Have you ever stopped to ponder how a man who was Bishop of Myra (Turkey) in the 4th century became our well-loved annual gift giver, Santa Claus? Most of us never stop to wonder how this came about.
St. Nicholas was a man born into a wealthy family, but who felt called to the church. He felt it was his responsibility to use his fortune to help out where needed. The best known story of St. Nicholas is this:
There was a poor man in his village who was the father of three girls. The man was too poor to provide any of them with a dowry, and so they could not marry. One evening St. Nicholas was passing by their window and heard the girls crying and lamenting the situation. He went home and got 3 bags of gold which he threw in the window of the girls' home. (Some say that at least one bag ended up in a stocking that had been hung over the mantle to dry.) Thus St. Nicholas became established as a gift giver.
Another story is that 3 young boys were traveling to visit St. Nicholas and were murdered by an evil innkeeper along the way. The murderer placed the boys' bodies in salt barrels (for preserving meat). Bishop Nicholas went looking for them, and miraculously revived the boys when he found them. In this miracle, Nicholas becomes a kind of guardian angel to children.
He is known as the patron saint of sailors and travelers too. While on board a ship during a storm, St. Nicholas prayed and immediately the waters stilled. Perhaps that is why he does so much traveling himself, and why he has no fear about flying in an open sleigh so far above the Earth!
He has been a much loved saint from the time of his death in 347 up until modern times. The Dutch and German protestants who came to America in the 1600's could not give him up. Their name for Saint Nicholas was Sinter Klaas. "Sinter" for Saint and "Klaas" a shortened nickname for Nicholas. Over time, the pronunciation and spelling in the United States changed from Sinter Klaas to Santa Claus.
Before the early 1800's, St.Nick left gifts for children on the eve of his own Saints Day, December 6th. Soon that merged into a Christmas tradition. It may have been because Protestants do not celebrate Saints Days, but do celebrate Christmas (Christ's Mass). It seems to be Clement C. Moore's poem, "The Night Before Christmas" that solidified the date of Christmas Eve as Santa's yearly visit.
Stacy Rose has been helping Santa Claus write letters to good boys and girls since 1997 at http://writtenbysanta.webs.com. She recently began helping her friends, Cupid, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy with their letters in her off season. She is also the founder of the National Organized Elves League, a directory of Santa's helpers which can be found at http://elvesleague.webs.com, and produces the audio podcast, "Good Day North Pole".
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