Ever wondered where Father Christmas came from? His origins are somewhat complex, but Christmas has tracked them down.

The story begins in the year 270 AD in the port of Patara in Asia Minor when a wealthy couple gave birth to a son and named him Nicholas. He was an only child and grew up in a monastery after his parents died of the plague.

At only 17 he became a priest and later Bishop of the Mediterranean City of Myra. Legends abound about how he gave his wealth away to those in need, especially children.

In AD 303, the Roman Emperor Diocletian ordered a brutal persecution of all Christians. Nicholas and thousands of others were imprisoned and tortured. Many were forced to fight wild animals or gladiators. It was not until the decree of the new Emperor Constantine that Nicholas was released.

Those who survived were called "saints" or "confessors", because they held to their confession that Jesus Christ is Lord. Saint Nicholas served in Myra for another thirty years, dying on December 6 in about 350 AD.

He may have died, but gifts continued to be given to children on December 6 in his memory.

In England he was Father Christmas. This character evolved out of the Roman god Saturn, who was worshipped in England following the Roman invasion of AD 43. Father Christmas was portrayed as a large man in a scarlet robe lined with fur and with sprigs of holly, ivy, or mistletoe.

Most societies had a festival around the winter solstice. The pagan Romans had a celebration Saturnalia, in honour of Saturn which ran from December 17 to 24. Gifts were exchanged, especially on the last two days. Then, on the 25th, they celebrated "The Birth of the Unconquerable Sun," as the days began to lengthen.

Christians simply took over this festival to celebrate the birth of God's Son, Jesus.

Today's image of Santa is even more removed from St Nicholas and based on two sets of drawings by Thomas Nast and Haddon Sundblom.

Thomas Nast's work first appeared in Harper's Weekly in the US in 1866. This was based on the 1822 description in Clement Clarke Moore's "A Visit from St Nicholas". Clement based his St Nicholas on a Dutch friend, a 'plump, jolly old fellow with a white beard, rosy cheeks and dimples, smoking a pipe and dressed from head to foot in fur'. Nast also turned his Santa into the maker of toys.

From 1931 to 1964, Haddon Sundblom created a new Santa each Christmas for Coca-Cola advertisements. He had a red suit, trimmed with white fur, leather boots and belt, long white beard and a pack of toys slung onto his back.

Father Christmas has moved a long way from the generous man tortured for his faith in Jesus. But the gift-giving that he represents is an essential part of a festival that remembers the gift that God gave us - his son.

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