[To listen to as a family] From Saint-Nicolas to Coca-Cola: the origins of Santa Claus

2022-12-23T05:08:36.935Z

INTERVIEW - Virginie Girod receives historian Nadine Cretin, specialist in festivals and traditions. Author of "History of Santa Claus" (Editions Le Pérégrinateur), Nadine Cretin tells the origins of this mythical character, whose passage all the children expect on the evening of December 24. Is Saint-Nicolas the ancestor of Santa Claus? What miracles or powers are attributed to him in different traditions? And how did we get to Santa Claus as we know him today, dressed in red, with his white beard and his hat? "Santa Claus has changed a lot, and over time he has taken on a consumerist side, but he is still associated with a particular happiness", specifies Nadine Cretin. Topics covered: