The story of Santa Claus

Brut India

How did this man in a red suit and white beard become the poster boy for Christmas, and how did he sleigh his way to India?

Transcript

00:00Every child believes in him.

00:08He makes Christmas merrier by bringing gifts every year.

00:12Well, well, well.

00:13Say hello to Santa Claus, or as the legend has it, Saint Nicholas.

00:22Legend has it that Saint Nicholas was a Christian bishop born into an affluent family during

00:27the 3rd century in modern day Turkey.

00:29It is said that he was an ardent follower of Jesus Christ and used the money left behind

00:35by his parents to help those who needed it the most.

00:39For this noble gesture, he is remembered as the patron saint of sailors, children and

00:44prostitutes.

00:46After his death, Saint Nicholas Day was celebrated on 6th December as a day of gift-giving across

00:52Europe.

00:54In the 18th century, Dutch families who moved to the U.S. introduced Saint Nicholas Day

00:58to America.

01:00The Dutch would refer to Saint Nicholas as Sinterklaas.

01:03And over the years, the name got a makeover and turned into the Santa Claus we all know.

01:09Legend has it that Saint Nicholas inspired the famous Christmas tradition of stuffing

01:14stockings with gifts.

01:16He was known to have dropped some gold in a poor man's house who didn't have money

01:20to marry off his three daughters.

01:22According to folklore, Santa got connected with Christmas in 1821, when an illustrated

01:28poem titled The Children's Friend showed Santa in a sleigh pulled by reindeers.

01:34Historian and author of Santa Claus, A Biography, Jerry Bowler noted that the poet connected

01:39Saint Nicholas' hobby of bringing gifts with Christmas.

01:43In 1822, another poem, called A Visit from Saint Nicholas by Clement Clarke Moore, presented

01:49Santa as the red-suit-wearing, chubby and jovial figure who brought gifts to well-behaved

01:55children.

01:56Years later, the red-suit-wearing Santa appeared for the first time in a Thanksgiving Day parade

02:01in New York in 1924.

02:04Over time, Santa started showing up in different countries, even in India.

02:11And guess what?

02:12Indians not only had their own Santa with actor Sanjeev Kumar in 1974 film Shandar,

02:19but also had a desi version of Jingle Bells to jingle all the way.

02:28In the late 1990s, Santa made an unexpected appearance in one of the episodes of popular

02:34TV serial Shaktimaan.

02:37But here, Santa took on an unconventional role.

02:40He wasn't a jolly old man, but a villain.

02:44Unlike this in Channel B's Santa Banta sketches, Santa clad in a red suit and cap made jokes

02:49in Punjabi and made people laugh in 2008.

02:57As years passed, it became a common tradition for people to don the Santa costume for Christmas

03:02events and you could find Santa face masks everywhere you looked.

03:11But sometimes, Santa in India faced resentment from a few.

03:16In 2021, effigies of Santa Claus were burnt on Christmas Eve, allegedly by some Hindu

03:22right-wing outfits in Uttar Pradesh's Agra.

03:25They accused the mythical figure of being involved in a plan by Christian missionaries

03:29to convert people.

03:31The next year, people dressed up as Santa were beaten up, allegedly by members of a

03:35Hindu organisation in Gujarat's Ahmedabad after they accused them of luring people

03:41into religious conversion.

03:44Some were against him, while others adored him.

03:47But Christmas just wasn't the same without this jolly fellow in his red coat and white

03:52beard.

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