Santa's origins are political, too

Santa did not become the universal Claus until 1863, when the American political cartoonist Thomas Nast, creator of the Democrat donkey and Republican elephant, rendered the quintessential Christmas icon in pen and ink.

The Bavarian-born Nast originated this archetype while working for New York's Harper's Weekly in an attempt to spiritually uplift Union Army soldiers and their families who made sacrifices during the darkest days of the bloody Civil War.