HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1973-12-26, Page 4•
Out wish is simple and sincere. May the holiday
bring gladness to you all. Thanks to evety6ne,
LEAdliS JEWELLERY . STORE
Brussels •
*Olt $tiMititittitiliqi
you .0it • •
• joy of real
family, holiday: •
With grateful
thanks- for
your good will.• • •
From Your DEALER
F .
Brussels
Plea* r a- 'Kt
Santa's White Beard, Red Suit Come from Cartooni
"HELLO, LITTLE ONE" WAS TITLE FOR this famed dra
of Santa, by Thomas Nast from Harper's Weekly. Nast, a n
19th century political cartoonist, was the first to illustrate S
as a bearded, red-nosed jolly old man whose rotund figure
clothed in a fur-trimmed red suit, according to researchers
Hallmark.
Wreaths Got . Pagan Star
'Who gave Santa his red
suit, broad girth, white beard*
ruddy cheeks and nose, fur,
trimmed hat and coat?
Surprisingly enough, the
donor was a political car-
toonist.
The artist's name wad
Thomas Nast, cartoonist for
Harper's Illustrated Weekly, .
who also created the now
famous 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.
:1. "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-
famous poem, "A Visit from
St. Nicholas," by Dr. clement
Clarke Moore, that inspired
Nast's illustration of Santa.
In this children's classic of
1823, the right jolly old elf,
who looked like a peddler
with a pack on his back. was
first described in print.
• Nast followed Dr. Moore's
description of Santa in sev-
eral particulars, but >any of
his concepts were, original.
At the time of Nast's Santa
Claus drawings the nation
was at Civil War, and fam-
ilies were separated. In a
xote to cheer both soldiers
•and their waiting families
Nast drew "Santa Claus in
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 Ctiristraas hcane-
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 •reveiled
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)
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
in and about those larger
presents that could not be
crowded into the row of
stockings that hung by the
family fireplace.
"It was a time of splendor
and rejoicing — the festive
blossoming of the winter sea-
son — and it was a beautiful
and sturdy family that made
Merry Christmas riot in the
spacious New York home."
'In Nast's day, the idea of
some sort of Santa was not
new to this country. He was
introduced to North America
by the early Dutch settlers
and his name was St. Nicho-
las. The annual Visit of this
kind man, who Was thought
to have been a fourth-cen-
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 reindeerklrawn sleigh.
During this holiday season,
a wide variety .;of,'Colorful
wreaths deck the doorways
of homes in this community.
The use of wreaths at holi-
day time stems from the cus-
toms of Advent season the
four Sundays before ChristL
mas. Traditionally, Advent
wreaths are made of ever-
greens, trimmed • with 'rib-
bons, and • hOld -four candles
to be lit during the, Sundays
of Advent. ' •
The Wreath, which has no
beginning or end, represents
eternity, and the evergreens
symbolise growth and life,
according to the editors
the New Hook , of KnOW1ed
.Like many. other Christi
holiday customs, the Adve
wreath originated in pag
' ceremonies.
During the dark days
the-winter solstice, the su
worshippers of northern 'E
rope sought to please the
absent god, the sun, and pe
suade him to return, by usi
a wheel trimmed with gree
ety. •
The wreath was made
an actual wheel, takeii fro
a cart and wrapped, in green
Lights;.too, were added.
•
PEACE ON EARTH
God grant that not only. the Love of Liberty but a thor-
ough knowledge of the rights of man may pervade all
the Nations of. the Earth, so that anybody may set his
foot anywhere on its surface and say: This is My Country.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
From All of Us at
.OLDFIELD'S PRO HARDWARE
• '4