Santa Claus | Know Your Meme

About

Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas, Santa and Father Christmas, is a mythical figure, who is said to travel around the world on the night of December 24th, delivering presents to good children. He is said to ride on a sleigh, driven by nine reindeer, named Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Rudolph.

Origin

It is thought that the idea of Santa Claus arose from a combination of many previous gift-giving figures, such as Saint Nicholas and Sinterklaas. In 1809, Washington Irving’s book, “History of New York”, the Dutch figure of Sinterklaas was Americanized into “Santa Claus.”

Spread

In 1821, the book A New-year’s present, to the little ones from five to twelve was published. This book contained a poem titled “Old Santeclaus”, which showed an old man on a reindeer sleigh, bringing presents to children. One of the first images of Santa Claus was drawn by cartoonist Thomas Nast and first published in 1863, in Harper’s Weekly (shown below).

The idea of Santa Claus was further popularized in L. Frank Baum’s book The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus in 1902. However, it is widely considered that the idea of Santa Claus was spread the most through The Coca Cola company, using an image of Santa drawn by Haddon Sundblom in their 1930’s Christmas advertising (video below).

Letter to Murderous Santa

Letter to Murderous Santa is a series of exploitable based on a four-panel webcomic featuring Santa Claus reading a child’s note, which makes Santa so angry that he holds a gun to the child’s head. Online, people photoshop the note to express the meme’s author’s opinion.

You Sit on a Throne of Lies

You Sit On A Throne Of Lies is a memorable quote uttered by Buddy The Elf (played by Will Ferrell), the protagonist of the 2003 holiday family-comedy film Elf. On the web, the phrase is typically used to expose a lie or otherwise misleading statement told by someone else.

Santa Claus Is White

Santa Claus is White is a statement made by Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly in response to Slate writer Aisha Harris’s op-ed article titled “Santa Claus Should Not Be a White Man Anymore.” Kelly’s remark, which essentially dismissed Harris’s article as a revisionist attempt from the left-wing blogosphere, was subsequently met with punchlines from the late-night pundit circles and criticism of race-baiting.

SantaCon Subway Turnstile Jump Video

SantaCon Subway Turnstile Jump Video is a viral video featuring a group of people dressed as Santa Claus avoiding train fares by jumping over turnstiles. The video, originally posted in December 2019, was the subject of controversy on Twitter, where the participants were accused of exploiting their privilege as white people with many arguing that this would be impossible for a person of color due to crackdowns on fare hopping in New York City subway stations, which many believe unfairly target people of color.

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