'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house. Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
Famous words written by Clement C Moore, or.... were they?
Legend Begins
The legend of St. Nick, a monk (even though some sources state that he was a bishop) dates back to sometime around 280 AD. Legend states that Nicholas, born in Patara, near Myra in modern-day Turkey, had a giving spirit and traveled the countryside helping those less fortunate and the sick. Nicholas's parents were wealthy and left the bulk of their estate to Nicholas when they died. Nicholas, who always had the spirit of giving, took his inheritance and gave to those less fortunate and lived a life of humility.
Over the course of many years, Nicholas’s popularity spread, and he became known as the protector of children and sailors.
Santa in New York
The Dutch are credited to passing along the stoy of St. Nick to New York in the late 18th century. A New York Newspaper reported that groups of Dutch families gathered to honor the anniversary of his death (December 6) in 1773 and again, 1774.
"The Night Before Christmas" or "A Visit from St. Nicholas"
With that lengthy, but also brief history, this brings us to modern day Santa.
Before the famous poem, Santa's appearance was depicted in various forms, from a tall slender man in a bishop’s robe to a spooky looking elf. It wasn't until The Night Before Christmas was published that we recognize him as the jolly, big, bellied man, with a bushy white beard, dressed in a red suit.
The poem, first anonymously penned in 1823, was later credited to Clement Clarke Moore in 1837. Moore originally claimed he wanted to keep the authorship secret initially because he was a professor and the piece wasn't considered a scholarly work at the time of its initial writing.
However, descendants of Henry Livingston Jr. a Dutch poet insisted that it was Livingston who wrote the popular poem. With the help of a literary detective, Donald Foster, they claimed that Moore fraudulently took credit for Livingstons work.
With the evidence, even a jovial mock trial was performed which one resulted in a hung jury and the other as Livingston was the true author.
So, who wrote the famous poem? Well, we may just never know.
Links for reading additional information can be found below.
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