was santa clause ever green?

Question

My boyfriend told me that originally, Santa Clause was always in a green outfit, until he was used on coca cola cans, which made his clothes have to be red. Is this true? Was santa originally in green clothes?

Answer 1

In 1863, a caricaturist for Harper's Weekly named Thomas Nast began developing his own image of Santa. Nast gave his figure a "flowing set of whiskers" and dressed him "all in fur, from his head to his foot." Nast's 1866 montage entitled "Santa Claus and His Works" established Santa as a maker of toys; an 1869 book of the same name collected new Nast drawings with a poem by George P. Webster that identified the North Pole as Santa's home. Although Nast never settled on one size for his Santa figures (they ranged from elf-like to man-sized), his 1881 "Merry Old Santa Claus" drawing is quite close to the modern-day image.

The Santa Claus figure, although not yet standardized, was ubiquitous by the late 19th century. Santa was portrayed as both large and small; he was usually round but sometimes of normal or slight build; and he dressed in furs (like Belsnickle) or cloth suits of red, blue, green, or purple. A Boston printer named Louis Prang introduced the English custom of Christmas cards to America, and in 1885 he issued a card featuring a red-suited Santa. The chubby Santa with a red suit (like an "overweight superhero") began to replace the fur-dressed Belsnickle image and the multicolored Santas.

And yes at the end Coca Cola just made it more popular.

Answer 2

Santa Claus had many different colored clothes. Green and Blue and Purple and Red. And in the "A Visit From Saint Nicholas" poem ('Twas the night before Christmas) He was dressed all in fur.

Coke was the one who popularized the Red Suit that we have today.

Answer 3

"Father Christmas" - the British version of St. Nicholas is always dressed in green and brown, representing the earth and the animals
"Santa Claus" - the American version of St. Nicholas is in red and white...mostly because of the coca-cola commercial, although he got his idea from the fact that an anceint winter giftgiver was often dressed in white and red to represent the white of snow and red of the blood of the animals who fed humankind during the winter
"St. Nicholas" in countries such as Holland and parts of Germany is portayed in his bishops robes, which are often gold and purple and sometimes some blue and crimson

Answer 4

Santa as he is in this country as mostly been red. It comes from the night befroe christmas poem. Father Christmas is often shown in hunters green. Its a hold over from the Pagan Holly and Oak Gods

Answer 5

yes that is true. The only reason Santa wears red now is because of the coca cola ads.

Answer 6

because of the fact in uk that's Father Christmas, a hearth spirit, the spirit of yul. it is why he has a crimson coat(flame) and a white beard(smoke) and makes use of the chimney! The upstart St Nicholas AKA Santa Claus(they are the comparable ingredient) basically are area of a Christian attempt to subvert an historical pageant

Answer 7

The Finlandic Father Yule is often depicted in a green-brown hunter's outfit, because he lives in the woods caring for wildlife.

Answer 8

He was in lots of different colors. I saw french pictures of him dressed in blue.

Answer 9

i'm sure he's gotten motion sickness a few times, flyin around on that sleigh.

Answer 10

Maybe that was the Jolly Green Giant: (He said "Ho-Ho-Ho" a lot too).