"YOU BETTER WATCH OUT," for SAINT NICK: or, How Saint Nicholas is the HISTORY of CHRISTMAS
A 1,700-year-old hero can’t be expected to fit into just one old Santa suit. Our images of St. Nicholas seem to evolve or deteriorate based on the values of contemporary culture in different times and places.
In 1809, Washington Irving wrote Knickerbocker’s
History of New York, a work of imaginative fiction that included
several tales about a jolly, elfin Dutchman scampering down chimneys to bring
gifts to children. The American image of Santa Claus was solidified during this
time period. “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” a poem by Clement Clarke Moore
published in 1823 and better known as “’Twas the Night Before Christmas,”
introduced the enduring image of Santa’s reindeer and sleigh and fixed the date
of his visit to Christmas Eve. These are fun stories that make up an important
part of our literary tradition and culture in America. However, stuffing chimney-hung
stockings is an ancient tradition that pre-dates the American elf lore as well
as the Dutch, who fill their children’s wooden clogs with gifts the night
before St. Nicholas Day (December 6). Chucking gold into people’s wet socks is
a custom started by a young man named Nicholas who lived in Asia Minor around
300 AD.
There are hundreds of stories about St. Nicholas of
Myra. He was born in Lycia on the southwest coast of modern Turkey. His
wealthy, pious parents, Theophanes and Nonna, read to him the Holy Scriptures
and faithfully taught him his prayers, but apparently died while he was still
young. His uncle, Bishop Nicholas of Patara, ordained young Nicholas and made
him his personal assistant. The zealous youth proved himself an inspiring
catechist in the Christian community and an obedient servant to his uncle.
During these dutiful years he showed great kind-heartedness and generosity by
distributing his inheritance to the poor.
During this time, the three grown daughters of a
formerly rich inhabitant were in danger of being sold into slavery because of
their father’s pennilessness. Hearing of this, young Nicholas secretly visited
the man’s house at night and threw gold in at the window to provide a dowry for
one of the girls. The eldest daughter was soon married, and Nicholas again made
clandestine donations for the other two daughters, with equally felicitous
results. Modern children who awake to an orange or to gold-foiled chocolates in
their stockings reenact this story because, by all accounts, one of Nicholas’
gifts landed in a sock that was hanging by the fire to dry.
The young Nicholas was blessed with a pilgrimage to
the Holy Land. During the voyage, a storm came up that terribly frightened the
crew but, through the prayers of the saint, the waves of the sea were becalmed
and the passengers saved. According to Palestinian Christians, Mar
Nkoula (St. Nicholas) lived in a cave as a hermit for three years
after visiting the holy places. In a vision Nicholas was told to return to
Lycia. Years later an Orthodox Church was built over the hermit’s abandoned
cave at Beit Jala, and Palestinians still commemorate this saint by giving
gifts to children on December 19.
Not long after his return to Asia Minor, Nicholas
was made archbishop of Myra. Difficult years followed for the archbishop and
his flock, who were forced underground by the Roman Emperor Diocletian’s
brutal, expansive persecution of Christians. During this time the good
archbishop, who had the charism of bi-location, often appeared to imprisoned
members of his flock as a model of gentleness, kindness, and love, until the
day he too was discovered in hiding. In jail Nicholas continued to sustain and
exhort his fellow believers to endure torture and death for the love of Christ.
After Diocletian’s death, Nicholas was released and returned to his sacramental
duties as a “confessor of the faith”—a titled given to Christians who were
imprisoned and tortured for their faith during this period, but not executed.
They were extremely revered and respected by their contemporaries.
