The legend of Santa Claus

The real St. Nicholas lived 340 AD as a bishop in Myra, in Turkey. Due to his great friendliness and piety he soon became the subject of many stories. They said that he had distributed all his inherited wealth among the poor and the sick during his travels through the country. A report from the 9th century, for example, tells about a god-fearing man who was so poor that he couldn't give his three daughters and dowry. In his despair, the only thing he could come up with was to send them out on the streets for prostitution. Top avoid that, St. Nicholas dropped three lumps of gold down the family's chimney. They landed directly in the socks that hung there to dry. This is where the custom was derived to put some shoes in front of your door on the eve of December 6. Another legend tells that the holy man had things of a different kind to do in Switzerland - for example helping people who had the desire to have children. He babies off the trees for this one! Another tells that St. Nicholas once saved Myra from a famine or something even worse. Pirates had shown up and captured all the ships with corn. Since the city couldn't pay the ransom, the pirates wanted all children in the city to keep them as slaves. Nicholas gave them the entire church treasure and the pirates disappeared again.

Patron saint of children

Other than that, Nicholas has always been the patron saint for children. He rewards the good and hard-working children, the lazy ones are punished by his helper, a sinister fellow dressed in black rags with heavy chains and a big bag in which he stuffs the really bad children to take them away. But he isn't seen as the bad guy everywhere. In some regions, in Saxony, Germany, for example, he brings the gifts on Christmas. It was Martin Luther who made ST. Nicholas almost loose his job. In the 16th century, the church reformer spoke out against veneration of the saints and rejected St. Nicholas as a gift-giver. Instead, he made the Lord's birthday the gift-day - Christmas. Since that day, St. Nicholas had to fill socks and shoes on the anniversary of his death every year.

The day celebrated in his honor in German is the anniversary of his death, December 6. During the religious wars, the holy man even united the churches. When in 1054 papal legates placed the excommunication of the Eastern Christian Churches on the altar of Saint Sophia (today a mosque), this started the East-West schism. The orthodox church emerged. And when in 1807 the Catholic church decided to have the relics of St. Nicholas transferred to Bari, the orthodox church joined them.

Existence?

The Catholic church, of all things, seriously questioned the whole St. Nicholas issue. The cardinals asked the same question the children were asking - did Santa Claus really exist? Well, actually Santa Claus has two historic origins. There's Bishop Nicholas who lived in Myra in Asia Minor in the 4th century and then there is Bishop Nicholas of Pinora, who, as an abbot, founded a monastery in Myra in the 6th century. Since it couldn't be proved 100% who was the right one, the Catholic church simply erased his name from the church calendar altogether in the last reform in 1970. Only saints whose existence has been proved belong there now.

Santa Claus goes to the US

Santa Claus started to be present in US culture in the late 18th century. In December of 1773 and again in 1774 a newspaper from New York reported that Dutch families were gathering to commemorate the anniversary of his death. The name Santa Claus is, etymologically, derived from the Dutch nickname of "Sinter Klaas," an abbreviated form of "Sint Nikolaas." In 1804 John Pintard, a member of the New York Historical Society distributed wooden sticks with images of St. Nicholas at an annual meeting of the Society. On them were the pictures, known even then, of big bags full of toys. In 1809 the famous author Irving contributed to making Santa Claus more popular by making him the patron saint of New York in his book "The History of New York."

In 1822 a clergyman, Clement Clarke Moore, wrote a longer Christmas story for his three daughters with the title "A Visit From St. Nicholas." Moore probably shares a great deal of responsibility for today's image of Santa Claus, even though he initially was quite hesitant to publish his material at all because it had frivolous characteristics. Even though he borrowed many of the pictures about the man with the bag, his story helped to spread the story of Santa Claus as the friendly gift-giver who hurries from door to door to bring gifts to the good children. With his story Moore created a new popular icon for US culture that hasn't lost its mystical charm until this day. At the same time it created a massive consumer industry with sometimes absurd product creations that found their way into supermarkets worldwide. However, the real picture of Santa Claus was created by cartoonist Tomas Nast, a German immigrant, by the way, who was building his Santa on Moore's publication. He drew his picture of Santa Claus for Harper's Weekly. The result was an old man with a white, waving beard, who walks through the snow with a heavy bag he is carrying over his shoulder.

Another kind of advertisement

The already mentioned gifts Santa distributed, surrounded by awed children as a reward for good behavior was a fixed part of Christmas traditions since the beginning of the early 19th century. Around 1820 the business with Christmas advertising in shop windows began and around 1840 many newspapers started publishing their own inserts with advertisement for Christmas, often with the popular Santa Claus as an eye catcher. This was also the beginning of the tradition to have someone dress up as Santa in the stores to attract paying customers with their children.

Modern ways of collecting donations

Even the Salvation Army used this means of advertising to finance their free Christmas meals for people in need. They sent a homeless Santa Claus through the streets of New York who asked the people for donations for the poor. These donation Santa Clauses became known throughout the world, creating a Christmas atmosphere with their bells and asking for small donations.

Globalization of the myth

But the Santa Claus of the 18th century was not the only one in the world. Similar characters became popular throughout the world. "Christkind" or "Kriskringle" were the characters delivering presents to German and Swiss children. The "Christkind" is often accompanied by St. Nicholas. In England, the children believed that Father Christmas was visiting households on Christmas Eve and delivering small presents. In the French-speaking world it is Pere Noel who visits the children and puts candy in the children's shoes. In Russia, legend tells that an older woman, Babouschka, refused to house and feed the three Magi on their way to Bethlehem to see Jesus in the manger. According to tradition she is still roaming the country trying to find Christ to make up for that. She is commemorated in Russia every year on January 5. A dressed up Babouschka visits Russian children and puts presents next to their beds, in the vague hope that one of them is Jesus who will then forgive her.

The remains of St. Nicholas

Hardly anyone who is today spending his vacation in southern Italy knows that here, near Bari, is the grave of St. Nicholas. It all started in 1087, when some men decided to travel to Myra (in present day Turkey) to steal the remains of St. Nicholas. They wanted to damage the rich church's wealth and reputation. So the body was stolen from the church's crypt and the shrine with the holy remains brought on board a ship and transported to Bari. No one really knows how the story ended. The only thing we know for certain is that the remains stayed there and there is a big annual church celebration in St. Nicholas' honor. That way, the town can celebrate St. Nicholas twice a year - on May 8 (the day he arrived) and on December 6 (the anniversary of his death). Many days before the celebration, the fisherman whose boat will have the honor of transporting the statue of the saint is chosen. From 11 am the statue of St. Nicholas is being displayed on board that richly decorated boat off the coast of Bari. Thousands of pilgrim's boats go out there to honor the saint.

Every year on May 8, the abbot of the monastery of St. Nicholas goes down to the crypt and inserts an 80 cm tube into the usually sealed grave. With this tube, he extracts a liquid and fills it into special phials. The believers honor this liquid as "manna" from St. Nicholas. There is no scientific explanation. No one knows how this liquid can be created in a completely dry space. Over the centuries, thousands of people who have applied this liquid have been healed from serious illnesses. There is substantiated proof! The monks are still preserving the "manna" in special phials and bring it to the sick. Modern analyses show that the manna is mainly water and has nothing to do with the manna that God once gave the Jews in the desert. Even in the Biedermeier period St. Nicholas was still the gift-giver, who brought gifts on his assigned day (either on Christmas or new year's). And even during the Reformation, the Lutheran and Calvinistic churches couldn't abolish the St. Nicholas cult. Rejection of veneration of saints is an important point of Luther's reform activities. After his death on a December 6, St. Nicholas lives on in many legends.

Old against new world?

And up to the modern age even the media are interested in him. When a society for the protection of the Christkind-tradition in Austria warned against Santa Claus, this caused an unusual media response in the US. After being reported in several newspapers, including the New York Times and the Washington Post, the campaign was mentioned even in the CNN newscast Nightline. All the articles or comments showed a certain surprise about the rudeness with which Santa was treated, who was giving American children gifts for Christmas. "Pro-Christkind" advertises its cause with stickers on which Santa is crossed out - similar to the cigarette on the "No smoking" signs, said CNN anchorman Aaron Brown. The society was offering e-cards on its website that were emphatically displaying the dislike of Santa. Some of these cards were shown on CNN, for example a Santa on the tip of a plane, as if he had been stabbed in mid-flight, or a dead Santa in the snow, shot, with a hunter placing his boot on his chest with a triumphant expression.

Other cards with even more shocking displays "could just not be shown," according to the commentator. He closed with the sarcastic comment "These people want peace and earth and the best for everyone - just not for the pitiable old man in red." The New York Times reports that more and more Austrians are seeing Santa Claus as a further symbol of American consumerism and thus reject him as an unwelcome guest. The European roots were not being accepted. The spokesman of the Pro-Christkind campaign even claimed that Santa Claus was an invention of the Coca Cola company who were using him in the company colors red and white to sell their beverages in winter. The New York Times know, however, that even though Coca Cola had used Santa Claus for a campaign around 1930, he had arrived in the US a long tie before that.