like (Sinterklaas-like) traits and/or traditions. But in England Father Christmasis is really always been another figure as St. Nicholas and he still is another figure today. Father Christmas is also older than the Holy Saint! In previous centuries, was the English Father Christmas also known under the names Old Father Christmas, Sir Christmas, and Lord Christmas. Nowadays Father Christmas usually wears a red dress, but in Victorian times and in the Tudor times he usually wore green and sometimes blue (King Winter). The first mention of him is found in the 15th century. A manuscript in the Bodelian Library Museum, dated around circa 1458 AD, contains an anonymous Christmas carol that starts with the lyrics:

Goday, goday, my lord Sire Christëmas, goday!
Goday, Sire Christëmas, our king,
for ev'ry man, both old and ying,
is glad and blithe of your coming;
Goday!

Nowell, nowell, nowell, nowell
Who is there that singeth so: Nowell, nowell, nowell?
I am here, Sire Christësmas.
Welcome, my lord, Sire Christëmas!
Welcome to us all, both more and less!
Come near, Nowell.

The specific image of Christmas as a merry old man comes in the beginning of the 17th century, due to the resistance against the Puritan criticism (Reformation) on the traditions around the Christmas festivities. The Spirit of Christmas is "old" because the feast itself is already old, something the defenders of the festivities saw as a good old Christian custom that therefore had to be preserved. Things portraying was at that time very popular, so also "old Christmas" was regularly depicted. The first known time was in Ben Jonson's creation in 'Christmas his Masque' dated December 1616. Later, in a piece by Thomas Nabbes, 'The Springs Glory' produced in 1638, "Christmas" appears as "an old venerable gentleman dressed in a fur coat with hood". In 1645, there appeared a pamphlet in the street of London, in which the Government became defied by means of a humeristisch report of the condemnation and the capture of Old Christmas, and the buh's and cheers after his escape. In 1647 was Old Christmas banned in England, and traditional public Christmas celebrations were often visited by a Father Christmas, who also did tarte the Government there. "In comes I, Old Father Christmas, Be I be I welcome or not, I hope that Christmas will ne'er be forgot". This depiction remains regularly happening in the next 250 years, as Sir Christmas, Lord Christmas and as Father Christmas, the last is slowly becoming the most common. Images of him from that period show him as a man with a long beard dressed in green coat with fur trimmed.

In "Time's Telescope" (1822) one of the writers describes that in Yorkshire at eight o'clock in the evening on Christmas Eve the (Church) bells do greet "Old Father Christmas" with happy sounds, while the children parade through the streets with drums, trumpets, and bubbles, and while the yule candle is lit. Where Father Christmas in the Victorian time still was linked to drinking and dining events of adults. And came on foot or by donkey (sometimes as mount sometimes as pack-mule), is there early 1800 thus a merging going on with the more modern gifts bringing St Nicholas and parts of his traditions and folklore. The difference with Saint Nicholas who came on foot or riding on a horse, was that Father Cristmas came with a sleigh (sometimes pulled by horses, sometimes by reindeer, both as well as troika or Quadriga). At the beginning of the 20th century (1900s), Father Christmas was also become a figure who brought presents, just think of the story of Narnia in which he gave the 4 children their weapons. And in which story he marked the end of the winter. Which clearly shows that Father Christmas really is not the same as Jack Frost, King Winter and not even the same as Father Time. Despite that he did got the traditions of Saint Nicholas he did not became Saint Nicholas and so did, in a large part of the English culture St. Nicholas continue to exist as Christian Saint without the traditions of Saint Nicholas the 'Sinterklaas'. So in England you have Saint Nicholas the in the churches revered Holy man, who brings no gifts, and you have no tradition of Father Christmas who does bring gifts and who later became Santa Claus.

Père Noël, is just like Father Christmas and the Weihnachtsmanxn based partly on the Yuleman, and partly on the 'Spirit of Christmas'. By trade relations and marriages (in the wealthy families), there was an exchange of traditions between the European countries. And so were these three Figures simultaneously arisen from the same source, and where they in the beginning basically were the same, in time there were due to local (or national) superstitions and traditions still small differences between them. (At first they were the same, later they became more like brothers, you might say). So was the appearance of Père Noël largely molded like a Julenisse (Yule Nisse), a pagan Scandinavian Gnome/GNOME. From the Julenisse, Père Noël has the white beard, his Red Hat and its Nordic clothing. These Nisses were Gnomes whom in winter looked for housing by the people (hidden in stables and/or haylofts) and as a reward therefore often repaired things for the people, or did chores or made toys (Dolls, whistles etc) to the children. In turn the people rewarded the Nisses for that then with a dish with biscuits and a cup of milk because the Nisses do love that. (This is the origin of the American tradition that children some leave cookies and (chocolate)milk for Santa Claus.

Also the very first Weihnachtsmann (about 4th century) was thus based on the Yule-man. And also here you saw after the appearance of the stories about Sankt Nikolaus and the associated worship, a replacement by that same Sankt Nikolaus. And also here you saw so at the time of the reformation (around 1520, Luther) that the Protestants did return to the not Roman Weihnachtsmann. Luther rejected the cult of Saints, and for this reason its adherents also distance themselves of these practices and therefore refused to worship the Holy Nicholas. They went looking for a replacement and found the Weihnachtsmann, who does not braugth the children gifts on 6 december but on the evening of 24 December. Funny enough did this Protestant Weihnachtsmann sitll get something of his Yule-ancestor. For what does the Weihnachtsmann say if he comes to visit? "Von drausen, aus den Walder, da komme Ich her, Ich kann Euch sagen, es Weihnachtet sehr!". From afar, From the Woods, that's wher I do come from ('Von drausen, Aus den Walden da komme Ich her'), now that is logical for the guardian of nature, animals and forests such as the Forest King/Oak-King was/is.

In the eighteenth century, the German rulers tried to start a process of secularization, they made Christian symbols from old-Germanic symbols and figures and they did change 'non-Christian' events in Christian celebrations. It's the return of the little people, such as fairies, elves, goblins, and the old man Christmas (Weihnachtsmann) who with his sleigh did bring decorated Christmas trees and gifts. Here thus do appear for the first the decorated trees at the Christmas feast. And of course did Old Man Christmas need a Christian name and then one that was acceptable to everyone, for Roman as well as for Protestants. And so it was that somewhere in the 1700s that the Weihnachtsmann did get something of Sankt Nikolaus again, namely the name Nikolaus. So now you had there thus basically 3 in Germany: The Christkindle, Nikolaus the Weihnachtsmann and St. Nikolaus the Saint. And it could (and can) so happen that Nikolausthe Weihnachtsmann came accompanied by a little angel personifying the Christkindle.

The first visual representation of the German Weihnachtsmann is found in an image by Moritz von Schwind. He painted in 1847, an image of "Mr. Winter". It was a man with a long white beard, a hooded coat, a big bag and a tail. That tail, however, was to banish the winter and not to punish children. The Weihnachtsmann was sometimes aided by 'Wichtel'. The Scandinavian sagasstature of the Nisse was in Germany been taken over by the 'Wichtel'. The German custom of the Wichtels in the run-up to Weihnachtenn derived from that, Also the Custom in which they, anonym and through draw the names, gave each other gifts. They were each other's Wichtel so to speak. Also the Red Hat of these Nisse would have stand model for the hat from the Weihnachtsmann.

In Scandinavia he was barely celebrated, there the people held on to the Viking culture and so also to the Yule celebration with the Yule Man. In Finlandthere is the Joulepukki ("Yule Buck" or "Yule Goat") also known as the Julbocken or Christmas buck who plays a role at the Yule festival. Originally he did not bring gifts, but he did claim gifts insted, looming with the evil spirits who followed him. These evil spirits were horned and dressed in goatskins. Nowadays he does bring gifts. Joulupukki has a wife, joulumuori ("Christmas-wife", "Christmas-Granny"), about which little is known. In Norway in the old times, it was said that the Julebukk ("Yule buck" or "Yule goat") was the goat that pulled the chariot of the Thunder God Thor through heaven. Nowadays the Julebukk feast is turned into a festival with singing children dressed as Santa's elfs, who go from house to house singing in exchange for candy and other treats. Christmas gifts are now brought by the Julenisse ("Yule Goblin"), which is assisted by the Smånissen ("little Goblins"). In Sweden life the Yule Tomte ("Gnome"/goblins) beneath the floors of the houses or they live in the barns, where they then come forth with Christmas. From the large bag that they wear on their backs they take the gifts that they leave behind. In Danmark the Julemanden ("Yule Man") doe come in a sleigh pulled by one or more reindeer and he also wears a sack with gifts on his back. He is aided by the Juul Nisse ("Yule Goblins"), who live in the attics, and for whom the people drop porridge, rice pudding or milk outside.

In Russia there is Grandfather Frost (Ded Moroz), who along with his granddaughter snow white (or snowflake; Snegurochka) dispenses gifts on 31 december, and whose residence is in the woods near Veliky Ustyug (North-Russia).

Santa Claus begins its history in the USA 4 centuries ago. Just as the population of the United States of America itself is a great melting pot of various peoples and cultures, so was America's Santa Claus also a melting pot of the figures and their customs we discribed earlier on this page, where the Oak King and the Holly King, the Yulenisse, the Weihnachtsmann, Das Christkindle and Saint Nicolas were merged into a unit with two sides. So was America's Santa Claus both the rewarder and giftsbringer as well as the punisher and plagueghost, who left for the brave children gifts and left ash and lumps of coal for the naughty children. And that was it then? ... No, we're going to explain how this happend, and also how he did developed himself into the Cheerful Friendly Santa that does bring all children something.

It is a poem about (or from!!) "Santeclaus", who was dressed in furs and did ride in a sleigh pulled by a reindeerd. So here came some Scandinavian influence in the life of SanteClaus. When during an 1822 interview, William Gilley was questioned by New York's Troy Sentinel editor Orville L. Holley about who had written the booklet and who di come up with the topic of reindeer, Mr. Gilley did not identify the author, but he smiled and he said: "Dear Sir, the idea of Santeclaus was not mine nor was the idea of a reindeer." (see following full answer). This answer is later often wrongly quoted as; ""Dear Sir, the idea was not mine nor was it the idea of the reindeer." This was his full answer: "Dear Sir, the idea of Santeclaus was not mine nor was the idea of a reindeer. The author of the tale but submitted the piece, with little added information. However, it should be noted that he did mention the reindeer in a subsequent correspondence. He stated that far in the north near the Arctic lands a series of animals exist, these hooven and antlered animals resemble the reindeer and are feared and honored by those around, as you see he claims to have heard they could fly from his mother. His mother being an Indian of the area." The text of this poem and the Dutch translation by J.W. Koning are on this site on the page with the poem "tWas The Night Before Christmas".

The man who most contributed to the appearance of Santa Claus is Thomas Nast. He was born in Landau in the Palatinate (between Karlsruhe and Kaiserslautern) on 27 September 1840. On six-year-old age, he emigrated to America with his mother (his father followed 4 years later) and they went to live in New York in 1846. After his art study, Nast at the age of 15 years, got a job as an illustrator at Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper. When he was 19, he already worked at Harper's Weekly and later he traveled, commissioned for other publications, to Europe, and visited his native region in Germany then also again. Soon he was a well-known artist of political cartoons. For example, the U.S. very familiar icons: 'Uncle Sam', the 'Democratic donkey' and the 'Republican elephant' arew from his hand. Less known to the general public is (yet) how many Nast has contribute to the appearance of Santa Claus. From 1863 to 1890 the illustrator Thomas Nast made every year drawings of Santa for the Christmas editions of Harper's Magazine. Usually these were black and white drawings in which Nast Santa did draw to his memories of the Weihnachtmann from Germany and he added later the pipe and the thickness of Santa Claus and the reindeer from 'The Night before Christmas'. After 1890, Nast regularly made picturebooks containing many Christmas pictures and images of Santa Claus. On the right one of drawings of Nast's Santa from 1889.

Whhen later his Christmas picturebooks were republished with colors, Nast chose for a red dress for Santa Claus edged with white fur. Why just red and white is not known. That could be a reference to the Red robe and white albe from St Nicholas, but it is just as likely that he did just chose colors that both contrasted with green and yellow and also simultaneously did harmonised well with them. And it may even be that it was based on the traditional Yule colors.

In a nice little city called Santa Claus-ville,
With its houses and church at the foot of the hill
Lives jolly old Santa Claus; day after day
He works and he whistles the moments away.
en
With his dog standing near him, and spy-glass in hand,
He looks for good children all over the land.
His home through the long summer months, you must know,
Is near the North Pole, in the ice and the snow.

The image of this standard Santa Claus was used by the American graphic artist Haddon Sundblom and Cartonist, son of scandinavise immigrants, as a base when he in 1931 for the Coca-Cola Company had to draw a Santa Claus for a advertising campaign. For the looks of the face he used his friend and neighbor Lou Prentiss. After his friends death Sundblom would using a mirror to draw his own face. Until 1964, he draw every year at least one Santa Claus for the Coca-Cola-advertising and contributed in this way also to uniform (default) image of Santa Claus. That advertising was so successful that some people even believed that Coca Cola had invented (and owned) this standard form, something Coca Cola was also only too happy to let the people believe. There were even people who thought Santa Claus did belong to Coca Cola. Fortunately, Coca Cola admitted not so long ago on their own site finally that the looks and colors of Santa existed already a long time ago before their advertising campaign began and that they are not the boss and not the owners of Santa Claus. Undeniably it is true, that with these all years recurring global advertising actions of Coca Cola did contribute significantly to the worldwide acceptance of Santa Claus. And also today Coca Cola still has a Santa in their end-of-year commercials.

In 1939 Copywriter Robert L. May from the Montgomery Ward Company wrote a poem about Rudolph, the ninth reindeer. May was as a child often scolded for "shy, small and thin". He invented a emitted reindeer with a shiny red nuis who was a hero on a foggy Christmas Eve. Santa was partly finished bringing gifts when the sight was less and less. Santa added reindeer Rudolph to his team to help to light the path. A copy of the poem was given free to every customer of the Montgomery Ward Company. In 1949 Johnny Marks wrote the song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Rudolph was moved to the North Pole where in the beginning he was refused by the other reindeer to participate in their reindeer games because his weird looking nose. The song was released on record by the famous singer Gene Autry and became his best-selling song ever. In addition to "White Christmas" it is now the most popular Christmas song.

So as we now know, very many people have helped to make Santa to the Santa as we know him today. A bearded man with a light belly, long red fur-lined cloak with hood, mid-long coat edged with white fur, black belt, red pointed Cap (slack folded point with fur ball to the point) with white fur, red trousers, copper handbell and black boots with white fur lined. It is a cheerful friendly man who has an open ear and attention to the needs of children. In the hope that Santa will give gifts when he does visite the children, They on their turn leave him cookies (no oatmeal) and milk and there even is sometimes a carrot for Rudolph. Santa in return puts the presents than under the Christmas tree and/or stops them in the socks that hang in front of the fireplace.