The Santa Claus character is believed to be based on St. Nicholas who lived in Myra in what is today known as Turkey around 300 A.D. An orphan whose parents died of the plague, Nicholas was taken in by monks and became a priest at the startlingly young age of 17. He quickly gained a reputation for generously giving away church wealth as gifts to those in need, especially children. Legend says that he would throw small bags of gold down the chimney where they’d land in stockings hung by the fireplace to dry. Nicholas later became a bishop, which explains why he is associated with a bishop’s hat—or miter, a long flowing gown and a red cape.

The Catholic Church canonized Nicholas after his death. This was also around the time that the Church began celebrating the modern holiday of Christmas. So it was natural to make St. Nicholas part of the legend.

Protestant reformers wanted to keep the legend but not the association with a Catholic Saint. So St. Nicholas evolved into national variants. The English called him Father Christmas, the Germans Weihnachtsmann (Christmas Man) and the Russians Grandfather Frost. For some reason, Americans took to the Dutch version Sinterklaas, which they mispronounced as “Santa Claus.”

The American political cartoonist, Thomas Nast, invented the modern look of Santa Claus. His drawing for the cover of the 1863 year-end issue of Harper’s Weekly depicted a fat, jolly old guy with a white beard, red suit and stocking cap and long-stemmed pipe. Starting in 1931, annual Christmas ads from Coca Cola refined the Nast version and produced the Santa Claus of today.

Why is Santa a hero of workplace safety? Because his elves are fully trained in the hazards of toy making. They’re equipped with a full regalia of protective equipment and ergonomically sound workstations. Santa’s workshop has never, to SafetyXChange’s knowledge, suffered a lost-worktime injury or been cited for an OSHA violation.

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