Who is Santa Claus? A Turkish Pope
When the artist Haddon Sundblom, first depicted a red velvety Santa for Coca-Cola® ads in the USA between 1931 and 1965, the world copied the image and the world now pictures him in red. In England we call Santa, Father Christmas – he replaced an old god worshipped during the Winter Solstice – probably The Green Man who lived in an oak tree. So the slimmer Father Christmas used to wear green. Mostly Santus Nicolaus was pictured wearing blue so in The Netherlands it is not unusual to find blue Santas.
SNIPS & SNAPS 
A great bit of history – thank you.
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Thanks for sharing this….I never knew😊 till now. I always thought Santa wore red ha ha! Thanks to Coca Cola 😉
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The green Santa is slightly scary, but that might be because I think green men in general are slightly scary.
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I love the jewel-like tones of the three Santas. They remind me of the cellophane windows we used to make as kids — so vibrant and “holiday-ish.” I have a friend who’s using lavendar and white for her “Christmas colors” this year. When it comes to holidays, I’ll let the fashionistas do their think, and stick with tradition.
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Yes I love tradition
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Goodness gracious! You’d think I’ve gotten into the holiday schnapps already. Never mind all those typos!
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I am not a pedant – I never worry about typos on comments so long as they make sense.
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I know — but I do! Typos and such feel to me like going out in public with my slip showing (although, now that I think about it, it’s been a good while since I’ve had that worry!)
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Thank you, South.
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I knew about the appropriation of Saint Nicholas by Coke but I didn’t know about “The Green Man”. I think I’ll use that this Christmas in Ottawa where it looks like it might be green again this year.
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Yes give him a Google!
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The first one is the best! A twinkly Claus how I imagined him as a child !
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Yes… He must be the real Father Christmas
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Never knew that about Father Christmas replacing the Green Man but it seems obvious when you think about it. I can see me throwing in that little nugget at the Christmas dinner table, haha
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Or you can go one more: Statues of the Virgin Mary and Infant Jesus replaced those of the Goddess Isis and her son Horace in Egypt. And Horace was born on 25th December!
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Cunning these early Christians!
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Ha Ha!
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