What year did Santa appear. How and how much Santa Claus earns according to Forbes. Who is Santa Claus
The main character of Christmas is, of course, Santa Claus or Christmas grandfather. Santa Claus, whom we know today, combines many legends and stories that have undergone some changes over time. The legend of him leads us into ancient times, to the King Holly. He sat on a goat with a cup in hand and symbolized abundance.
Since the 17th century, he is first referred to as a "Christmas elf" with a large nose and white beard, as well as a red cap on his head. He went down through the chimney when everyone in the house was asleep, and presented obedient children with gifts.
The appearance of the name Santa Claus is also associated with a pagan character - Old Nick (nick - "spirit"), who annually commit various tricks, in a mockery of people. And in early Christianity, the image of the Christmas elf was associated with Saint Nicholas, bishop of the 9th century. Later, the Christmas elf, Old Nick and Saint Nicholas united, taking on the appearance of Santa Claus.
Later, Nicholas was canonized and now in the Christian world he is known as Saint Nicholas the Pleasure. In the Orthodox Church, Saint Nicholas is considered the patron saint of travelers. The Roman Catholic Church honors Saint Nicholas as a saint who helps children and the poor. Saint Nicholas became the main saint who is prayed for for children. December 6 is the name day of St. Nicholas.
However, Santa Claus is not his only, although his most common name. In Germany he is Santa Nikolaus (Saint Nicholas), in Finland - Iolupukka, in Italy - Babbo Natale, in France - Per Noel, in Norway - Yuletomte, in Russia - Santa Claus, etc. But he has only one mission - to give children gifts for Christmas.
Companions of Santa Claus
At first, Santa moved on foot, and was accompanied by one elf assistant, dressed in green clothes and a cap. Then, in the 19th century, the writer and poet K. Moore took care of the problem of their transport and invented a magic sleigh pulled by white reindeer. Later, the number of Santa's elf assistants increased, they help Santa manage gifts and are certainly dressed in red caps that they inherited from their predecessor.
Stockings over the fireplace
According to legend, Santa Claus flies on Christmas night in his magic sleigh over sleeping cities and, going down through the chimney into the houses, leaves gifts for children in stockings, socks or shoes, which they specially leave under the tree or hang over the fireplace.
This symbol was also introduced into everyday life by K. Moore, in the poem "The Night Before Christmas". But there is another story about this custom.
One day a family was preparing to celebrate Christmas. But they were so poor that they could not afford to buy a tree under which Santa could put his gifts. And the sad children went to bed, not hoping for gifts, but in the morning they still found them in stockings hung by the fireplace to dry. The children were very happy, and the custom of hanging socks over the fireplace has remained to this day.
Children always wanted to know where he comes from and where he spends the whole year from Christmas to Christmas and where he gets gifts. These questions gave rise to the legend that Santa lives at the North Pole, where his gift warehouse is located.
But in 1925 there was still no reindeer pasture at the North Pole and newspapers reported that Santa Claus actually lived in Finnish Lapland. "Uncle Markus", Markus Rautio, who hosted the most popular program "Children's Hour" on the Finnish state radio, discovered a great secret in 1927: Santa Claus lives in Lapland's corvatantura - "Ear Hill"
The hill right on the east coast of Finland resembles a rabbit's ears, but is actually the ear of Santa Claus, with which he listens to children from all over the world. Santa has assistants, a group of elves who have their own history in Scandinavian legends.
Since 2005, the official birthday of the Russian Santa Claus celebrated on November 18th. This date was not chosen by chance: it is believed that on this day in the homeland of Santa Claus - in Veliky Ustyug - frosts come and winter comes. At the same time, the age of the old man is not exactly known, moreover, there are several versions of the birth of this character.
The prototype of Santa Claus is considered to be a Slavic deity: the lord of cold and frost. The image of this spirit is reflected in Slavic fairy tale folklore, where it is referred to as Frost, Studenets, Treskunets, Frost, Zyuzya... The Slavic peoples imagined this deity in the form of an old man with a long gray beard, who runs through the fields and causes crackling frosts with a thud. If we consider that Slavic mythology was formed in the process of separating the ancient Slavs from the Indo-European community of peoples in the II-I millennium BC. e., then the age of Santa Claus may exceed 2000 years.
However, Santa Claus, known to us, is not only the lord of winter and frost, but also a kind old man who brings gifts to children. A similar image is shown in the fairy tale "Moroz Ivanovich" Vladimir Odoevsky 1840, in which for the first time a literary treatment of folklore and ritual Frost is given. Moroz Ivanovich is described as a gray-haired old man who lives in an ice house and sleeps on a featherbed made of snow. He covers the winter shoots with snow, as if he shakes his head - frost falls from his hair. If we take into account the inclusion of the image of Santa Claus in the literary tradition, then his age is a little less than 180 years.
Author of works on the history of Santa Claus in Russia, philologist Elena Dushechkina writes that the image of Frost, created by Odoevsky, is still far from the character we are familiar with. According to her, it finally took shape only by the beginning of the twentieth century, when, in addition to a verbal description, it acquired a recognizable visual form. By this time, the figure of an old man in a fur coat and with a bag in his hands had become a popular Christmas tree toy, as well as a doll in advertising windows, in the shape of the face of Santa Claus, they began to make carnival masks. Only in the 1910s did people disguised as Santa Claus begin to appear at children's parties. If we take into account the time of the appearance of the familiar image of Santa Claus, then the character is a little over 100 years old.
Philologist Svetlana Adonyeva in his study of the history of the New Year's tradition, notes that Santa Claus, as an obligatory character on the New Year's holiday, appeared only in the pre-war years. This image arose under the Soviet regime, which by the end of the thirties, after several years of banning, again allowed trees. Thus, Santa Claus as an attribute of the New Year holiday has existed for about 80 years.
How old is Santa Claus?
Age determination Santa claus causes less difficulties than in the case of Santa Claus. Considering that the prototype of Santa is St Nicholas he is Nicholas the Wonderworker, then the date of birth of the saint is taken as the date of birth of the character: 270 AD. e. Thus, Santa Claus is 1747 years old.
The date is also known when Santa Claus became the hero of a literary work. This happened in 1823, when the Christmas poem "Recording the Visit of St. Nicholas" was published in New York. Its author, writer Clement Clarke Moore, wrote a poem for his three daughters, in which he told about a cheerful old elf who travels in a reindeer sleigh and brings gifts to children, entering the house through the chimney.
The image of Santa Claus entered popular culture after the American cartoonist Thomas Nast created an illustration of this character for Harper's Weekly. On January 3, 1863, this magazine featured an image of a bearded old man wearing a suit painted in the colors of the American flag. It was a political cartoon that reflected the events of the Civil War. Santa Claus in his traditional costume and holding a bag of toys can be seen in later illustrations by Nast from the 1880s.
In the early 1890s, homeless people dressed as Santa Claus began to appear on the streets of New York, collecting donations. The money was used by the Salvation Army to pay for free Christmas meals for families in need.
So which of the characters is older?
Given that the exact date of the appearance of the prototype of Santa Claus is unknown, we cannot compare his age with the age of Santa Claus. As for literary images, the description of Santa Claus, who is close to the modern day, was given a little earlier than the familiar Santa Claus. The visual image of the old donor was also first seen by the Americans, and then by the residents of Russia.
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The prototype of Santa Claus was Saint Nicholas, who was born in the 3rd century in the city of Patara (Asia Minor, Lycia)
from very wealthy parents. Saint Nicholas is one of the most revered Christian saints.
This honor fell to him for his great kindness to people and for the many miracles he performed. He later became bishop
in the city of Mira (now Demre, a small town not far from Phenicia), therefore it received the name
Mirlician. They even erected a monument to him in this town. In some countries it is said that
Saint Nicholas threw wallets stuffed with gold into the houses of the poor, and many believe that
the saint threw purses through the chimney, and they fell into the shoes, which were left to dry by the hearth.
Therefore, in many Western European countries, New Year's gifts are accepted today, especially for children,
hide in boots, slippers, or slippers. European settlers who settled in America in
VII and XVIII centuries, they brought with them the legends about St. Nicholas. One of the first churches built
in what was then New York, there was Sinter Klaas or Sint Nicholas, later called "Santa Claus".
Where was Santa Claus born
The modern image of a good-natured fat Santa Claus appeared in the United States relatively
recently, on Christmas Day 1822. It was then that Clement Clarke Moore wrote the poem "The Coming of a Saint
Nicholas ", in which the Saint appeared as a cheerful and cheerful elf with a round tight
with a belly, indicating an addiction to delicious food, and with a smoking pipe. IN
As a result of the reincarnation, Saint Nicholas got off the donkey, acquired eight deer and in his hands
a bag of gifts appeared.
Where does Santa Claus live
Many northern countries are still arguing about where Santa Claus lives. Some believe that he lives
at the North Pole, others - that he settled in the town of Rovaniemi in northern Finland.
In modern Finland, there is even a special service for answering on behalf of Santa Claus,
and this is understandable, tk. on average, in December, up to 80 thousand letters from children of different
countries with requests and wishes.
English Santa Claus comes from the nickname Sinterklaas (from the word "ash") of St. Nicholas
(in the Orthodox tradition of Nicholas the Pleasant) the first Dutch settlers in America.
He was considered the patron saint of sailors and children, for whom he prepared gifts all year, and at Christmas
carried them overnight and left them in stockings prepared for gifts. True, it began to be considered so
later, and for the Dutch Sinterklaas was, rather, a harsh educator, for he poured ash into the stockings of those
children who misbehaved.
The protagonist of Christmas has gained particular popularity
after the American professor of Greek and Oriental literature Clement Clarke Moore in
1822 wrote a poem for his children for the holiday about St. Nicholas, who appears
on Christmas Eve, when even mice fall asleep, and descends the chimney with a bag,
full of gifts to leave them to the children. In a fur coat, with a white beard and a red nose, he drives
team of eight deer, and you can recognize its approach by the creak of the runners and the melodic
the ringing of bells tied to reindeer necks.
The poem quickly sold out and became popular, which offended the professor somewhat,
as he was very serious and did not approve of the fun that the celebration of Christmas had become.
And forty years later, the cartoonist Thomas Nast drew Santa Claus, and the image acquired
perfection: red fur coat and headdress, wide leather belt and sparkling black boots.
Russian Santa Claus looks a little different, and his story goes back to Morozko from Slavic folklore.
If Santa Claus looks more like a dwarf, then Santa Claus is a giant, a hero who goes around on patrol
his possessions, freezing rivers and lakes, and at the same time giving gifts to children. Its minus is often
asks to do something for himself. Not because of greed - just the soul asks. But for the voiceless
legless, suffering from sclerosis, everything pays off by the fact that our Grandfather has a Snow Maiden - she not only gives gifts, but can also kiss.
The Americanized Santa Claus was detailed by illustrator Thomas
Infusion in the magazine "Harper" s "in the years 1860-1880. Nast added attributes such as the northern
pole and list of good and bad children.
The Christian saint, deprived of a halo, was dressed in all kinds of multi-colored sheepskin coats,
until in 1931 the well-known Coca Cola company launched its new advertising campaign, the main
whose character was chosen by Santa Claus. Artist Haddon Sandblom painted a good-natured
a white-bearded old man dressed in red and white clothes with a bottle of carbonated drink
in hand. And so the familiar modern image of Santa Claus was born.
In 1939, Rudolph appeared - the ninth deer with a large shiny red nose.
Thus, Santa Claus, a fat, cheerful old man who delivers gifts, has become an integral part of
part of the celebration of Christmas around the world. He must have a white beard, a red jacket,
pants and a hat with white fur trim. He rides with reindeer
sleigh filled to the brim with gifts. He enters houses through the chimney and leaves gifts under the tree.
or in a special sock, but only for obedient children.
Today, many Americans believe that the modern image of Santa Claus was
dressed in a red and white suit, and these colors are the corporate colors of the Coca-Cola company, and
"Santa Claus also drinks Coca-Cola" only in 1931. Except for a bottle of Coca-Cola, nothing new in
The Coca-Cola Company did not bring in the image of Santa Claus. She only popularized him thanks to her
from the history of dates
In 1822, another New Yorker, Clement Clarke Moore, wrote the series
tales, where he described that Santa Claus arrives on eight reindeer. Clement Clarke Moore
also came up with a way to get Santa Claus into the house - through the chimney.
In 1841 in Philadelphia a certain merchant Parkinson to attract to a store
clients hired a man and dressed him up as Santa Claus. The first live Santa Claus sat
on the roof of the house where the store was located, next to the chimney.
In 1863, cartoonist Thomas Nast portrayed Santa Claus with huge sideburns and
dressed in fur from head to toe.
In 1869, poems by Georges Webster were published, where the North Pole was indicated as the dwelling of Santa Claus.
Publisher Louis Prang spreads the English tradition in America to send to friends and family
for Christmas greeting cards. In 1885, he issued a greeting card on which
was drawn by Santa Claus in a red suit. Since then, Santa Claus has been increasingly drawn in
red robes, not furs or robes of any other color.
This is how the New York Times describes Santa Claus, dated 1927
year: "Before the young people of New York appeared Santa Claus: huge growth,
in a red robe, a hat and white sideburns, a bag full of gifts,
It seems that the good old Santa Claus, who gives gifts to good children and fulfills their wishes, has existed since ancient times.
In fact, this is not entirely true - the progenitor of this fairy-tale character really existed in antiquity, but Santa Claus, known to us in his current form, was "born" by the standards of historical science recently - no more than 200 years ago.
The good grandfather swam the ocean twice before he became famous all over the world. The real prototype of Santa Claus is Saint Nicholas, a real character who lived in Asia Minor during the time of Rome and who later became the archbishop of the city of Myra in Lycia in the Roman province of Lycia.
Originally from a family of wealthy Christians, Nicholas devoted himself entirely to serving God and gave his inheritance to the church. In the Orthodox tradition, he is considered Nicholas the Wonderworker, the patron saint of travelers and sailors, a benefactor who gives gifts to children.
We know him well for the feast of St. Nicholas on December 19, when obedient children find gifts from St. Nicholas under their pillows.
In Catholicism, a legend is spread about three non-dowry sisters who could not get married because of poverty and the only way for them was to go to the den - to be sold for money. Saint Nicholas learned of this situation and secretly threw a bag of gold coins to the two older sisters.
Their father found out about this and decided to track down the donor. The saint learned about the insidious plan and threw a bag of money into the chimney. The bundle landed safely in the youngest daughter's stocking, which was drying by the fire. It was this episode that formed the traditional idea of Santa Claus bringing gifts through the chimney on Christmas night and hiding from people.
This legend was very popular in the Netherlands and, together with the Dutch settlers, crossed the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. Founded by emigrants from Holland, New Amsterdam after a while became New York, and the kind grandfather from the fairy tales of the Old World took root in another society and has already acquired fresh legends and myths.
This is especially interesting for the reason that Puritan New England did not celebrate Christmas at all as such. The legends about Santa Claus existed in the form of oral tradition and were passed on as the population mixed from the descendants of the Dutch to all new emigrants.
Only at the beginning of the X | X century, in 1809, a written mention of this character appeared.
American writer Washington Irving (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip van Winkle), now considered the father of American literature, wrote A History of New York, where he spoke of the veneration of Santa Claus during the existence of New Amsterdam. With this, he marked the beginning of the popularity of this character.
The baton was picked up by Clement Moore, who wrote a poem about Santa Claus, and then the artist Thomas Nast portrayed him for the first time as we are used to seeing him today. It is believed that Nast portrayed himself in the guise of Santa - a cheerful, plump elderly man with a thick beard and a magnificent mustache.
The final look Santa Claus received in 1931 under the brush of Haddon Sandblom - it was a red suit and a cap with white fur edging. It was in this guise that the good miracle worker crossed the Atlantic for the second time and returned to Europe in order to finally take possession of the entire planet.
The popularity of this hero among the general population began to be actively exploited in their advertising campaigns by various trading enterprises.
On Christmas ads for Coca-Cola, Santa still delivers drinks and gifts around the world, no longer on reindeer, but on a large wagon. Deer, elves and other supporting characters are always present in the stories about Santa, helping him in all his good deeds.
It is very difficult to unequivocally answer the question "Who is Santa Claus", because many peoples have their own analogue of a kind grandfather who brings gifts to obedient and well-mannered children in winter and lives somewhere far away on the North Pole.
For the French, this is Per Noel, for the Russians, Santa Claus, and for the Finns, Joulupukki. All these characters have common features - they appear in winter, live somewhere far away at the end of the world, are not young, plump and very kind.
It doesn't matter what his name is - Santa or Santa Claus, what is more important is that joy, fun and hope for a happy future comes to the house with him.
Every year Santa Claus comes to millions of children around the world and gives them gifts. How much does it cost? Where does he get this money from? Senior Lecturer at the Higher School of Economics and Project Manager Danil Fedorovykh specially for Sravn.ru figured out how the financial life of Santa Claus works.
How much does Santa Claus make a year?
This is difficult to assess, given that the sources of income are not reliably known. Forbes magazine in 2005 Santa Claus is on the list of 15 richest fictional celebrities, assessing his fortune to infinity. The following year, however, Forbes was forced to Santa from the rating, taking into account a lot of evidence that he is real.
How much does he spend?
According to , in the world there are almost 2 billion children from 0 to 14 years old. If we assume that Santa Claus visits about half of them (that is, they live in those countries where visiting Santa Claus is mandatory, and also behave well during the previous year), then it turns out that Santa needs to be given about a billion gifts. According to some estimates, the average cost of a Christmas gift in the United States is roughly $ 40. If we take this figure as a basis, it turns out that the total value of gifts that Santa gives is $ 80 billion, which is approximately equal to and.
A lot of money is spent on delivering gifts around the world. If we assume that gifts weigh an average of 500 grams, then the total weight of gifts is about a million tons. It is difficult to say how much cargo a carriage pulled by magic deer can carry, but if Santa Claus had used Airbus A380F planes (one of the largest cargo planes in the world) instead, they would have needed at least 6,000. Each such aircraft is worth more than $ 400 million, which means that Santa's entire fleet could be worth more than $ 2 trillion (not including fuel). Reindeer may be cheaper than airplanes, though.
The spending of the Russian Santa Claus is more modest. Confectionery Market Research Center that the average cost of a sweet gift for the New Year in Russia is 524 rubles. There are about 25 million children in Russia, so a little more than 13 billion rubles will be spent on gifts for all of them. This amount is comparable to how much Moscow spent on the replacement of curbs or on the arrangement of the Zaryadye park.
Where does Santa get the money?
There is no exact data on how Santa Claus makes money, but it would be strange if Santa did not try to get a commission from everyone who uses his image for their own purposes. According to , fake Santa's who work in shopping malls on Christmas week make $ 35 to $ 50 an hour, and Santa's salary at elite Russian oligarch parties can go up to $ 1,000 a night. The real Santa is too busy to be involved in this, so he is probably selling the franchise, receiving a salary from everyone who wants to be like him.
At the same time, it is interesting that Santa has no competitors: the market for delivering New Year's gifts to children is quite clearly divided among several magical grandfathers in different countries, and they rarely try to seize other people's shares. Perhaps there is a conspiracy between them, which could be of interest to the antimonopoly service of the North Pole.
It is possible that Santa is secretly selling some of the gifts made by the magical elves to pay for his expenses. Of course, in order not to be revealed, he can only do this through online stores. Who knows - maybe it's Santa who is behind Amazon.com? The success of the Amazon is difficult to explain with anything other than the use of the labor of magical elves (more on that below). It is also possible that Santa Claus is behind Yandex.Market.
Plus, Santa Claus is the world's most expensive personal brand. Brand Finance Agency the $ 1.6 trillion Santa brand, 18 times the Apple brand.
Can you call him a budget worker?
Santa Claus doesn't seem to be subordinate to anyone, so he is most likely an entrepreneur, and a very successful one: billions of people around the world have been loyal to his brand for a very long time. On the other hand, given his occupation, Santa can be called a social entrepreneur - at least, corporate social responsibility is definitely present in his factory.
By the way, what about the elves? Are they getting paid?
Exists theories about the conditions under which Santa's magical elves work. Considering the number of gifts, these conditions can be monstrous: long work shifts, short breaks, a strict boss. Do not forget that it is very cold at the North Pole, and the night lasts six months, and there is also no state and courts to which the elves could turn in case of violation of their rights by Santa. It is not known if Santa pays any salary at all, but he certainly provides the elves with a place to sleep and food. It is also unknown if the elves can quit and leave the magic factory (or at least go on vacation), or if they are in the position of slaves there. The latter option seems unlikely: it's hard to imagine that Santa, who spends his life making children around the world happy, could enslave these funny creatures. Most likely, elves do not leave the North Pole just because they enjoy their work.
