St Nicholas was a bishop in 4th Century Turkey and his feast day was celebrated on 6th December. His feast day was traditionally celebrated by gift giving in parts of Europe and children in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands still put out shoes to be filled by St Nicholas on this day. The traditions associated with Sinterklaas (as St Nicholas was known in Dutch speaking countries) went to the US with early settlers and the name gradually evolved into the Santa Claus we know today. We have covered this story more fully in our topic Christmas stockings which will appear tomorrow.
By Victorian times Santa Claus was commonly associated with Christmas itself and was portrayed as a jolly man wearing the now widely recognised red suit. There is much debate as to wear the red colour came from, some say it was already in use by Victorian times, others attribute it to a marketing by advertisers in the 1920’s.