ScoBrav t1_j1v5g4g wrote on December 27, 2022 at 5:14 PM

Reply to comment by Kelsusaurus in ELI5: Why green and red are the definitive Christmas colors? by P4rturi

False on the red santa. A quick Google search shows he was repeatedly shown wearing a red coat before that guy drew Santa.

bronniecat t1_j1w4kik wrote on December 27, 2022 at 9:06 PM

Yes because St Nicholas and St Basil we’re both archbishops. And hence wore red. Just like catholic cardinals do. In orthodox religions red symbolises man and his mortality and blue is the spiritual side of man/god.

But the holly and it’s berries are the reason for red and green.

Kelsusaurus t1_j1v9a3p wrote on December 27, 2022 at 5:39 PM

It's not false and I never said he wasn't drawn in red. Prior to the Coca-Cola marketing, he was drawn as a slimmer man in green, blue or red (but mostly green or blue) suits and not always with a giant beard or sack. The designer from Coca-Cola marketed his new design so well that now, we almost exclusively see him as a fat, jolly, bearded man in red. Coca-cola is the reason that when someone says "Santa" the image that most people immediately think of is this and not this or this.

ScoBrav t1_j1vf6gm wrote on December 27, 2022 at 6:17 PM

Not true, as a Saint he was mostly portrayed in red. Yes he was also shown in other colours but again mostly red. Also the image we associate of him nowadays was thanks to Thomas Nast of Harpers Weekly which Haddon Sundblom of Coca-cola copied.

Origins of Santa

Kelsusaurus t1_j1wdq70 wrote on December 27, 2022 at 10:08 PM

Linking an article whose only cited source is Wikipedia does not make something comprehensive or factual. That said, I was wrong about who coined the red suit, but you are also incorrect that Santa was often portrayed in red prior to this.

Reading further into the actual Wiki article, Nast pioneered the red color of his suit into mainstream, however looking at other sources cited, Santa's suit being red is actually attributed to the poem A Visit from St Nicolas (also known as Twas the Night Before Christmas) from 1823. Nast took that depiction as inspiration and put it out on the market and Sundblom did the same for Coca-Cola which cemented it in pop culture.

Based on sifting through multiple other (non-wikipedia) sources and transcripts online, the figure of Santa is based on St Nicolas (from European folklore) who was mostly depicted in white saintly robes with accents of red, Father Christmas (from ancient English traditions) and his clothing was usually tan, blue or green, and Sinterklaas (from the Dutch) who was also portrayed mainly in white saints robes with a red cape/hat. Up until the 1800s, he was very rarely portrayed in red, and that's because up until the Victorian era the myth and depiction of "Santa" as we know today was in the process of growing and changing/melding with other cultural portrayals to get what we have today.