In England, Father Christmas was a man dressed in green (representing the return of Spring) who was supposed to visit families and feast with them at Christmas. [88] And in her poem Agnes: A Fairy Tale (1891), Lilian M Bennett treats the two names as interchangeable: "Old Santa Claus is exceedingly kind, / but he won't come to Wide-awakes, you will find... / Father Christmas won't come if he can hear / You're awake. here come I, old father Christmas, welcome or not ..." He wore a crown of yew and ivy, and he carried a long staff topped with holly-berries. $22.50. $30.00. But that wasn’t always the case. [16] Its anonymous author, a parliamentarian, presents Father Christmas in a negative light, concentrating on his allegedly popish attributes: "For age, this hoarie headed man was of great yeares, and as white as snow; he entred the Romish Kallender time out of mind; [he] is old ...; he was full and fat as any dumb Docter of them all. Seymour's illustration shows Old Christmas dressed in a fur gown, crowned with a holly wreath, and riding a yule goat. Father Christmas or Old Christmas, represented as a jolly-faced bearded man often surrounded by plentiful food and drink, started to appear regularly in illustrated magazines of the 1840s. Introduction. The concept of Santa and Sinterklaas arguably stems from Saint Nicholas, an early Christian bishop of Greek descent who had many miracles attributed to his intercession, but is also known for his generous practice of gift-giving. Wearing a bright red velvet robe, with a wreath around his head and a basketful of toys on his back, this jolly Father Christmas makes a welcome addition to anyone's cache of Christmas collectibles. For the correspondingly-named character in other countries and languages, see, For modern usages in which Father Christmas is treated as synonymous with Santa Claus, see, 15th century—the first English personifications of Christmas, 16th century—feasting, entertainment and music, Puritan revolution—enter 'Father Christmas', List of Christmas and winter gift-bringers by country, "Textual Analysis of English Quack Doctor Plays: Some New Discoveries", "The Truro Cordwainers' Play: A 'New' Eighteenth-Century Christmas Play", "Truro [Formerly Mylor]: "A Play for Christmas", 1780s", "Daily Archives: December 24, 2014 - Mummers Mumming", "Gifts And Stockings - The Strange Case Of Father Christmas", "First letter to Father Christmas discovered from girl requesting paints in 1895", "Christmas Rhymes: Santa Claus and the Children", "Gifts Placed in the Stocking at Christmas", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Father_Christmas&oldid=1000276884, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, hare comes i ould father Christmas welcom or welcom not, This page was last edited on 14 January 2021, at 12:57. Christmas, old Christmas? [48][49], One unusual portrayal (below centre) was described several times by William Sandys between 1830 and 1852, all in essentially the same terms:[32] "Father Christmas is represented as a grotesque old man, with a large mask and comic wig, and a huge club in his hand. But yet some other markes that you may know him by, is that the wanton Women dote after him; he helped them to so many new Gownes, Hatts, and Hankerches, and other fine knacks, of which he hath a pack on his back, in which is good store of all sorts, besides the fine knacks that he got out of their husbands' pockets for household provisions for him. In pre-Victorian personifications, Father Christmas had been concerned essentially with adult feasting and games. [36] His ritual opening speech is characterised by variants of a couplet closely reminiscent of John Taylor's "But welcome or not welcome, I am come..." from 1652. Tortuga is an island that forms part of Haiti off the northwest coast of Hispaniola, that during the 17th century was a stronghold for piracy operating throughout the Caribbean. From what region of the earth or air this benevolent Santiclaus takes flight I have not been able to ascertain ..."[86] Lees received several responses, linking 'Santiclaus' with the continental traditions of St Nicholas and 'Petit Jesus' (Christkind),[87] but no-one mentioned Father Christmas and no-one was correctly able to identify the American source. He was first recorded in 15th century England in various personifications and was associated with merrymaking, drinking, and singing. He was known as 'Sir Christmas', 'Old Father Christmas' or Old Winter'. He got Prentises, Servants, and Schollars many play dayes, and therefore was well beloved by them also, and made all merry with Bagpipes, Fiddles, and other musicks, Giggs, Dances, and Mummings. He wears a long red or green coat that reaches all the way to the ground. Simon Fraser University researchers have found evidence that large ambush-predatory worms--some as long as two metres--roamed the ocean floor near Taiwan over 20 million years ago. In England, he has had three names: Lord Christmas, Old Father Christmas and Sir Christmas. Matt Cardy/Getty Images Thanksgiving weekend is seen as an opportunity in the United States for students to reunite with friends from high school or middle school. [48], The January 1848 edition of Howitt's Journal of Literature and Popular Progress, published in London, carried an illustrated article entitled "New Year's Eve in Different Nations". The English Father Christmas seems to have had an entirely separate origin from Sinterklaas, being a personification of Christmas and a Yule-tide visitor - not a gift-giver - rather than a version of St Nicholas. HeritageDaily is a dedicated, independent publisher of the latest research and discoveries from across the academic community with a focus on archaeology, anthropology, palaeoanthropology and palaeontology. "[84] On the other hand, when The Preston Guardian published its poem Santa Claus and the Children in 1877 it felt the need to include a long preface explaining exactly who Santa Claus was. Dutch tradition had St Nicholas leaving presents in shoes laid out on 6 December, while in France shoes were filled by Père Noël. These are a series of three cardboard tubes … Free shipping . [29], David Garrick's popular 1774 Drury Lane production of A Christmas Tale included a personified Christmas character who announced "Behold a personage well known to fame; / Once lov'd and honour'd – Christmas is my name! The popular American myth of Santa Claus arrived in the United Kingdom in the 1850s and Father Christmas started to take on Santa's attributes. History of Father Christmas in England. [2] His costume became more standardised, and although depictions often still showed him carrying holly, the holly crown became rarer and was often replaced with a hood. [1] One of the OED's sources is a 1919 cartoon in Punch, reproduced here. Christmas laments the pitiful quandary he has fallen into since he came into "this headlesse countrey". "[3] Personifications came later, and when they did they reflected the existing custom. [10], Responding to a perceived decline in the levels of Christmas hospitality provided by the gentry,[11] Ben Jonson in Christmas, His Masque (1616) dressed his Old Christmas in out-of-date fashions:[12] "attir'd in round Hose, long Stockings, a close Doublet, a high crownd Hat with a Broach, a long thin beard, a Truncheon, little Ruffes, white shoes, his Scarffes, and Garters tyed crosse". When will Santa arrive at your house? 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