St. Nicholas | A Historical Perspective
As the holidays approach and young children start writing their letters (or sending emails, tweets, and Tik Toks) to Santa, we here at 15-Minute History thought it would be fun to look back at the man who inspired generations to give gifts to friends and loved ones each Christmas. Parents, don't worry if you're listening to this with the kids--there won't be any spoilers. St. Nicholas was a paragon of virtue in Christianity's earliest times. He was probably born in southern Turkey in the late 3rd century and served as bishop of Myra for many years. Historians know little about his life, but the various legends surrounding this interesting man show him to be a devoted follower of Jesus who worked tirelessly to better his community. He may have suffered under Roman persecution by Emperor Diocletian until Christianity was legalized in 313 AD, and some sources indicate he played a role in the Council of Nicaea, a pivotal moment in early Church history about which you can learn more in an earlier episode of this podcast. Some sources say he confronted one of the Arians who insisted that Jesus was not the Son of God, and a few texts even say he spoke directly to Arius himself and demanded he recant his blasphemy.
St. Nicholas is also reputed to have performed several miracles that led to his canonization by the Church. Some are quite disturbing and not appropriate for a holiday-themed episode, but he is believed to have ended a famine in Myra by asking some sailors carrying wheat aboard their ship to give some of the cargo to starving families. After giving the people enough grain for two years of planting, the sailors found they still had the same amount in their ship's hold. Nicholas also worked hard to protect the innocent from abuse. He saved three innocent soldiers from execution by a corrupt general and gave money to a devout but impoverished father so his daughters could avoid being sold into slavery and instead be married to good men. His generosity of spirit led to him being named the patron saint of many groups of people, and churches dedicated to his honor sprang up across Christian Europe hundreds of years after his death. He was buried in his hometown of Myra, but his body was later stolen by Italian treasure hunters and moved to Bari on Italy's east coast, where it became a popular pilgrimage destination. Supposed relics from Nicholas' life have cropped up across the Christian world, even as far from his homeland as the United States, and he remains an inspirational figure in the Orthodox and Catholic churches, as well as in several high-church Protestant denominations.
Images of St. Nicholas of Myra usually depict him in a bishop's robes, often brown or dark green. He does have a long, white beard but is slim rather than large. He does not carry a sack of toys or ride in a sleigh pulled by reindeer. So how did we get from St. Nicholas to Santa Claus? For that, we travel from the dusty shores of southern Turkey to the dark forests of medieval Germany. Before Christianity came to the Germanic tribes, they celebrated Yule in mid-winter, and reports of ghostly images in the trees fill the pages of bardic poems and legends. One is of Wodan--better known as the Norse god Odin--who leads the yearly Wild Hunt through the forests on his grey horse and brings gifts to the people. When Christian evangelists brought the stories of St. Nicholas to the Germanic tribes, they blended the two figures together. By the 16th century, Wodan-St. Nicholas had become known as "Father Christmas," and his stories had spread across the Rhine River to the Low Countries and the British Isles.
During the English Reformation, the Anglican Church de-canonized all Catholic saints and refused to celebrate their feast days. However, King Henry VIII recognized that the end-of-year celebrations still needed a central figure alongside the baby Jesus, so Father Christmas became a large, jolly, green-suited man who brought peace to the land, food, and gifts to children, and beer and wine to their parents. St. Nicholas' feast day on December 6th shifted to Christmas Day, and stories like Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol told tales of Father Christmas' generosity to the common people.
Across the English Channel in the Netherlands, we see the earliest example of the name "Santa Claus." Dutch children learn of "Sinterklaas," an old man who wears red robes and carries a scarlet book with the records of their deeds the previous year. Those who have been good receive treats in their shoes (left outside the home on Christmas Eve) while naughty youngsters are paddled by Sinteklaas' chimney broom made of willow branches. Sinterklaas also has a sidekick known as "Zwarte Piet" or "Black Pete" who climbs down chimneys to deliver presents. Traditionally, Christmas parades have Sinterklaas smiling and waving from his horse or sleigh while Zwarte Piet follows along in blackface (though these parades have become controversial and less popular in recent years). The stories of Sinterklaas became a focal point of Dutch resistance to the Nazis during World War Two. In 1941, British planes dropped boxes of candy over Dutch cities as children sang nursery rhymes that had been rewritten to honor Royal Air Force pilots.
The various legends of St. Nicholas, Wodan, and Sinterklaas eventually came together into the modern Santa Claus here in the United States. Dutch-born colonists in revolutionary New York revived the celebration of Sinterklaas during the American Revolution. We first see Santa Claus as we know him today in an anonymous poem published in a Troy, NY newspaper in 1823 known as "A Visit from St. Nicholas"--better known today as "'Twas The Night Before Christmas." Santa's reindeer get their names, and he is described as a short, jolly elf-like creature. He grew in size in newspaper cartoons and became known as "Kris Kringle" by the 1840s, found a home at the North Pole in the 1860s, and got a wife in the 1889 poem "Goody Santa Claus on a Sleigh Ride" by Katharine Lee Bates.
Many people today believe that Santa Claus being clad in red and white came from the Coca-Cola Company's advertising campaigns during the 1930s. In fact, I thought this was true until researching this podcast--but that is not the case. Coca-Cola did employ an artist named Haddon Sundblom to paint images of Santa in a red hat, riding a red sleigh, and carrying a red bag full of toys, but each of these was already part of the grand story. As thousands of Santas began sitting in shopping malls or ringing Salvation Army bells outside department stores, children and adults alike fell in love with the image of a man whose strength came not from physical courage or actions in times of danger but rather a desire for peace and goodwill all over the world.
While some may denigrate the popular idea of Santa as driving commercialism or greed in our postmodern world or answer questions from young children, I prefer to see Santa Claus as a symbol of hope and love during the holiday season. St. Nicholas once said that "the giver of every good and perfect gift has called upon us to mimic God's giving, by grace, through faith, and this not of ourselves." No matter how we choose to celebrate Christmas, Hannukah, or any other end-of-year festival, we can all look to Santa as a model of kindness and generosity. We can use him as an example as we bring joy to those around us through gift-giving, or even just by being with loved ones whom we might not see regularly or maybe a bit lonely during this season. We can bring a bit of light into our world. And we can look back on this year with gratitude and toward the new year with hope. From all of us at 15-Minute History, we wish each one of you in our wonderful audience a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and we'll see you next week!
