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SANTA:
WHAT'S HE BEEN UP TO?
The one we call Santa Claus has a hidden history. For instance, his name
is apparently not Santa at all. And though his existence is not confirmed
by any historical document, nothing certain is known of his life except,
according to legend, his original name was Nick and he was probably bishop
of Myra in the 4th century.
Nicholas' or Nick as we grew to know him, was reputedly born
into a wealthy Christian family. According to tradition, he was born in
the ancient Lycian seaport city of Patara, and when young, traveled to
Palestine and Egypt. It is thought, that he became bishop of Myra soon
after returning home to Lycia. Stories report he was imprisoned during
the Roman emperor Diocletian's persecution of Christians but was released
under the rule of Emperor Constantine the Great to attend the first Council
of Nicaea in 325. After his death, Nick was buried within his church at
Myra, and by the 6th century his shrine there had become well known. By
1087 either Italian sailors or merchants stole his alleged remains from
Myra and took them to Bari, Italy. People freaked and the incident greatly
increased the saint's popularity throughout Europe and Italy. Bari was
to become one of the most crowded of all pilgrimage centers. Legend holds,
to this day Nicholas' relics remain enshrined within the 11th-century
basilica of San Nicola. During the Middle Ages, devotion to Nicholas extended
to all parts of Europe. When the Moors sacked Nicholas' original burial
site the residents of Bari stole him back in order to keep them in Christian
hands. So how did the legend come from Italy to…. Upon returning his remains
to Bari, one of the sailors stole a small bone from the deceased saint.
A terrible storm arose and endangered the ship and crew. The sailors knew
of other stories…. stories of Nicholas using his power over the waters
to stop the slave-trader's ships from transporting early Christians. Fearing
he was utilizing these same powers from beyond the grave, they returned
the bone to the casket. Miraculously the storm subsided. Never again would
sailors doubt the power of their new patron saint. So he became the patron
Saint of Mariners. (He was also known as the patron saint of Russia and
Greece, of charitable fraternities and guilds, of children, shipwrights,
unmarried girls, merchants, and pawnbrokers. Cities like Fribourg, Switzerland,
and Moscow adopted him as their patron saint to keep them safe and prosperous.
Thousands of European churches were dedicated to him with one as early
as the 6th century and built by the Roman emperor Justinian I, at Constantinople.)
What do sailors have to do with Santa? Dutch traders involved in “trafficking”
goods to and from Turkey, stopped in Bari on December 6th. This is the
day when St. Nick's bones are traditionally brought in from the sea to
re-enact the whole "saving the bones from the Moors" thing. The Dutch
traders loved this whole idea, and took news of their new saint back home
to tell everyone. Somehow the Dutch must have missed the point. They changed
the idea of having this guy named Nick as their patron saint to this guy
named Sinterklaas. Same guy different name. Then they gave him a slave
named Black Peter. Pretty drastic considering Nicholas' hatred of slavery.
Although they had Sinterklaas come into town on December 6th from the
sea, that is where the story loses continuity. According to the Dutch,
he now dresses all in white and tows around a bearer for the toys he brings
for only the good children. If you were a bad child you would be thrown
in a sack, by Black Peter and taken to be held in the church overnight,
while all the other children got to play with their new toys and eat all
of the good food and then released the next day! Since when was Santa
a disciplinarian? And arrived here how? When the Dutch brought their society
to New Amsterdam (now New York) they also brought with them their Christmas
traditions and the Dutch immigrant Johann VanDyke. He was later to influence
forever what Christmas became. The then constable of New Amsterdam, he
became good friends with Clement C. Moore, the man who would write "A
Visit From St. Nicholas". Originally a poem he’d penned for his children
after a night of heavy partying with VanDyke and other Dutch friends “A
Visit…” would provide us with all the images and stereotypes we live with
yearly. VanDyke told Moore tales of SinterKlauss’ generosity while smoking
a Dutch pipe, apparently wearing a red suit trimmed with white fur and
from Moore’s penned physical description "a ripe jolly old elf". Oh yeah,
Johann was also quite overweight and his belly jiggled when he laughed.
Johann and Clement spent that memorable December 6th partying and making
merry until the wee hours of the morning. It was after that night Clement
wrote his immortal poem. The story was picked up by some nothing newspaper,
published and the rest is history. Known as "Twas the Night Before Christmas"
it ran coast to coast for generations. You know, the flying reindeer and
the dancing sugar plums? The Dutch. And that’s it? Many years later Coca
Cola and Macy's Department store solidified the new Santa Claus image
that we all know today. Driven by commercial prospects they utilized the
image to sell.. sell… sell. All of this thanks to a generous bishop, a
seafaring patron and a couple of stoned Dutchman. Ok, but why the gifts?
Nicholas' reputation for generosity and kindness stems from stories of
miracles he allegedly performed for the poor and unhappy. He was reputed
to have given marriage dowries of gold to 3 girls whom poverty would otherwise
have forced into lives of prostitution. Knowing their parents to be too
poor to offer a dowry, Nicholas hung stockings of coins from the chimney
mantle when everyone was asleep. The girls, it is told, woke up to catch
Nicholas red handed. Another story tells how he restored the lives of
3 children who had been chopped up by a butcher and left in a brine tub
to dissolve. OK, that one’s a bit far fetched and few of us practice that
tradition today. POST
YOUR THOUGHTS
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