More than 100 years ago, 8 year old Virginia wrote a letter to the New York Sun, disillusioned by her “little friends” who told her that there is no Santa Claus. The conversation between the young girl and one of the newspaper`s editors appeared in the September 21, 1897, edition of The (New York) Sun and has since become part of popular Christmas folklore in the United States. It is the most reprinted editorial in any English-language newspaper and probably one of the most beautiful evidence of the existence of Santa Claus.

“Dear Editor — I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says ”If you see it in The Sun it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?”

–Virginia O’Hanlon, 115 West 95th Street

“Yes, Virginia…” has been used as a theme for holiday windows, movies and became an idiomatic expression to insist that something is true, even though it might be unseeable.

The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see.