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Santa Claus traditions |
Saint Nicholas
Santa Claus: Where Did he come from?
The origin of Santa Claus depends on which country's story you
choose to adopt. Santa Claus comes from the Dutch words "Sinter
Klaas", which is what they call their favorite saint, St. Nicholas.
He is said to have died on December 6, A.D. 342. December 6th is
celebrated as his feast day, and in many countries this is the day
he arrives with his presents and punishments.
Nicholas lived
in what is now called Turkey. He was born about A.D. 280 in the town
of Patras. His parents were wealthy and he was well
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| Chimneys aren't the only means of
entrance for Santa Claus. Locked doors aren't a problem for
him . |
educated.
Nicholas seems to have had a remarkable childhood. While still a
young boy he was made Bishop of Myra, and because of this he has
been known ever since as the Boy Bishop. He was renowned for his
extreme kindness and generosity – often going out at night and
taking presents to the needy. Santa's rise to fame can be traced to
two legends – the three daughters and the children at the Inn.
Three Daughters
The first story shows his generosity. There
were three unmarried girls living in Patras who came from a
respectable family, but they could not get married because their
father had lost all his money and had no dowries for the girls. The
only thing the father thought he could do was to sell them when they
reached the age to marry. Hearing of the imminent fate, Nicholas
secretly delivered a bag of gold to the eldest daughter, who was at
the right age for marriage but had despaired of ever finding a
suitor. Her family was thrilled at her good fortune and she went on
to become happily married. When the next daughter came of age,
Nicholas also delivered gold to her.
According to the story
handed down, Nicholas threw the bag through the window and it landed
in the daughter's stocking, which she had hung by the fire to dry.
Another version claims that Nicholas dropped the bag of gold down
the chimney.
By the time the youngest daughter was old enough
for marriage, the father was determined to discover his daughters'
benefactor. He, quite naturally, thought that she might be given a
bag of gold too, so he decided to keep watch all night. Nicholas,
true to form, arrived and was seized, and his identity and
generosity were made known to all. As similar stories of the
bishop's generosity spread, anyone who received an unexpected gift
thanked St. Nicholas.
St. Nicholas and Children
Another
one of the many stories told about St. Nicholas explains why he was
made a patron saint of children. On a journey to Nicaea, he stopped
on the way for the night at an inn. During the night he dreamt that
a terrible crime had been committed in
the building. His dream
was quite horrifying. In it three young sons of a wealthy Asian, on
their way to study in Athens, had been murdered and robbed by the
innkeeper. The next morning he confronted the innkeeper and forced
him to confess. Apparently the innkeeper had previously murdered
other guests and salted them down for pork or had dismembered their
bodies and pickled them in casks of brine. The three boys were still
in their casks, and Nicholas made the sign of the cross over them
and they were restored to life.
Where did religion
come in?
In newly Christianized areas where the pagan Celtic and Germanic cults
remained strong, legends of the god Wodan were blended with those of
various Christian saints; Saint Nicholas was one of these. There
were Christian areas where Saint Nicholas ruled alone; in other
locations, he was assisted by the pagan Dark Helper (the slave he
had inherited from the Germanic god Wodan). In other remote areas,
where the Church held little power, ancient pockets of the Olde
Religion controlled traditions. Here the Dark Helper ruled alone,
sometimes in a most confusing manner, using the cover name of Saint
Nicholas or "Klaus," without in any way changing his threatening,
Herne/Pan, fur-clad appearance. (This was the figure later used by
the artist Nast as the model for the early American Santa Claus.)
The Catholic Saint Nicholas also had a confusing past. He was a
compilation of two separate saints (one from Myra in Asia Minor, the
other from Pinora), both of whom were – as the Church now admits –
nothing more than Christianized water deities (possibly related to
the Greco-Roman god Poseidon/Neptune.)
After the Vikings
raided the Mediterranean, they brought the Christian Saint Nicholas
cult from Italy to northern Europe, and there proceeded to build
Saint Nicholas churches for the protection of their sailors. When,
for instance, William the Conqueror's fleet was hit by a storm
during his invasion of England, he is known to have called out for
protection to Saint Nicholas. Although in those days, church
services only mentioned Saint Nicholas as the protector of
seafarers, they initially condoned a blending of the Mediterranean
Nicholas myths with some that had been attached to the pagan
Germanic god Wodan and to those of the even earlier Herne/Pan
traditions.
By absorbing such pagan feasts and traditions,
the Christian Church could subtly bring in its own theology: in this
case, establishing the good Saint Nicholas, bringer of love and
gifts, while grudgingly allowing the presence of the Olde Religion's
Herne/Pan, but only as a slave to Saint Nicholas. Thus, in parts of
Europe, the Church turned Herne into Saint Nicholas' captive,
chained Dark Helper; none other than Satan, the Dark One, symbolic
of all evil. His only remaining tasks now were to carry the bag,
scare maidens and children into devout behavior, and drag sinners
and pagans off to the Christian hell. Yet, in spite of this
character assassination, the poor masses continued to see in this
enslaved Dark Helper a reflection of their own enslavement. He
remained their Herne, thumbing his nose at the Christian Church; a
mischievous, nostalgic reminder of the days of their own free and
lusty pagan past.
In Holland and several other European
countries, the Saint Nicholas figure is still highly esteemed. He
appears as a tall dignified bearded white-haired old man dressed as
a Catholic bishop complete with cloak, mytre, and pastoral staff, a
seemingly genuine Catholic saint, but with a bizarre quite unsaintly
habit of riding through the skies on a white horse followed by his
Dark Helper. It seems that our Catholic saint inherited some of
these customs from the pagan Germanic god Wodan, who had also been a
bearded, white-haired old man, also dressed in a hat and cloak,
carried a staff (or spear), rode a holy white horse and dragged
along the same dark slave/helper on a chain.
The Dutch
Sinterklaas brings gifts to good children, while bad children are
harassed by Zwarte Piet, the Dark Helper, who – brandishing his
peculiar broom-like rod – threatens to put sassy young women and
naughty children in the sack in which he has carried the gifts, the
idea being that he will take them away to some terrible place in
Spain (where Saint Nicholas, for no known historical reason, was
supposed to have come from). This, of course, never happens since
the good Christian Sinterklaas always intervenes on behalf of the
naughty child – provided the child promises to better his or her
ways. The bad (pagan) Dark Helper is then admonished by Sinterklaas
and ordered to stop threatening the children.
Next,
Sinterklaas distributes gifts to all "who have been good" (or until
the twentieth century, to all "who knew their prayers"). In
exchange, the children are supposed to leave food offerings for the
saint's horse (usually hay and carrots), placed in either a shoe or
stocking. In some areas, a glass of gin is also left as an offering
for the good saint himself. When, by daybreak, the offerings have
disappeared and been replaced by gifts, it proves that Sinterklaas
has indeed paid a visit during the night.
We can clearly
recognize in all this the lesson taught the pagans by the Christian
Church, here represented by Saint Nicholas: You may enjoy your old
fall/winter feasts, as long as you have learned your prayers and
become good Christians. You will then be rewarded, but if you have
not done so, you will be dragged away to hell by your own fearful,
pagan past and its representative, the dark Herne/Pan – who is none
other than Satan himself – unless you repent, here and now!
St. Nicholas with a European flair
Nicholas' natural affinity with children led him to be adopted as their
patron saint, and his generosity to the custom of
giving gifts to them on his feast day. The custom became especially
widespread in the Low Countries, where the Dutch seamen had carried
reports home of the saint's generosity. St. Nicholas was, however, a
tremendously popular saint everywhere. Both Russia and Greece
adopted him as their patron saint, and there are more churches in
the world named after him than any of the apostles (especially The
Netherlands).
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| Saint Nicholas was well-known for his
generosity. |
In the European countries, St. Nicholas is
usually pictured as a bearded saint, wearing ecclesiastical robes
and riding a white horse. He carries a basket of gifts for the good
children and a batch of rods for the naughty ones.
In old
Czechoslovakia, Svaty Mikulas was brought down from heaven on a
golden cord by an angel. When he arrived on Christmas Day, the
children rushed to the table to say their prayers. If they did well,
he told the angel who came with him to give them presents.
In
parts of the Alps, "ghosts of the field" cleared the way for St.
Nicholas. Behind them came a man wearing a goat's head, and a masked
demon with a birch switch. In Germany, twelve young men dressed in
straw and wearing animal masks danced along after St. Nicholas,
ringing cowbells. At each house, after gifts were given, the masked
men drove the young people out and pretended to beat them!
For the children of the Netherlands, Dec. 6th is still more
exciting than Christmas Day, for then St. Nicholas arrives. His
arrival is celebrated and this is the day when children receive
their presents. The excitement begins on the last Sunday in
November, where everywhere can be heard the words, "Look there is
the steamer bringing us St. Nick!"
St. Nicholas traditionally
arrives by sea and disembarks at Amsterdam. He then mounts a white
horse for a processional ride through the streets. Clothed in a
bishop's scarlet cope and mitre, he wears white gloves and an
enormous bishop's ring on his left hand. Black Peter accompanies
Nicholas. St. Nicholas' arrival is greeted with cheers from the
thousands of children and adults who line the route. Supposedly the
bishop came from Spain. This story can be traced back to the
sixteenth century when the Spanish dominated the Low Countries. The
doublet, puffed velvet breeches, hose and plumed berets worn by his
attendants – in particular Black Peter – are another forcible
reminder of that period. Black Peter carries a large sack in which
he is said to put all the boys and girls who have misbehaved during
the course of the last 12 months. With bad kids in his sack, Black
Peter then takes them away to Spain.
Immigrants to the New
World must have recognized something familiar in the little figure
of St. Nick. His fur costume suggested Pelz-Nicol to a Bavarian, and
the little gnome-like figure Jule-nissen to a Scandinavian. His
elfish qualities rang bells with other nationalities too, for
example the Irish with their tradition of the "little people". In
many ways, Santa was recognizable for many people, which probably
helps to explain why he was adopted so readily – a new, but
familiar, symbol for a new country.
Gift-giving comes
of age
As
in many other European countries, if presents were exchanged at this
season, it was usually done at New Year's Eve and they were between
adults rather than for children. In the 1840s, however, there was an
increasing emphasis on Christmas Day. This seems to have happened
for several reasons. The press – which now reached a far wider
audience – stressed the fact that Christmas Day was the celebration
of the birth of Jesus. Birthdays had always been a day for giving
presents and it was a natural step to celebrate Jesus' birth by
giving gifts on that day.
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| Kriss Kringle, another name for Santa, is
derived from Germany's Christkindel, which means Christ Child. |
Before Christmas had been banned by
Oliver Cromwell from 1644 to 1660, there had been an old custom of
giving sweets and small presents to children on Christmas Day. This
had virtually stopped, but now the custom was enjoying a revival, in
part because of the many articles that were being written in the
Christmas editions of magazines about the "old traditions" of
Christmas. Another influential element was that, just as in America,
children were becoming a greater focus in society, and it seemed
appropriate to use this time to give them greater emphasis.
The importation of the Christmas tree from Germany, and the
accompanying rituals of gift giving on Christmas Eve, gave further
impetus to the idea of presents. Santa Claus provided the final
influence. By the end of the century, Christmas Day was firmly fixed
– in England at least – as a children's festival and the day on
which presents were given.
Santa Claus, or "Father
Christmas", came back into English Christmas festivities when people
were reminded of him from America. This injected new life into the
English Christmas and was the answer to those who prayed that Father
Christmas and his customs may be restored "to some portion of their
ancient honors."
Celebrations around the midwinter solstice
had been used for gift giving since Roman times. At the Roman winter
festival – called the Saturnalia because they worshipped Saturn as
the god of everything that grew – the Romans had a public holiday
that lasted for a week. Everyone took part in the feasting and
games. Even the slaves were made free for a day and allowed to say
and do what they liked. People exchanged presents; a custom called
Strenae, as a symbol of goodwill. At first, these gifts were green
boughs from the grove of the goddess Strenia. Later, gifts were
given of sweet pastries to ensure a pleasant year, precious stones,
gold or silver coins to symbolize wealth, and, the most popular of
all, candles as a symbol of warmth and light. As the Roman Empire
spread, so did this custom of gift giving to other parts of the
world. Since the Saturnalia marked the beginning of a new year, in
most countries presents were given on New Year's Day, not Christmas
Day. The advent and spread of Christianity caused the gift giving to
be moved to other times of the year.
In Germany, the packages
of Christmas gifts were called "Christ-bundles" and often came in
bundles of three. There was something rewarding, something useful
and something for discipline. In the seventeenth century, a typical
bundle would contain candy, sugarplums, cakes, apples, nuts, dolls
and toys. The useful things would be clothes, caps, mittens,
stockings, shoes and slippers. The gifts "that belong to teaching,
obedience and discipline" were items such as ABC tables, paper,
pencils, books and the "Christ-rod". This rod, attached to the
bundle, was a pointed reminder for good behavior. Another way of
presenting gifts was the old German custom of the "Christmas ship",
in which bundles for children were stored away. To some extent, this
custom was also adopted in England, but never with the same degree
of popularity.
In the centuries before Santa Claus was well
known, and still today in many countries where he has not been
widely adopted, the child Jesus is the gift-bringer. He comes with
the angels during the night, trimming the tree and putting the
presents underneath.
In Spain and Spanish-speaking countries,
the child Jesus (el Nino Jesus) brings Christmas gifts for the
children during Holy Night. He is found in the morning in the
previously empty crib, and all the presents are arranged in front of
it.
The German name of the Christ Child is Christkind,
commonly used in its diminutive form Christkindel. His messenger, a
young girl with a golden crown who holds a tiny "Tree of Light",
brings the gifts of the Christ Child. Still today in America, "Kriss
Kringle" -- deriving from the German Christkindel -- is
another name used for Santa Claus. |
