You Better Watch Out!
Continuing this week’s theme is a trade card featuring a rather haggard looking St. Nicholas. He is perched against a snow-covered chimney, a sack of toys tied to his back. Drums, dolls, and toy rifles with bayonets peek out from his overflowing bag, waiting to delight children come morning. With the moon high in the sky, St. Nick looks through a book while smoking a pipe, no doubt checking on which children are naughty or nice.
The finger poised near his nose leads the viewer to infer that St. Nick is preparing to head down the chimney, ready to deliver toys to all the good little girls and boys. Though based on his posture and apparent demeanor, we hope that this stop was towards the end of his journey.
Perhaps the most jarring for modern viewers of this 1870s/1880s trade card is St. Nick’s attire, as he lacks the usual red and white suit. Instead, this Santa Claus is dressed like the traditional St. Nicholas, slightly more woodland elf than fashionista. His cap and coat are trimmed with leafy garland and his sleeves are cuffed with dark fur. His ear is pointed, leaning towards his more elfish appearance. Altogether, this depiction borrows elements from Father Christmas and the original St. Nicholas.
The outline for our current Man in Red wouldn’t pop up until the 1860s from cartoonish Thomas Nast, who also added an abode in the North Pole and a sleigh with reindeer to the mythos. Santa would continue to adopt various outfits during this time, including pops of red. A full red suited Santa arrives at the turn of the century and fully enters pop culture by the 1930s.
We can only hope that the current jolly old St. Nicholas remains be bit more festive than this gent!