Why does santa wear a pointy hat?

Answer 1

Santa's red suit and fur are part of an evolution in his wardrobe. St. Nicholas lived between 280 and 350 B.C. and was originally from Asia Minor in an area that is now Turkey. He was a priest and later became a bishop. Clothing in his time was very simple and more often a draping or wrapping of home woven cloth around the body. Nothing was very fancy.

As Christians took his message of secret giving to those they were converting to Christianity, his legends traveled to other counties. Over the next few centuries, Artists depicted Nicholas in paintings and dressed him appropriately in the robes and garments of bishops in their century. Those garments often had finer materials, gold trimming and colors of royalty, red and purple. He also gained a formal Bishop's staff and Red Mitre.

The further North Nicholas' stories traveled, the more his clothing changed to reflect the customes of each country. His robes soon had fur trimming to protect him from cold. And it is said that his red mitre could have gotten wet and flopped over. Or possibly he inherited his style of hat from those that nordic and Scandinavian elves wore.

Along the Artic Circle, winter clothing was often made of animal skins with the fur on the inside as insulation. We can assume that his boots, were mukluks, similar to today's ugg boots, with the top fur turned down. His coat could have been made from lamb and the fur trim on the cuffs, etc. were the edges of the fur turned back. His large collar was possibly a fur hood that he could pull up over his head in a snow storm. And by the 16th Century, he sometimes wore just trousers and a large coat instead of a long robe.

And because he was a Saint, a former bishop his clothing sometimes reflected his position by being a brighter color: red, blue or even purple.

By the 18th Century, America was a land of many people from many countries.

And each group of new citizens brought with them the customs and legends of their homeland. As neighbors would meet at the holiday's, a familiar figure would arrive at their gathering. Sometimes he would have the long robe. Sometimes the trousers and large jacket.

And each neighbor would have a different name for the man in Red. Most popular were St. Nicholas, Krist Kringle, Bobo Natale, Pere Noel and the Dutch, Sinter Klaus. As New York was the Capitol of the Nation at that time, it was the hub of everything for America. As the Dutch transitioned from their home language, Sinter Klaus, soon translated into the English, "Santa Claus."

But by now the suit or robe was established and since the capitol of the new United States had strong winters, Nicholas wore the heavier fur trimmed clothing.

Washington Irving wrote, in 1809, of a party and mentioned some of the customs and differences of St. Nicolas.

In 1823 Clement Moore's poem, "A visit from St. Nicholas," gives us written descriptions telling us of the jolly gift giver, his being round and covered from head to foot with fur.

1862 has Thomas Nast creating a visual image of Santa, in black and white engravings for Harper's Weekly. And in all of his engravings over the next 40 years, the name was always "Santa Claus."

It was in the late 1870's that lithography allowed for color printing and Louis Prang introduced Christmas Cards. Some cards had artists renderings of St. Nicholas and they showed him in blue or purble robes. But their drawings of Santa Claus were often similar to the images Thomas Nast created.

And somewhere during this period the color red evolved as the color for Santa's Suit. Was it from the Christmas Cards . . . or was it from new drawings from Nast. By the 1880's Nast had left Harper's and was producing his own Holiday books with color drawings of Santa Claus and he chose red as the color of the Suit with White fur.

One of the books was acutally a printing of Clement Moore's "A visit from St. Nicholas," but with color plates and drawings from Nast.

Throughout the remainder of the 19th Century and into the 20th Century, thousands of Christmas cards featured color drawings of Santa Claus in Red.

Advertising had also jumped on the bandwagon of color printing and they found that Santa Claus was a wonderful free spokesperson for their products. And his Red suit was the perfect drawing card for an ad. You see, advertisers found that the consumer is more drawn to an advertisement with red than any other color.

By the 1920's Santa Claus had firmly been establish as wearing a red suit trimmed with white fur, and accessorized with big boots and a big belt.

Of course it would take a major soft drink to truly solidify the image and take Santa Claus around the world. But that is another story.

Answer 2

Because Mrs. Claus likes red, and she made him a red suit. But he likes to wear other colors too.

Answer 3

santa dress ups do, but santa does not exist, he doea as long as you are a believer

Answer 4

Santa wears a jolly red suit and pants and black boots and a red hat that sometimes has a white trim on it.

Answer 5

He wears mittens because sometimes his hands get cold in the snowy regions.

Answer 6

Only when it is cold. Otherwise, it looks like a normal everyday nose.

Answer 7

For good lucky that is what scientist believe anyway

Answer 8

His suit comes from an ad for Coke Cola in the 1920's that is why it is red and white.

Answer 9

Mrs Claus and the elves made it for him.