Nyssa Gate City Journal
66th Year, 51»t Issue
SECOND SECTION
Thundarcgg Capital
Santa’s White Beard, Red Suit
Come from Cartoonist
Many years ago a pilgrim
monk, Brother Froilan,
came to live in the wilder
ness With him he brought
an old rug for protection
against the elements, some
packets of healing herbs
and seeds for growing.
Around his waist hung his
crucifix, and a short-bladed
Damascan sword
His neighbors were the
remnants of the Germanic
tribes, all pagans, believing
in gods of wood, stone ar.d
sacrifice
With one of the few gold
pieces he had brought he
purchased a small gray
donkey, which became his
companion and friend, as
well as his beast of burden
This was his only friend
among the hostile families
nearby with whom he could
not communicate by the
spoken word.
Only the children treated
him kindly. They loved to
watch him sit by the fire,
take his knife and carve
some small animal which
they knew — a goat, a calf,
a sheep, even a wolf or fox.
traditional enemies
lighted, shared their joy
with their elders
After a while they too
came to sit and watch the
"strange” monk with his
"strange" stories to tell.
As the months went by, Even in the rain they came
the older pedple began to He was weaving the threads
trust him; they began to of truth
share language, and he read
The children made a
to them the story of Christ
small
spread for the tiny
mas and some of the teach
ings of Jesus from the bre Jesus figure The older peo
viary he carried at all ple brought offerings of
times Even in Latin the food to the monk for his
stories had a rhythm and evening meal.
cadence they could enjoy
Brother Froilan was
But the monk knew that the
deeply
grateful to the heav
tribesmen did not really
identify with the meaning enly Father for showing
of his stories The children him a way to these people s
seemed to be the only hu hearts . . and perhaps to
mans who warmed to his a better way of life, through
Christmas.
spirit
Brother Froilan pondered
how he could reach the
minds and souls of the older
folk Out of a quiet mind he
summoned what might be
the answer through the
wooden figures he made —
things these people could
see. touch, feel
The little animals he
carved represented that
first Christmas Perhaps he
could also carve angels,
shepherds, kings from the
East
. . perchance even
the Holy Family' Then he
could indeed bring a Christ
mas to his neighbors which
they could truly take to
their hearts
Thus the monk began
fashioning the other figures
of the first Christmas, and
he told the story to the
children as he carved the
figures The children, de
Who gave Santa his red
suit. broad girth, white beard,
ruddy cheeks and nose fur-
trimmed hat and coal'’
Surprisingly enough, the
donor was a political car-
toonist.
The artist's name WHS
Thomas Nast. cartoonist for
Harper's illustrated Weekly.
who also created the now-
tamous symbols of the Re
publican elephant and the
Democratic donkey
The figure of Santa that
Nast drew in 1863, and per
haps earlier, has proved to be
the definitive one. and even
today the figure as drawn by
Nast appears occasionally on
Christmas greetings.
"Nast's image of Santa was
extraordinary." says Mrs.
Jeannette Lee, director of
design at Hallmark.
"He gave Santa many of
the qualities that have en
deared him to children ever
since, and we wouldn't dream
of tampering very much with
them today."
Nast first credited Santa
with keeping books on good
and bad children, having a
Christmas toy workshop and
reading letters sent to him
by children.
Perhaps it was the now- in and about those larger
famous poem, "A Visit from presents that could not be
St Nicholas." by Dr Clement crowded Into the row of
Clarke Moore, that inspired stockings that hung by the
Nast's illustration of Santa family fireplace
In this children's classic of
"It was a time of splendor
1823 the right Jolly old elf. and rejoicing — the festive
who looked like a peddler blossoming of the winter sea
with a pack on his back, was son — and it was a beautiful
and sturdy family that made
first described in print
Nast followed Dr Moore's Merry Christmas riot in the
description of Santa in sev spacious New York home ."
In Nast's day. the idea of
eral particulars, but many of
some sort of Santa was not
his concepts were original
At the time of Nast's Santa new to this country He was
Claus drawings the nation introduced to North America
was at Civil War. and fam by the early Dutch settlers
ilies were separated. In a and his name was St Nicho
note to cheer both soldiers las The annual visit of this
and their waiting families kind man, who was thought
Nast drew "Santa Claus in to have been a fourth-cen-
Camp." for Harper's Weekly.
This earliest Santa was
different from any artist's
creations up till then. He was
shown wearing stars and
stripes of the Union and dis
tributing gifts to soldiers.
Actually, this Santa might
have been meant as a repre
sentation of Uncle Sam also
A later, equally moving
Nast Illustration featured a
soldier's Christmas home-
coming
Born in 1840 in the tiny
hamlet of Landau, Bavaria,
Nast probably pictured Santa
as the long-imagined Saint
Nicholas of his childhood
Albert Bigelow Paine, a
friend and admirer of Nast,
said the artist often revealed
to him his love of the Santa
illustrations. He later wrote
in his biography of the car
toonist :
"His own childhood in far-
off Bavaria has been meas
ured by the yearly visits of
... St. Nicholas .
and the
girlhood of the woman who
was to become his wife
< Sarah Edwards of New York i
was intimately associated
with brilliant and joyous
celebrations.
"Nast’s children later re
called there was always a
multitude of paper dolls —
marvelously big and elabo
rate, a race long since be
come extinct.
"And these the artistic
father — more than half a
child himself at the Christ
mas season — arranged in
processions and cavalcades,
gay pageants that marched
tury bishop, was his feast
day. December 6th
By 1809. Washington Irving
was describing Santa as a
small Dutch citizen who
looked much like Father
Knickerbocker Irving won
dered how the poor
.
old man
could get to all the homes
in a growing America on his
horse, so he invented the fa
mous reindeer-drawn sleigh
/