: How 19th-century writings about Mrs Santa Claus embodied debates about gender equality #IndiaNEWS Clement Clarke Moore’s 1823 poem Account of a Visit from St Nicholas redefined Christmas in America.

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How 19th-century writings about Mrs Santa Claus embodied debates about gender equality #IndiaNEWS
Clement Clarke Moore’s 1823 poem Account of a Visit from St Nicholas redefined Christmas in America. As historian Steven Nissenbaum explains in The Battle for Christmas, Moore’s secular Saint Nick weakened the holiday’s religious associations, transforming it into a familial celebration that culminated in Santa Claus’ toy deliveries on Christmas Eve.Nineteenth-century writers, journalists and artists were quick to fill in details about Santa that Moore’s poem left out: a toy workshop, a home at the North Pole and a naughty-or-nice list. They also decided that Santa Claus was not a bachelor – he was married to Mrs Claus.Yet scholars tend to overlook the evolution of Santa Claus’ spouse. You will see brief references to a handful of late-19th-century Mrs Claus poems – especially Katharine Lee Bates’ 1888 Goody Santa Claus on a Sleigh Ride.But as I discovered when I began work on a class about Christmas in literature, the writers who created Mrs Claus were not just interested in filling in the blanks of Santa’s personal life. The poems and stories about Mrs Claus that appeared in newspapers and popular periodicals spoke to women’s central role in the Christmas holiday. The character also provided a canvas to explore contemporary debates about gender and politics.Hardest-working womanChristmas in 19th-century America depended on women’s time...Read more

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