I
just finished reading Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, which is an anthology of
stories featuring better werewolves and Christmas. So it wasn't
required element in the story,many of the stories ended up featuring
Santa Claus. What really caught my attention was that, while many of the
stories speculated about either the real Santa Claus or where the story
Santa Claus to come from, only one story based their version of the
story on St. Nicholas of Myra, in fact no other stories even mentioned
him at all
I
remember as a school child recognizing that the Santa in Santa Claus
sounded like it might be part of a saint's name but not being able to
figure out which saint was mentioned. Tracing it back only to a figure
in Holland’s folk tradition and not to the saint whose saint day is
December 6. Growing up in the Protestant home, I remember Santa Claus
being treated as a pagan figure and not knowing anything about the
bishop and martyr who was steadfast in his faith and a champion of
orthodoxy.
It
was not until recent years that I finally found out about this figure
discovering of that funny floppy pointed hat with a puffball was
traditional in the area around Myra and that the red and white Suit was
based on bishops liturgical garments. It was only then that I found out
about three gold balls he gave as dowries help destitute orphans and
about the stores of them saving children's lives
I
found this information on the Internet pretty easily once I figured out
where to look. I think it says something about America sense of history
and about the sense of the roots of their traditions that this
information is so little-known. So did you know about Nicholas of Myra?
Do you think the internet will help people explore history and tradition
or make them even more focused on what’s now?
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| St. Nicolas |
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