The real reason why Santa wears red may surprise you as it's not all linked to Coca-Cola
It's a well known fact that Santa Claus wears red clothes because of Coca-Cola - or does he?
As December 25 quickly approaches, Santa's jolly, round face has begin to pop up everywhere.
Famously, he always appeared in the Coca-Cola Christmas ad, and has done for almost 100 years.
Coca-Cola was once seen as a drink only to be consumed in summer, so the marketing team at the drinks company decided to create a holiday ad with Santa in, with him wearing red clothes to match Coco-Cola's red label.
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Haddon Sundblom was the artist behind the design.
Since then, a lot of people have presumed that's why Santa wears crimson attire - but it could be down to other reasons instead.
For example, Santa Claus is said to be based on Saint Nicholas, whose tomb is thought to have been recently discovered in the ancient city of Myra by archaeologists.
Videos of the tomb being analyzed by experts quickly went viral as they appeared to measure the limestone sarcophagus with a candy cane.
Saint Nicholas was a fourth century Christian bishop, and is said to have given gifts to the poor while wearing red robes.
Doubling down on the Christianity element of the red clothing, red symbolizes the blood of Christ’s crucifixion, TODAY says.
As well as the influences from Saint Nicholas, beating Coca-Cola to the punch was Harper's Weekly magazine and one of its contributors, Thomas Nast.
As per BBC News, between the years of 1863 and 1886, the magazine ran many of Nast's cartoons, with his drawings of Santa being very close to the one Father Christmas we now know.
"From these engravings the concept of Santa's workshop and the idea of writing letters to him also developed," the news outlet added of Nast's influence on the Santa Claus we now know and love.
Nast also drew his version of Santa with a big round belly, much like the plump and jolly character that still graces Coca-Cola's adverts to this day.
Basically, there have been a handful of things that have shaped our modern-day Santa.
Speaking on this, Tom Glamon previously told the BBC: "Father Christmas is an evolutionary creation, influenced by folklore, legend and religion.
"He didn't spring to life at a certain time, fully formed and wearing a red and white suit. It wasn't really until the late 19th Century that the image now recognised across the world became set."
Was it Coca-Cola? Was it Thomas Nast? Or was it just down to Saint Nicholas? I guess we'll never really know...
Topics: Christmas, History, Religion, News, Food and Drink, Art
Niamh Shackleton