Christmas

December 25, 1845, Christmas Day.

From the early morning, a strange sight appeared throughout the streets and alleys of Vienna: Santa Clauses dressed in green, wearing green hats, and driving horse-drawn carriages were everywhere.

In the nineteenth century, Santa Claus was not yet the figure we know today, with his red suit, red hat, sleigh, and reindeer.

In reality, the image and identity of Santa Claus varied across different periods and countries in Europe; sometimes he was a bishop with a halo holding a leather whip, and other times a weary but sturdy farmer.

At times, he was a hairy, pot-bellied wild man; in some parts of the German regions, he was once even a terrifying witch with iron teeth.

The modern image of Santa Claus originated in the United States, first appearing in the 1821 work The Children's Friend by American author William Gilley, which introduced the red suit, red hat, sleigh, and reindeer.

However, in Austria, this image had to be adapted. First, sleighs and reindeer were rarely seen in Austria, so they were replaced by the most common mode of transport: horse-drawn carriages.

Secondly, Austrians viewed red suits and hats as colors belonging to Spain; the former preferred green, believing it represented luck and prosperity.

Then there was the sack carried on the back; in German regions, this image of a shoulder-slung cloth bag was usually associated with farmers or thieves.

Therefore, the cloth bag was replaced by boxes wrapped in colored paper—a move actually intended to clear out inventory, as sales of colored paper in Austria were far below expectations, and this paper even had an expiration date.

This was the first time Franz learned that paper could have an expiration date; due to the technical limitations of the era, colored paper would naturally fade after