Why does Santa Claus wear red? The history behind his suit

’Tis the season to be jolly… Christmas is here and what is the festival without Santa Claus? With his red suit, big belly and jolly beard, Santa Claus has become synonymous with the festival for years and years.

But why is it that Santa wears red and white? How did ‘Father Christmas’ come to be associated with the red velvet suit, white fur trim, tall black boots and cosy pom-pom hat? And has he always worn red?

We time travel to explain how Santa Claus ended up looking the way he does now.

Where did Santa Claus come from?

Santa Claus has evolved from Saint Nicholas, a Greek monk who spent his life helping the poor, vulnerable and sick. History.com reports that the monk gave away his wealth and travelled the countryside of what is today’s Turkey.

His generosity became so famous that December 6 — the day he died — became a holiday known as Nicholas’ Feast Day on which people held parades and exchanged gifts and indulged in family meals.

Eventually, the tales of Saint Nicholas reached American shores. However, with a twist. Instead of being known as Sinter Klass — the Dutch nickname, he became known as Santa Claus.

A few images of him at the time showed him donning robes. For instance, John Pintard of the New York Historical Society depicted him wearing bishop’s robes while Washington Irving created the image of the saint “equipped with a low, broad-brimmed hat, a huge pair of Flemish trunk-hose, and a pipe,” according to Christmas: A Candid History by Bruce David Forbes.

In fact, the 1823 poem by Clement Clarke Moore titled A Visit from St. Nicholas (also known as ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas) provided the most visual description of Santa.

“He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.”

“His eyes — how they twinkled! His dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!”

“He had a broad face and a little round belly, that shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly. He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf.”

Where did Santa’s red suit come from?

It is said if Washington Irving gave us the modern-day image of Santa Claus, then Thomas Nast, the Harper’s Weekly cartoonist, put Santa in his red robes. In his illustration in 1863, he drew Santa wearing stars and stripes as he handed out presents to Union Army soldiers.

However, in 1881, he redrew Santa Claus, this time putting him in a red buckled suit and carrying a black sack of toys. It remains a mystery as to why Nast chose red. Some suggest that there’s a link to the original St. Nicholas, who was often described to be wearing red. Others believe that Nast’s red Santa was just an aesthetic feeling.

Interestingly, the Smithsonian reports that Nast’s imagery of Santa Claus was steeped in propaganda. Ryan Hyman, a curator at the Macculloch Hall Historical Museum, told the Smithsonian that it was more propaganda related to the government’s indecisiveness over paying higher wages to members of the military. “On his back isn’t a sack full of toys — it’s actually an army backpack from enlisted men.” He’s holding a dress sword and belt buckle to represent the Army, whereas the toy horse is a callback to the Trojan horse, symbolising the treachery of the government. A pocket watch showing a time of ten ’til midnight indicates the United States Senate has little time left to give fair wages to the men of the Army and Navy.

“Nast was always pro-military,” Hyman is quoted as saying. “The military was up for getting a raise and he knew how hard they worked and how they helped shape the country.”

Subsequent depictions of Santa then followed Nast’s trend and kept him in red and in the years to come all Santas became a vision in red.

What’s the Coca-Cola and Santa link?

What made Santa Claus a red-robed character can be attributed, however, to Coca-Cola — the beverage known across the world. In 1923, Coca-Cola first commissioned an illustration of Santa from an unnamed artist in 1923 to advertise its soda.

However, in 1931, the American company behind the drink commissioned artist Haddon Sundblom, who painted the figure in his iconic red suit we see today. And Sundblom carried on with this image until the mid-1960s, showing Santa swigging one Coca-Cola after another while being dressed in red.

Historian Gerry Bowler, author of Santa Claus: A Biography, told CNN, “I think most people (believe) that Coke had something to do with the establishment of Santa’s red and white costume… you certainly see that all over the internet. But it’s not true. Santa’s iconic costume had been (determined) decades before.”

And it seems that Santa Claus isn’t looking at a wardrobe makeover any time soon. As Steve Wilkens, theology and ethics professor at Azusa Pacific University in California, told USA Today, “We’ve got about 100 years now and Santa looks pretty much like the old 1931 Coca-Cola Santa.”

With inputs from agencies