Mysterious Early Santa Claus

[Jonathan Lighter]

Maybe it's a misprint for "Santa Muerte."

JL

On Sun, Sep 7, 2014 at 5:40 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com
> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Mysterious Early Santa Claus
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The link in John Baker's message was apparently split. Here is a short
> link pointing to the newspaper clipping containing the name:
>
> SANTA-CLAUS,
> Queen and Empress of the Court of Fashions.
>
> http://bit.ly/ZdSmWQ
>
> The relevant letter begins at the bottom of column one and continues
> at the top of column 2.
> Garson
>
> On Sun, Sep 7, 2014 at 5:30 PM, Baker, John <JBAKER at stradley.com> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Baker, John" <JBAKER at STRADLEY.COM>
> > Subject:      Mysterious Early Santa Claus
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > I came across a very odd "Proclamation," ostensibly by Santa Claus or
> Santa=
> >  Clause, in the (New York) Evening Post, Dec. 28, 1815
> (Newspapers.com).  W=
> > e've all heard of Mrs. Claus, but this is the first time I've seen Santa
> Cl=
> > aus referred to as a woman.  The item is also quite unusual for its lack
> of=
> >  reference to Christmas, though of course its timing was at that time of
> ye=
> > ar.
> >
> > The proclamation is addressed to the practice of kissing women and
> girls, a=
> > nd it orders that males desist from the practice, from the date of the
> proc=
> > lamation (Dec. 27, 1815) until Jan. 4, 1816.  In the body of the
> proclamati=
> > on, the writer characterizes herself as "Santa Clause, Queen and Empress
> of=
> >  handsome girls, women married and unmarried, not excepting ugly girls,
> and=
> >  old maids of all sorts, phizzes, sizes and descriptions."  It is signed
> by=
> >  "SANTA-CLAUS, Queen and Empress of the Court of Fashions."
> >
> > If anyone wants to view this curiosity, I have made it available, using
> New=
> > spapers.com's convenient clipping function, at
> http://www.newspapers.com/cl=
> > ip/981717/santa_clause_proclamation_new_york/.
> >
> >
> > John Baker
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



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