Who is St. Nick? A Brief Overview of the Man in Red

Possibly one of the most universal and well known icons in history is Santa Claus. While his title varies from country to country and from person to person, the icons overall character remains consistent. This giving and caring symbol of the holiday season originated from a real person, Nicholas of Myra.

Nicholas was born into a wealthy family during the third century (260 A.D.) in a Greek colony Patara in Lycia, which is now a town (renamed) in Turkey. He and his family were devout Christians who believed in helping the poor, needy, and the sick. When Nicholas was young his parents tragically died, and Nicholas sold his inheritance and began giving to those in need. He was a man of God and soon became Bishop of Myra. His Uncle, Bishop of Patara, played a large role in Nicholas' life. His Uncle showed him how to live simply, and by doing so receive great rewards by giving.

His acts of kindness were well known, and his love for children and concern for sailors and ships stood out. Legends of St. Nicholas bringing back the dead, halting storms, helping wrongly accused prisoners from death, and freeing slaves exist, to name just a few. He was said to be a shy man who wanted to give gifts anonymously. He would leave gifts on doorsteps, in windows, in stockings drying by the fire, and in some cases thrown down chimneys. In fact, the tradition of leaving gifts in stockings originated from one of these many legends. St. Nicholas was said to have dropped three bags of gold down a chimney which landed in the stockings of three young girls whose father did not have enough money to save them from being sold as slaves.

By the 1400s St. Nicholas was the third most well known religious figures, aside from Jesus and Mary. When Dutch settlers came to New Amsterdam they brought with them the St. Nicholas tradition. The name was translated to Sinter Klass, which eventually converted to Santa Clause.

The elf like images of Santa Claus, as described in the classic tale "Twas the Night Before Christmas", changed to a larger sized grandfather type man in a red suite, thanks to companies such as Coca-Cola, cartoonist Thomas Nast, and writers such as Washington Irving.

Originally Nicholas of Myra's legacy was celebrated on December 6^th, and by some catholic and orthodox Christian churches this celebration still exists. This holiday, which is commonly called feast day, is the day which St. Nicholas died. With this date being so close to Christmas, contributors to Santa Claus' modern image began associated him with delivering presents on Christmas Eve.

All information obtained from www.saintnicholascenter.org