Story of Santa Klaus

Long before Coca-Cola gave him a red suit and belly like a bowl full of jelly, Santa Claus was something else entirely: a fourth-century bishop in Asia Minor, a Norse god riding through winter skies, a Dutch ship's captain, a succession of saints and demons and gift-giving spirits tangled together across centuries. This is the detective work of tracing the world's most beloved myth back through its tangled roots. William S. Walsh digs into European folklore, Catholic hagiography, and pagan winter traditions to separate the historical grain from the legendary chaff. What emerges is not a single man but a composite creature, built from Saint Nicholas of Myra's charity, the Norse Odin's wild ride, Germanic Yule celebrations, and a dozen other traditions that collided in the melting pot of American immigrant culture. The book asks the question children have always asked: was he real? And answers with something more fascinating than yes or no. For anyone who's ever lain awake Christmas Eve wondering.