Santa Claus – also now known as Kris Kringle in North America, and Father Christmas and St Nicholas elsewhere – is a famous fictional character with a history of its own, nowadays popular with both the children and grown-ups.
So have you ever wondered how rich Santa Claus is? According to authoritative sources, Santa Claus’ wealth amounts $3.8 billion, somehow accumulated during his career in supposedly charitable causes over several hundred years.
Santa Claus Net Worth $3.8 Billion
The first trace of Santa Claus goes back to 280 AD in present-day Greece, which was then a part of Turkey. Birth name Nicholas, he devoted his life to helping those in need, and upon his death, was proclaimed a saint.
From the 13th century, his death started being celebrated by bishops by giving small gifts to kid, and this tradition has continued until the present day.
Santa Claus became a famed figure in the 1770s, but before that his story had reached the Netherlands, where he became known as Sinter Klaas, translated from St. Nicholas. Soon after, the Sinteer Klaas appeared in the USA, though under the name Santa Claus.
In the next century, stores started their Christmas-related sales, and by the 1840s had started a Santa Claus craze by creating the fat bearded guy in a red suit. With the help of the now famous Clement Clarke Moore poem “An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas”, was born the tradition of chimney visits on Christmas night. The first to create Santa was Thomas Nast, who drew Santa’s image on the recounts of Moore’s poem. He didn’t just create the character, but the whole thing – North Pole, workshop, Mrs. Claus, and Santa’s helpers, the elves. Since then, Santa Claus has been riding his sleighs drawn by reindeers, bringing joy to countless children all over the world.
Moving on, Santa Claus’ real popularity started in the 1930s, when Haddon Sundblom came up with the idea of using Santa Claus for Coca-Cola Christmas campaigns. This was rather fruitful for the company, and theyhave continued to the present day to utilize Santa’s name and appearance in their commercials; well, there is no patent awarded anywhere in the world for the use of the name or character. Perhaps the modern commercialization of Christmas started here.
Santa’s popularity grew immensely over the years and now there are many films, songs and poems about him, though tradition still follows him, and he is supposedly loved by all. As his character was developing, he acquired reindeers to pull his sleigh, of which one excels, the red-nosed reindeer Rudolph, who was created in 1939 by Robert L. May.
Nowadays, Santa is believed to visit every house on Christmas night, and comes down through the chimney – if there is one – leaving gifts under the Christmas tree, but only if you were a good child throughout the year.
When it comes to his life when he is not giving presents at Christmas time, Santa Claus lives at the North Pole, with his wife, Mrs. Claus. She is responsible for running the gift-making processes, and also cares for elves and reindeers. She has many names, including Mary, Annalina, Layla, Martha, Jessica, and Rebecca.
