Many of the answers about santa's suit colors mention coke in the 1930's. However, in the famous poem "Twas the night before Christmas" published in 1912! we have a description of Santa as a "right jolly old elf" and the first illustrations were of him in a red suit?
2007-11-08 09:21:50 · 8 answers · asked by Ann B 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Holidays ➔ Christmas
i never knew that
i thought red and green was just Christmas colors :)
ok, found the site, interesting...
2007-11-08 09:25:23 · answer #1 · answered by Taz 5 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Coca cola established him in a red suit only, when it could be red or green before then.
I don't know, a quick scan of the Internet - this claims to be images from the 1912 version, and the "Santa" (not a term used in the story) has a dirty costume " tarnished with ashes and soot" so it looks black. The images also are short and elf like instead of human size as the coke Santa is.
2007-11-08 10:28:46 · answer #2 · answered by JuanB 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Santa had been portrayed wearing many different colored suits prior to the 1930s. These were usually jewel toned colors. Coke was not the first to suit Santa in red, but it was the first to consistently bombard the general public with that image. There was no 'intent' behind TTNBC's choice of color, it could have just as easily been a navy colored suit.
2007-11-08 09:30:17 · answer #3 · answered by Zandia 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Red and green have been the official colors of the winter holidays since well before Christmas was invented in the Middle Ages. Santa wears a different outfit depending on where the people celebrating live. At one point, he was known for wearing a green robe.
2007-11-08 09:30:09 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Actually there was a blending of these these two in the 1930's that helped to create the popular version of "Santa" we know now. I saw a great documentary on the history and customs of Christmas and that is what I saw on the show.
2007-11-08 13:54:12 · answer #5 · answered by D squared 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Traditionally, St. Nick was green ( Victorian Times), but the coca cola company did influence it with their colour, red. God knows how though! haha. Maybe there was sumfin else before the coke company...
2007-11-08 09:44:43 · answer #6 · answered by Devil Boy 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Actually, the story is called "A Visit from St Nick" (or maybe Nicholas) and I don't remember it ever referring to him as Santa.
2007-11-08 09:26:30 · answer #7 · answered by bainaashanti 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Have you tried asking those that believe that.
2007-11-08 09:31:03 · answer #8 · answered by Sweetness82 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋