Who is Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas, a Catholic Saint that many people can associate with as
being jolly old Saint Nick. Now while some people will consider him as
being Santa Claus which could be held to some truth because of the way
that he lived his life has his Saints day celebrated nineteen days
prior to Christmas when Santa Claus comes out to share his gifts with
the world. However, here is a history of Saint Nicholas that you might
not have thought of and how many people consider him and Santa Claus to
be mirrors of each other.
Now some people might consider Saint
Nicholas to be similar to Santa Claus because during his feast day on
December sixth the nuns in certain regions would deposit bread and
other necessary items to the needy in the area. Now this was done close
to Christmas time, but it was still unexpected gifts to the needy
people who would not have had any food if it wasn't for this deposit of
food.
Some of the other reasons why Saint Nicholas and Santa
Claus could be considered the same is that the parents in the Catholic
regions of Central Europe would inform the priest if the children were
behaving or misbehaving. Now this is something that parents do now with
Santa Claus to help guide the children into a good behavior that they
can maintain. If you think about around Christmas time the children now
seem to get along better because they know for certain that Santa Claus
is keeping a close eye on them. So that would be similar to the time
period for when Saint Nicholas was around.
However, one thing
that you will be curious to learn is that Saint Nicholas is the patron
Saint of Sailors. Now according to some accounts Saint Nicholas became
the patron Saint of sailors by saving a sailors life during a sea voyage[1].
So that is why he would become to be known as the patron Saint of
sailors. So it would seem odd that the person who we have transposed to
be more like Santa Claus started out as Saint Nicholas who is the
patron Saint of sailors, not of gifts.
Saint Nicholas is a great
Saint who many people have decided that he is known as Santa Claus. Now
that you know more about the history of this Saint you will want to be
sure to reiterate that with your children so that they know that Santa
Claus is not real person, but a person that is a real life Saint that
has been made to look like Santa Claus.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicholas
