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 in film Santa Claus in film Motion pictures featuring Santa Claus abound and apparently constitute their own subgenre of the Christmas film genre. Early films of Santa revolve around similar simple plots of Santa's Christmas Eve visit to children. In 1897, in a short film called "Santa Claus Filling Stockings", Santa Claus is simply filling stockings from his pack of toys. Another film called "Santa Claus and the Children" was made in 1898. A year later, a film directed by George Albert Smith in titled "Santa Claus" (or "The Visit from Santa Claus" in the United Kingdom) was created. In this picture,