Santa Claus much to Odin, the old blue-hooded, cloaked, white-bearded Giftbringer of the north, who rode the midwinter sky on his eight-footed steed Sleipnir, visiting his people with gifts. […] Odin, transformed into Father Christmas, then Santa Claus, prospered with St Nicholas and the Christchild, became a leading player on the Christmas stage." In Finland Santa Claus is called Joulupukki (direct translation 'Christmas Goat'). Pre-modern representations of the gift-giver from Church history and folklore, notably St Nicholas (known in Dutch as Sinterklaas), merged with the English character Father Christmas to create the character known to Americans and the rest of the English-speaking
Santa Claus, Arizona in 1961 when several advertisements appeared in the 1961 issue of Popular Mechanics, an American magazine devoted to science and technology. The advertisements offered remailing services where Christmas cards and letters would be remailed from Santa Claus, Arizona, at a cost of $.25 plus the postage for the remailing. The remailing service would result in a United States Postal Service postmark on the envelope reading Santa Claus, Arizona, something desirable around the annual Christmas holiday. The popularity of Santa Claus declined in the 1970s. By the mid-1970s, the Santa Claus development closed. At some point, Santa Claus was removed from