Saint Nick

In the spirit of Christmas decided to do a little research on our old

pal, Santa Claus. I found out the usual; he is always jolly, his duties
include giving presents to those who make the nice list and he comes
equip with a sleigh and flying reindeer. And we all know he could
probably lay off a couple of cookies here and there. But where did this
mysterious man come from or has he always been just a figment of our
imagination? Well, as a matter of fact, Santa is real. Yes, thats right, but
the real Santa does not quite live up to our jolly, fat man in a red suit,
expectations. Our modern day Santa Claus has been distorted from
former day Saint Nicholas, the bishop Saint who really had the true
meaning of Christmas in mind.
Saint Nicholass story began when his parents died a very tragic
death, leaving the young boy without anything, but a large inheritance.
Saint Nicholas grew up in a household with a strong Christian faith, so
with his inheritance Saint Nicholas gave gold to the sick, the needy and
the poor. Saint Nicholas lived such a devout life to God that even at a
young age he had the privilege of being patron saint of schoolboys, and
later in life patron saint of children. There are two incidents where Saint
Nicholas exemplified noble and selfless actions that allowed him these

wonderful titles. The first story involves three young boys, who were on
their way to school in Athens, stopped in the town of Myra to receive
Saint Nicholass blessing. In Myra, the boys stayed at an inn for rest,
where the innkeeper and his wife murdered the three boys, tore their
limbs apart and hid the body pieces in barrels under the house. Saint
Nicholas sensed an evil doing and arrived at the innkeepers house for
an interrogation. The couple ended up repenting to Saint Nicholas their
sins and he forgave them of the crime they committed and resurrected
the three boys. The second story involves three young women that Saint
Nicholas saved from going into prostitution. In this time, it was custom
to offer a large sum of dowry to a man so that he might wed the
daughter. A man in town, however, was too poor to offer any dowry. As
the father started losing hope he planned on selling his daughters into
prostitution. When Saint Nicholas caught wind of this he a bag of gold
into the familys window one night. Eventually, he did this for each
daughter once it was time for the daughters to be wed so that each of
them could find a husband.
So how does this Saint relate to our modernized jolly Santa Claus?
Well, to be blunt, we can thank the Dutch, but many of the qualities and
traditions that Saint Nick had were twisted from country to country as

they made up their own customs. However, the bases of Christmas and
Santa Claus are from Saint Nicks attributes. For example, the bigger
attributes that we have seen carry over would be things like the feast
day of Saint Nicholas. Saint Nicholas was awarded December 6th as feast
day in his honor of all the miracles and generosity he has done. This
holiday mainly represented him as the bringer of gifts because he
would always bring gifts to those who needed it, but surprisingly
enough, Saint Nicholas started the tradition of those who said their
prayers and were good Christians would be rewarded. Here we see our
first example of modern day Santa; if you are good you make the nice
list and get gifts, and if you are bad you make the naughty list and get
nothing but coal. This tradition was, of course, rewarded every year on
the feast day of Saint Nicholas just like every year on December 25th we
celebrate Christmas by giving gifts. Another way we see a similarity is
the bag on Santas back. The bag is supposed to represent Saint
Nicholass first gift giving expedition, when he gave the three women
dowry for a husband. We can thank the Dutch for brining Santa Claus to
the US because they were the ones who brought the traditions of Saint
Nicholas to America when they immigrated to New Amsterdam. The
Dutch started the tradition of cookies and milk, as well as a carrot for

Rudolf. The original way was to leave something sweet out for Saint
Nicholas and leaving hay and a carrot out for his horse when Saint
Nicholas went on his gift giving expeditions so that he would never go
hungry.
In conclusion, Saint Nicholas had many wonderful attributes to
this world. Although our modern day Santa Claus is a little extreme, the
fact that Saint Nicholass small acts of charity and kindness has
continued for centuries is truly an amazing thing. The Saints devout life
to the Lord truly shows in keeping Christ in Christmas. If Santa Claus
has become too commercial, too secularized, perhaps it is because we
have forgotten his historical origin in the beloved Bishop of Myra who
obeyed Christ's command that we help all those who are in need.- Rev.
George Philip Hoy

Work Cited
1. Paulding, James Kirke. Stories of Saint Nicholas. 1st Syracuse University
Press ed. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1995. Print.

2. "Google Books." Google Books. Web. 15 Dec. 2014.

<http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=xSrjsgvCu8YC&oi=fnd&p
g=PA1&dq=saint
nicholas&ots=tQSARAIS0v&sig=7TGUyLAKRWOn_5AxerBDxn9zCQc#v
=onepage&q&f=false>.
3. "Google Books." Google Books. Web. 15 Dec. 2014.
<http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=7X3U4arGZUC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=who is saint
nicholas&ots=Hdi2kZIiJn&sig=SInPPOfiOavzpkKLXQSwDfHcfrQ#v=onep
age&q=who is saint nicholas&f=false>.
4. Handwerk, Brian. "St. Nicholas to Santa: The Surprising Origins of Mr. Claus."
National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 20 Dec. 2013. Web.
15 Dec. 2014.
<http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/12/131219-santa-clausorigin-history-christmas-facts-st-nicholas/>.
5. "St. Nicholas Center ::: How Did Santa Begin?" St. Nicholas Center ::: How Did
Santa Begin? Web. 15 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/how-did-santa-begin/>.

6. "St. Nicholas Center ::: Who Is St. Nicholas?" St. Nicholas Center ::: Who Is St.
Nicholas? Web. 15 Dec. 2014. <http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/who-is-stnicholas/>.

pictures: 1848 poem A Visit From Saint Nicholas

Saint Nicholas, good holy man!

Put on the Tabard, best you can,
Go, clad therewith, to Amsterdam,
From Amsterdam to Hispanje,
Where apples bright of Oranje,
And likewise those granate surnamd.
Saint Nicholas, my dear good friend!
To serve you ever was my end,
If you will, now, me something give,
Ill serve you ever while I live.