I would like to note that yesterday was the day we remembered the real Santa Claus. Yes, there is a real man behind the legend. He was not a fat tub of lard. In fact, he was rather zealous for Christ. His real name was indeed Nicholas (hence the name Santa Claus is a slur from his real name "Saint Nicholas"). He left no writings, nothing but the records of his charity. He took care of his flock and gave to others without reserve. He especially loved children.
He lived in Myra. He is probably beloved, because while he was a firm defender of the Christian faith, he was not a mighty exegetic like St. John Chrysostom, nor did he write bountiful volumes like St. Gregory Nazianzus. He did live around the same time, though. He attended Nicea, and my favorite story took place at that time: He became too zealous struck Arius at at the council. Consequently the Emperor threw him in prison for it, but the Theotokos intervened and sent a vision to several bishops and even Constantine. St. Nicholas was promptly released.
As a youth, he fled from the decadence and corruption around him. He retreated to Jerusalem to pray in the desert. After a while, he returned to his home city, Myra. He was subsequently elected bishop. He fed his flock, attended to their needs, and he practiced unbridled generosity. One seductive story is that he saw some girls who needed to marry, but their father was holding back. He couldn't give them a dowry. St. Nicholas would then sneak up at night and toss money into their stockings at night as they were hung out to dry. He did this nightly, and eventually the girls father managed to catch him. From this we developed our tradition of having children put out stockings at night (they have now become separated from their original form: socks). Eventually this practice, like so many practices surrounding the man were moved to Christmas. Still other stories accentuate how much he loved children. Children in my church actually receive gifts on this day to commemorate this. Since he would sell episcopal goods to feed the poor, some places associate him with pawn shops.
There are many legends surrounding the man. I can guarantee they aren't all true; he left no written record and some have duplicate forms attributed to multiple persons. We cannot know which ones are historical and which are not. They can still serve a role in teaching, and they were associated with him early on account of his real holiness. His death is generally dated to 330. We do have most of his body intact, and his face has actually been reconstructed from his remains. He was short and had a peculiar nose.
People really want to put "Christ back into Christmas". I think this is the wrong approach. We have removed Christmas from Christ. We must put it back into Christ. St. Nicholas is a way to do this outside of other things (such as restoring the Nativity Fast so that it's not months of unbridled celebration but one with preparation beforehand). Santa Claus is an enduring , and expanding, element of Christmas. What would happen if we replaced stories about "Saint Nick" with stories about the real "Saint Nicholas"? What would happen if we put a real person up for children to emulate? We do not need to jettison Santa Claus. We do not need to talk about him as satanic. We need to remove the godless corruptions that have caused us to forget his story. After all, it is a small variation to stop telling children about a fat cookie eating reindeer riding old man giving gifts to telling them they give gifts to remember the life in Christ of a man that fasted, saved children, and defended the faith. None of the practices need change, but they become far less commercialized. It is a testament to the man that he endures at all. Such a thing doesn't happen often and requires true greatness.
I'm 31. I still believe in Santa Claus.
Does this change the way you view Santa Claus? Did you know about the story of St. Nicholas?
Comments (8)
Thanks.
Good post. Fits right in with the season. Go Santa.
woo-hoo!
<3.
I knew about St Nicholas and his connection to Santa Claus. While one is real and another is a make believe, however both are related to good faith and spreading of goodwill to everyone.
Yes we should put Christ right in the center of the Christmas celebrations, however we should also give thanks to St Nicholas for inspiring people to be more generous in giving.
I was soooo going to write a post on Saint Nicholas! I heard the slapping incident quite differently (a one day excommunication because he repented immediately). You should have included the gold coins story.
I told my children about St Nicholas when they were small, and said that he is where the Santa Claus tradition came from. They never believed the 'make believe' Santa was real, but they knew about St Nicholas, and Kris Kringle as being the inspirations behind Santa.
I think that we can keep Christmas as a faith tradition and still allow it to be a fun time for children, so long as they understand the more sacred traditions behind the festivities.
"I'm 31. I still believe in Santa Claus."
That's awesome, dude! I totally agree with your post.