Santa Claus

North Pole

There are couple iconic American versions of this character. There is the Coke ad, the Miracle on 34th St. figure and the claymation figure of the Rudolph television special. The most significant may be that of "A Visit from Saint Nicholas", the poem attributed to Clement Clarke Moore. Possibly the best known piece of poetry in America, this poem's elf is a melting pot of European traditions (Krampus, Belsnickle, St. Niicholas, Father Christmas). He's also strikingly optimistic and materialistic (compare with Hoffman's more moral, spiritual and surreal Nutcracker of the previous decade), he is, in a word, American.

Stefan Dreisbach-Williams