What’s Jesus Have to Do With Santa? A Concise History of where Santa Came From

INTRODUCTION

Most people know that Christmas is when we celebrate Jesus’ birthday…even if he wasn’t actually born at Christmas. But what about the other start of the Advent season? Jolly Old Saint Nick (AKA Santa Claus).

How on Earth did we go from the birthday of the Savior of the World to big old guy in a red suit?! And why does he go down chimneys? And exactly why do we give gifts to each other when it’s not even our birthday? This and more will be answered in this very concise history of Santa and Christmas.

Note: This book is taken from Bethlehem, the Year Jesus Was Born.

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THE CONDENSED HISTORY OF CHRISTMAS PAST

The Nativity story isn’t quite what we heard in Sunday school, but what about Christmas? Have we really been celebrating Christmas with mistletoes hanging under the doorway, Christmas trees in front of the fireplace, and carolers at our front doors since the birth of Christ?

Not quite.

Christmas has a checkered and colorful past. Contrary to what we may want to believe, Christmas didn’t start the day Jesus was born. And it didn’t start right after he died because we wanted a day to remember him. It actually came hundreds of years later—sort of. And it evolved over time.

You probably have your own ideas of it—that it came from some pagan holiday and Christians used it somehow to convert these pagans; that Santa was some gift-giving saint. There’s definitely some truth to all of this, but even here, there are elements of fiction. So let’s look at the real(ly condensed) history of