Christmas ABCs Giftwrap
Thomas Nast “invented” the image popularly recognized as Santa Claus. Nast first drew Santa Claus for the 1862 Christmas season Harper’s Weekly cover and center-fold illustration to memorialize the family sacrifices of the Union during the early and darkest days of the Civil War. When Nast created his image of Santa Claus he was drawing on his native German tradition of Saint Nicholas, a fourth century bishop known for his kindness and generosity. In the German Christian tradition December 6 was (and is) Saint Nicholas day, a festival day honoring Saint Nicholas and a day of gift giving. Nast combined this tradition of Saint Nicholas with other German folk traditions of elves to draw his Santa in 1862. Santa Claus thrived thereafter in American culture both Christian and secular.
Based on a traditional ABC rhyme, we’ve created our own images from Victorian sources including
many Thomas Nast illustrations.
Larger view of full sheet one
Larger view of full sheet two
100% size view of cropped page
Check out these tags created at a recent art party using the blue Christmas ABCs giftwrap:
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