Many people from around the world dress in Santa suits each year but fewer people know how the tradition started. St. Nicolas was a Catholic Bishop around 300 AD who spent a large sum of his money and time giving gifts to children. Dressed in his red robe with a long white beard and red hat, he later became a saint.

But when the Reformation happened, and the Protestants split from the Catholic Church, they still continued the concept of St. Nicholas as being a Christmas figure and his Christmas costume stayed the same for the most part. But not long after that point each country began developed their own Christmastime gift-givers, putting them in similar Santa suits, although they varied in color (and some of which were even dressed in black).

For example, in England St. Nick became Father Christmas. But instead of the Santa suits of St. Nick of the Catholic Church, sprigs of holly, ivy and mistletoe adorned his outfit. In France, the Protestants called him Pere Noel while the Germans called him Weihnachtsmann, which means Christmas man. To the Dutch, he was known as Sinterklaas. As immigrants came to America many people from the mixed nationalities mispronounced his name and Sinterklaas became Santa Claus.

But even countries that didn’t have a connection to Christianity began to have their own ‘wintertime’ customs. For example, when Russia became a communist state, and outlawed Christianity, Santa’s name was changed to Grandfather Frost. Pictures of him in any Santa suits showed him dressed in blue rather than the traditional red garb.

But no matter the names for the figure or the colors of their Santa suits, the ‘St. Nicks’ of the world have always had two things in common: they all have long, white beards and they all carry gifts for children.