
Clement Clarke Mooreβs 1823 poem βAccount of a Visit from St. Nicholasβ redefined Christmas in America. As historian Steven Nissenbaum explains in βThe Battle for Christmas,β Mooreβs secular St. Nick weakened the holidayβs religious associations, transforming it into a familial celebration that culminated in Santa Clausβ toy deliveries on Christmas Eve.
Nineteenth-century writers, journalists and artists were quick to fill in details about Santa that Mooreβs poem left out: a toy workshop, a home at the North Pole and a naughty-or-nice list. They also decided that Santa Claus wasnβt a bachelor; he was married to Mrs. Claus.
Yet scholars tend to overlook the evolution of Santa Clausβ spouse. Youβll see brief references to a handful of late-19th-century Mrs. Claus poems β especially Katharine Lee Batesβ 1888 βGoody Santa Claus on a Sleigh Ride.β
But as I discovered when I began work on a class about Christmas in literature, the writers who created Mrs. Claus were not just interested in filling in the blanks of Santaβs personal life. The poems and stories about Mrs. Claus that appeared in newspapers and popular periodicals spoke to womenβs central role in the Christmas holiday. The character also provided a canvas to explore contemporary debates about gender and politics.
The hardest-working woman in the North Pole
Christmas in 19th-century America depended on womenβs time and labor: Women prepared family celebrations, organized community and church events and worked in industries that fed seasonal demand for cards, toys and clothing.
This work was both essential and, at times, exhausting: As the century drew to a close, the Ladiesβ Home Journal urged its readers not to βtire themselves out preparing for Christmas.β
Many literary depictions of Mrs. Claus paid tribute to the long hours, practical know-how and managerial skills that womenβs holiday preparations required.
Sara Conantβs 1875 short story βMr. and Mrs. Santa Claus,β which appeared in an 1875 issue of Western Rural: Weekly Journal for the Farm & Fireside, celebrated these efforts by describing Mrs. Claus working alongside women across America as they cooked, cleaned and sewed. In Ada Sheltonβs 1885 story βIn Santa Claus Land,β Santa acknowledged his debt to Mrs. Claus: Without her hard work, he could βnever get throughβ the Christmas season.
But on Christmas Eve, Mrs. Claus hit the North Poleβs glass ceiling.
For Conant, Mrs. Claus was as βindispensibleβ as Santa, an equal partner in the βjoint workβ of preparing for holiday festivities. Still, in most Mrs. Claus literature, Santa traveled the world filling stockings while Mrs. Claus stayed home to await his return. In 1884βs βMrs. Santa Claus Asserts Herself,β Sarah J. Burkeβs tearful Mrs. Claus, ignored by Santa and his fans, is left to βcower aloneβ clasping the fingers sheβd βworked to the boneβ as Santa speeds off on his sleigh.
A few writers did, however, reward Mrs. Clausβ hard work with a sleigh ride of her own.
Georgia Greyβs 1874 short story βMrs. Santa Clausβs Rideβ allows Mrs. Claus to venture out alone, but only after Santa β adamantly βnot a womanβs rights manβ β makes her promise to remain unseen. To avoid questioning Santaβs authority or the belief that women belonged at home, the anonymous author of the 1880 tale βMrs. Santa Clausβs Christmas-Eveβ manufactures an emergency: Santa has taken off without some dolls, so Mrs. Claus must saddle Blitzen and deliver them.
Mrs. Claus on the naughty list
Other writers were less willing to allow Mrs. Claus to step outside the home.
Negative representations of her Christmas Eve travels reflected backlash against womenβs demands for independence and the vote. The majority of Mrs. Claus writing took place after the Civil War, alongside state and national efforts to grant voting rights to women.
Publications geared toward women didnβt necessarily advocate for more rights and political power. In 1871, the popular womanβs magazine Godeyβs Ladyβs Book published an anti-suffrage petition addressed to Congress and signed by a number of prominent women, with Godeyβs female editor, Sarah Hale, encouraging readers to collect additional signatures. Like Georgia Greyβs Santa, the petition argued that womenβs place was in the home, not in public.
Charles S. Dickinsonβs βMrs. Santa Clausβs Adventure,β which appeared in the Dec. 1, 1871, issue of Woodβs Household Magazine, offered a cautionary tale for disobedient wives. Refusing to believe that some children were too naughty to visit, Mrs. Claus trades places with Santa on Christmas Eve. But when she attempts to climb down chimneys to deliver gifts, she is attacked by βhateful impsβ that embody childrenβs βnaughty words and deeds.β Depicting Mrs. Clausβ advocacy for children as unrealistic and naive, Dickinson echoes anti-suffrage arguments that emphasized the dangers awaiting women who abandoned the home.
A cartoon from the Dec. 7, 1895, issue of the satirical magazine Judge shows a masculine-looking Mrs. Claus on a bicycle, leaving Santa and her children behind as she pedals away on her way to deliver Christmas gifts.Judge
M.B. Hortonβs βA New Departureβ took its title from the National Woman Suffrage Associationβs failed strategy to register women voters. The 1879 story β published, like the anti-suffrage petition, in Godeyβs Ladyβs Book β discredits womenβs rights activists through its negative portrayal of Mrs. Claus, called βMrs. St. Nicholasβ in this telling.
Jealous of Santaβs fame, Mrs. St. Nick tries to deliver gifts in his place, but her plot to usurp Santaβs role as gift-giver fails when Santa tricks her into delivering a sack of worthless, embarrassing goods.
Mrs. Claus seems an unlikely target of anti-suffrage propaganda, but her association with the ultimate domestic holiday made the idea of an independent Mrs. Claus especially shocking.
βGoody Santa Clausβ takes the reins
Nineteenth-century writing about Mrs. Claus focused primarily on her work ethic and whether that work would ever allow her a share of Santaβs Christmas limelight.
But scholar and suffragist Katharine Lee Bates, best known as the author of βAmerica the Beautiful,β took a different tack: She gave Mrs. Claus a voice and personality of her own.
Drawing upon elements of previous Mrs. Claus literature, Batesβ βGoody Santa Claus on A Sleigh Rideβ creates an outspoken Mrs. Claus who loves her work and her husband β and is not about to be left behind when Santa makes his deliveries.
Like Burkeβs despondent Mrs. Claus, Batesβ Claus β whose title, Goody, stands in for βMrs.β β begins her monologue with a question: Why does Santa get βall the gloryβ while she has βnothing but workβ?
βGoody Santa Claus on a Sleigh-Rideβ first appeared in the childrenβs periodical Wide Awake. While the illustrations cast Mrs. Claus as affectionate, grandmotherly and nonthreatening, Batesβ text reveals the powerhouse behind Goodyβs meek exterior.
Katharine Lee Batesβ Goody Claus was both affectionate and outspoken.Falmouth Historical Society
Most Mrs. Claus literature highlights her domesticity, but Batesβ Goody is equally adept at housework and outdoor chores. As Santa snacks on Christmas treats and relaxes by the fire, Goody tends Christmas trees, an orchard and toy-growing plants; she also raises livestock and takes on the risky-sounding task of chasing thunder to βfashion fire-crackers with the lightning.β
Although Santa allows Goody to ride beside him, her North Pole work resume isnβt enough to convince him that she has enough βbrainβ to fill a stocking, and he fears that seeing her climb a chimney would βgive his nerves a shock.β Left alone on the rooftop while Santa does his work, Mrs. Claus is on the outside looking in as she peers through the skylight.
But the holes in a poor childβs Christmas stocking stop Santa in his tracks: Sewing was Mrs. Clausβ department. Seizing her chance to shine, Goody mends the sock, proving the value of womenβs work and breaking Santaβs rules about chimney-climbing and stocking-filling in the process.
The themes and plots of 19th-century Mrs. Claus writing β including stealth sleigh rides β reappear in Mrs. Claus narratives to this day, and for good reason. Katharine Batesβ thunder-chasing, bonnet-wearing, sweet-talking Goody β and the many Mrs. Clauses who came before her β still speak to every woman who has ever dreamed of a little rest, a little recognition and a seat in the sleigh.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/how-mrs-claus-embodied-19th-century-debates-about-womens-rights-169588.