Showing posts with label Louis XV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Louis XV. Show all posts

Friday, December 11, 2015

A Christmas Story for All - The Forgotten History of “Gay” Santa


By His Grace, Lord Westover and the Earl of Fulton

Millions of children believe in Santa Claus, a mystical fat man who brings them presents, providing they are "good" (whatever that means), every Christmas. The fairy tale is loosely based on a true story of an actual man we know today as Saint Nicholas.

But what few of us are aware of is that “Jolly Old Saint Nick” had an Italian brother named Stefano or “Fabulous Saint Stefano”.

Found in the doll collection of Marie Antoinette,
this image of Gay Santa is thought by
historians to be the most accurate.
(The Lord Westover Collection, Obviously)  
History records Saint Stefano as the more flamboyant of the Claus siblings. Instead of breaking into homes and giving toys to children (in what seems a little odd for a stranger) Stefano brought the magic of fabulousness to all he encountered. And, most importantly, taught others to bring out their inner fabulousness—like your inner Nobility it's the gift that never stops giving!

In fact, the French Court of Louis XV so adored Stefano they began to refer to him as the (roughly translated) “Gay Santa”. But alas it was this adoration of the ruling French aristocratic class that was Gay Santa’s undoing.

Abandoning his prized position of robe designer in the Papal court to live at the Palace of Versailles, Stefano unwittingly found himself the ridicule of the Jacobin revolutionaries.

Gay Santa’s fabulousness, his pink silk-brocade-ermine-lined robes, meters long strands of pearls, diamond adored belts and his exquisitely manicured white flowing beard was just too much for the rough-hewed Jacobins, who, during the French Revolution, destroyed all images of Gay Santa and nearly erased him from history.

But the darkness and fear of ignorant minds could not keep the memory of Saint Stefano buried forever. Like the inner fabulousness (or Nobility) that dwells in all of us, the story of Gay Santa lives on!


A Very Merry Christmas from The Vast Estate! 
LW and EF