Letters from Father Christmas, formerly known as The Father Christmas Letters, are a collection of letters written and illustrated by J. R. R. Tolkien between 1920 and 1943 for his children, from Father Christmas.
The stories are told in the format of a series of letters, told either from the point of view of Father Christmas or his elvish secretary. They document the adventures and misadventures of Father Christmas and his helpers, including the North Polar Bear and his two sidekick cubs, Paksu and Valkotukka.
Elves were definitely a trope prior to the 1950’s, as evidenced by JRR Tolkeins “Father Christmas Letters” to his children starting in 1920.
Saint Nicholas was known for handing out gifts which is where the Santa handing out gifts stories came from. Gift giving and receiving has been part of Christmas the whole time.
You might just be thinking about heavily Coca-Cola has used Santa in their marketing during the period you’re of which you’re speaking. The fat, jolly red-suited modern image we so often think of was heavily influenced by Coca-Cola advertising campaigns. Capitalism did spiral into hyper-out-of-control and the pressure to buy and give presents has never been higher, but to act like those things were only recent additions to the tradition is false. Rather a “happy” confluence of holiday and commerce (in the eyes of business people anyway), honestly, like most modern holidays. Christmas isn’t alone in the commercialization. I mean we may as well be asking “What the fuck does the sacrifice of Saint Valentine have to do with romance and buying flowers?”
Oh absolutely. Don’t disagree. My original point was the madness that the world follows through with the elves and red Santa sleigh thing.
I’ve not researched into when those things started happening. I was just assuming around the 50s after the war. Obviously Xmas has been around in some for a lot of humans existence.
I specifically was thinking about what parents lie to kids about. I’m not sure exactly what that is though.
The red guy was the 50s I think. Before that he was green and I think I bit more st Nicholas. But it’s hard to nail down since there’s likely very few accounts of things. It wasn’t a year where the world came to an agreement on what Santa was and how it should be portrayed. That would have been even more bonkers
I strongly suggest you look into the history of Coca-Cola and Santa. There is actually quite a lot of known history in regards to that particular companies representation of Santa and how big a part Santa played in their holiday advertising. If I recall correctly, the red was eventually settled on for his outfit because it evoked the color of a Coca-Cola bottle.
No I know coke had a big impact but I mean other best haven’t been written down. That’s the most evidenced bit. Maybe I’m just wrong. Seems to happen often.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Father_Christmas_Letters
Elves were definitely a trope prior to the 1950’s, as evidenced by JRR Tolkeins “Father Christmas Letters” to his children starting in 1920.
Saint Nicholas was known for handing out gifts which is where the Santa handing out gifts stories came from. Gift giving and receiving has been part of Christmas the whole time.
You might just be thinking about heavily Coca-Cola has used Santa in their marketing during the period you’re of which you’re speaking. The fat, jolly red-suited modern image we so often think of was heavily influenced by Coca-Cola advertising campaigns. Capitalism did spiral into hyper-out-of-control and the pressure to buy and give presents has never been higher, but to act like those things were only recent additions to the tradition is false. Rather a “happy” confluence of holiday and commerce (in the eyes of business people anyway), honestly, like most modern holidays. Christmas isn’t alone in the commercialization. I mean we may as well be asking “What the fuck does the sacrifice of Saint Valentine have to do with romance and buying flowers?”
Oh absolutely. Don’t disagree. My original point was the madness that the world follows through with the elves and red Santa sleigh thing. I’ve not researched into when those things started happening. I was just assuming around the 50s after the war. Obviously Xmas has been around in some for a lot of humans existence.
I specifically was thinking about what parents lie to kids about. I’m not sure exactly what that is though.
The red guy was the 50s I think. Before that he was green and I think I bit more st Nicholas. But it’s hard to nail down since there’s likely very few accounts of things. It wasn’t a year where the world came to an agreement on what Santa was and how it should be portrayed. That would have been even more bonkers
I strongly suggest you look into the history of Coca-Cola and Santa. There is actually quite a lot of known history in regards to that particular companies representation of Santa and how big a part Santa played in their holiday advertising. If I recall correctly, the red was eventually settled on for his outfit because it evoked the color of a Coca-Cola bottle.
No I know coke had a big impact but I mean other best haven’t been written down. That’s the most evidenced bit. Maybe I’m just wrong. Seems to happen often.
Merry Christmas