Editing Father Christmas (section)

===Santa Claus crosses the Atlantic===

The figure of [[Santa Claus]] had originated in the US, drawing at least partly upon Dutch [[Saint Nicholas|St Nicolas]] traditions.<ref name="Huttonp117-118"/> A New York publication of 1821, ''A New-Year’s Present'', contained an illustrated poem ''[[Old Santeclaus with Much Delight]]'' in which a Santa Claus figure on a reindeer sleigh brings presents for good children and a "long, black birchen rod" for use on the bad ones.<ref name="ChildrensFriend">{{cite book | url=http://brbl-dl.library.yale.edu/vufind/Record/3437144?image_id=1061153 | title=The Children's friend. Number III. : A New-Year's present, to the little ones from five to twelve. Part III. | publisher=Gilley, William B | year=1821 | location=New York | access-date=28 January 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160206014455/http://brbl-dl.library.yale.edu/vufind/Record/3437144?image_id=1061153 | archive-date=6 February 2016 | url-status=live}}</ref> In 1823 came the famous poem ''[[A Visit from St. Nicholas]]'', usually attributed to the New York writer [[Clement Clarke Moore]], which developed the character further. Moore's poem became immensely popular<ref name="EnglishYear385"/> and Santa Claus customs, initially localized in the Dutch American areas, were becoming general in the United States by the middle of the century.<ref name="TimesDec1956"/>

[[File:Santa Claus. Howitt's Journal of Literature and Popular Progress, 1848.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Engraving|Santa Claus, as presented in ''Howitt's Journal of Literature and Popular Progress'', London 1848]]
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". This noted that one of the chief features of the American New Year's Eve was a custom carried over from the Dutch, namely the arrival of Santa Claus with gifts for the children. Santa Claus is "no other than the Pelz Nickel of Germany ... the good Saint Nicholas of Russia ... He arrives in Germany about a fortnight before Christmas, but as may be supposed from all the visits he has to pay there, and the length of his voyage, he does not arrive in America, until this eve."<ref name="HowittsJournal">{{cite journal | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=168CAAAAIAAJ&q=santa+claus | title=New Year's Eve in Different Nations | author=Howitt, Mary Botham | journal=Howitt's Journal of Literature and Popular Progress | date=1 January 1848 | volume=III | issue=53 | pages=1–3}}</ref>

In 1851 advertisements began appearing in Liverpool newspapers for a new transatlantic passenger service to and from New York aboard the Eagle Line's ship ''Santa Claus'',<ref name="LiverpoolMercury">{{cite news | url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000081/18510425/017/0004 | title=Liverpool Mercury | work=Notices for Emigrants for 1851. Michell's American Passenger Office. For New York. "Eagle Line" | date=25 April 1851 | access-date=31 January 2016 | location=Liverpool | pages=4}}</ref> and returning visitors and emigrants to the British Isles on this and other vessels will have been familiar with the American figure.<ref name="TimesDec1956"/> There were some early adoptions in Britain. A Scottish reference has Santa Claus leaving presents on [[New Year's Eve]] 1852, with children "hanging their stockings up on each side of the fire-place, in their sleeping apartments, at night, and waiting patiently till morning, to see what Santa Claus puts into them during their slumbers".<ref name="Johno'Groat">{{cite news | url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000459/18520109/022/0003 | title=New Year's Day | work=John o' Groat Journal | date=9 January 1852 | access-date=28 January 2016 | location=Caithness, Scotland | pages=3}}</ref> In Ireland in 1853, on the other hand, presents were being left on [[Christmas Eve]] according to a character in a newspaper short story who says "...&nbsp;tomorrow will be Christmas. What will Santa Claus bring us?"<ref name="ArmaghGuardian">{{cite news | url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001372/18531125/049/0007 | title=Works of Love | work=Armagh Guardian| date=25 November 1853| access-date=28 January 2016 | location= Armagh, Northern Ireland | pages=7}}</ref> A poem published in Belfast in 1858 includes the lines "The children sleep; they dream of him, the fairy, / Kind Santa Claus, who with a right good will / Comes down the chimney with a footstep airy ..."<ref name="BelfastNL1858">{{cite news | url=http://find.galegroup.com/bncn/infomark.do?&enlarge=&source=gale&prodId=BNCN&userGroupName=herlib&tabID=T012&docPage=&docId=Y3201991268&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0 | title=The Little Stockings | work=The Belfast News-Letter| date=2 February 1858| access-date=14 February 2016 | location= Belfast}}</ref>

''A Visit from St. Nicholas'' was published in England in December 1853 in ''[[Notes and Queries]]''. An explanatory note states that the [[St. Nicholas|St Nicholas]] figure is known as Santa Claus in [[New York State]] and as [[Christkind|Krishkinkle]] in [[Pennsylvania]].<ref name="N&Q615">
{{cite journal | url=https://archive.org/details/s2notesqueries11londuoft | title=Pennsylvanian Folk Lore: Christmas | author=Uneda | journal=Notes & Queries | date=24 December 1853 | volume=8 | pages=615 }}A further online copy can be found [http://www.merrycoz.org/moore/1853Notes.xhtml here] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307190314/http://www.merrycoz.org/moore/1853Notes.xhtml |date=7 March 2016 }}
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1854 marked the first English publication of ''Carl Krinkin; or, The Christmas Stocking'' by the popular American author [[Susan Warner]].<ref name="EnglishYear385"/> The novel was published three times in London in 1854–5, and there were several later editions.<ref name="ArmstrongPhD58-59">
{{cite book | url=http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/9890/1/431569.pdf | title=The Intimacy of Christmas: Festive Celebration in England c. 1750-1914 | publisher=University of York (unpublished) | author=Armstrong, Neil R | year=2004 | pages=58–59 | access-date=28 January 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204035031/http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/9890/1/431569.pdf | archive-date=4 February 2016 | url-status=live}}
</ref> Characters in the book include both Santa Claus (complete with sleigh, stocking and chimney),<ref name="ArmstrongPhD58-59"/> leaving presents on Christmas Eve and—separately—Old Father Christmas. The Stocking of the title tells of how in England, "a great many years ago", it saw Father Christmas enter with his traditional refrain "Oh! 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. His dress "was a long brown robe which fell down about his feet, and on it were sewed little spots of white cloth to represent snow".<ref name="CarlKrinken">{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/carlkrinkenorchr00warniala | title=Carl Krinkin; or, The Christmas Stocking | publisher=Frederick Warne and Co. | author=Warner, Susan | year=1854 | location=London and New York}}</ref>