[Lee Stewart]

This Is Why Christmas Colors Are Red and Green

Today, the Christmas season is just as synonymous with the colors red and green as it is with Santa Claus, caroling, and having to spend time with unwanted family members, but the truth is this wasn’t always the case. Believe it or not, there was once a time when holiday cards would feature the colors blue and white just as often as they would red and green. That all changed in 1931, courtesy of the world’s most popular soda maker.

“That’s when Coca-Cola hired an artist to create a Santa Claus,” Arielle Eckstut, co-author of The Secret Language of Color, explained to NPR. “They had done this before, but this particular artist created a Santa Claus that we associate with the Santa Claus today in many ways.”

The artist that Coca-Cola hired was Haddon Sundblom, and his Santa Claus was unlike anything seen before. According to Eckstut, the artist’s Kris Kringle was “fat and jolly—whereas before he was often thin and elf-like—and he had red robes. The fact that all these things came together—this friendly, fat Santa in these bright red robes… this really took a hold in American culture.” And the background color the artist chose was green.