St. Nicholas Day
St. Nicholas is familiar figure to many people. While sometimes seen as the forerunner of Santa Claus, he is a feature of the modern Christmas season in his own right.
St. Nicholas was a Bishop (hence the crooked Bishop’s staff he is typically drawn with, not to be confused with a shepherd’s staff) who was born in what is now modern-day Turkey, in about 280 A.D.
He is most known for his generosity to, and miracles surrounding, the poor and sick. In addition to being the patron Saint of sailors and a number of cities and nations, he is also considered the kindly patron Saint of children.
(On a semi-related note, we’ll get to the children-centric Christmas figure of the Belsnickel later this Christmas season. Unlike areas of Europe with St. Nicholas (or “Sinter Klaas”) as the main personage of the season, the Belsnickle is the heavy favorite for Pennsylvania Dutch areas of the New World: He’s got the whips and scary masks and is certainly not the patron Saint of kids, cheerfulness, or positive-reinforcement child rearing).
But more on that later, now back to the charming Saint at hand. Many European traditions (and Christian households the world over) still celebrate St. Nicholas’s Day on December 6th. For some this means leaving out carrots and other food on the night of the 5th for the Saint’s horse or donkey, and receiving in return citrus, gold coins, nuts, candy (including candy canes to resemble his staff), or other small gifts. Traditionally these are received in the recipient’s shoes or slippers in the morning!
Growing up as a Protestant, we heard about the original St. Nick but didn’t really embrace the lore. I mean, the Saints were around, I suppose: we knew they existed, we occasionally sang loudly about them “marching in,” but they didn’t really factor into our everyday world the way the do in other Christian traditions. Our slippers were empty, and we didn’t know to be disappointed.
For those with little ones at home or in a Sunday School classroom, this is a great chance to teach the “generosity” aspect of Christmas, and the selfless that should happen through gift-giving by emulating the kindness of the great St. Nicholas.
There should be gold coins and/or chocolate in this photo, but honestly I was too lazy to drive all the way to Target this weekend. So it’s caramel creams instead, and there’s your dose of social media reality for the day. Happy St. Nicholas Day!