The History of Santa Claus

On December 4, 2009 our club was pleased to welcome Matthew Wilkinson of Heritage Mississauga for a presentation on The History of Santa Claus.  Matthew's excellent presentation illustrated how the origins of St. Nicholas and and his Dec 6 birthday have coalesced with Sinder Klaus and the Winter Solstice to become the Dec 25 holiday we celebrate today.  Moreover, Matthew showed how the illustrations by Thomas Nast (a contemporary and friend of Mark Twain) during the time of the Civil War in America resulted in the modern-day iconic image of Santa Claus that we are familiar with today.