Mrs Claus Throughout History

The Origins of Mrs Claus

Lets face it, behind every great man, there’s an even greater woman and Mrs Claus is no exception. The first mention of Mrs. Claus appears in the 1849 short story “A Christmas Legend” by missionary James Rees. In the story, an old man and woman, both carrying a bundle on the back, are given shelter in a home on Christmas Eve as weary travellers. The next morning, the children of the house find an abundance of gifts for them, and the couple is revealed to be not “old Santa Claus and his wife”, but the hosts’ long-lost elder daughter and her husband in disguise.

The Legend of Mrs Claus

Mrs. Claus (also known as Mrs. Santa Claus or Mrs. Santa) is the legendary wife of Santa Claus, the Christmas gift-bringer in Western Christmas tradition. She is known for making cookies with the elves, caring for the reindeer, and preparing toys with her husband. (Source: Wikipedia)

A passing reference to Mrs. Santa Claus was made in an essay in Harper’s Magazine in 1862;[4] and in the comic novel The Metropolites (1864) by Robert St. Clar, she appears in a woman’s dream, wearing “Hessian high boots, a dozen of short, red petticoats, an old, large, straw bonnet” and bringing the woman a wide selection of finery to wear.

The many Faces of Mrs Claus

Since 1889, Mrs. Claus has been traditionally depicted in media as a fairly heavy-set, kindly, white-haired elderly female baking gingerbread cookies or mending clothes somewhere in the background of the Santa Claus mythos. She sometimes assists in toy production and oversees Santa’s elves She is sometimes depicted in her youth to have had red hair. She is usually depicted wearing a fur dress of red or green. (Source: Wikipedia)

One of Mrs. Claus’ most well-known depictions and origins comes from the classic 1970 Rankin/Bass holiday film Santa Claus is Comin to Town. Here she is presented as a strict, but also very beautiful schoolteacher named Miss Jessica. When she initially meets Santa Claus (then known as Kris Kringle), she believes him to be a criminal, delivering toys that were recently banned by a law created by the Burgermeister Meisterburger. However after Kris gives Jessica a china doll made just for her, she then begins to believe that the law is silly. (Source: Hero Fandom)

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