St Nicholas is not Father Christmas. That much in advance. Although they both wear red robes and are therefore easy to confuse, they are two different stories and two different traditions. St Nicholas comes from the fourth century, Father Christmas from the 19th century. St Nicholas has a religious history, Father Christmas a secular one.
On 6 December, we remember Nicholas, a bishop who is said to have worked in Myra (now Cale/Demre, Turkey) in the early 4th century. His relics are kept in Bari. What we can tell about him comes largely from the Legenda Aurea, a collection of saints’ legends from the 13th century. There is hardly any historically verified knowledge about him. What these legends do tell, however, are stories of the truth of a different life, a kind life that miraculously helps those in need to find justice.
Legendary miracles
St Nicholas came from a rich family, but his parents died young. Nothing could console him for the loss, only when he distributed his wealth to the poor of the city did his heart feel lighter. He later went on a pilgrimage to the land where Jesus came from and, on his return to Myra, became a bishop and performed legendary miracles. For example, he is said to have helped the inhabitants of the town to find food by diverting ships during a famine.
He saves innocent people from the executioner and, under the cover of night, he threw gold balls into the house of an impoverished neighbour who was unable to pay the then customary bride price for his three daughters and wanted to send them into forced prostitution in order to de-escalate the situation. In some artistic depictions of this ’virgin legend’, it appears as if the saint can fly, like Santa Claus later on, who floats over the rooftops in a flying sleigh and lets gifts glide down chimneys.
St Nicholas is said to have had a particularly watchful eye for the needs of children. For example, he gave life back to three schoolchildren who had been killed and salted by an innkeeper out of greed.
Competitor in the red hooded cloak
To this day, St Nicholas is considered the patron saint of children and schoolchildren. However, his pedagogy is often regarded as rather dark and his standard question is usually: ’Have you been good’’ Only those who can answer in the affirmative receive the delicacies he brings in a large sack. To relieve him, the kind man, of this strictness, he is accompanied by companions. The best-known of these is Knecht Ruprecht, a rather brittle figure who is responsible for testing the children harshly and punishing them with the rod. Because this strict pedagogy was frowned upon during the Age of Enlightenment, St Nicholas also had a rival in the 19th century in the form of the good-natured, chubby-cheeked, sometimes somewhat clumsy Father Christmas. Father Christmas is more or less a profane, bourgeois St Nicholas who wears a red hooded cloak, while St Nicholas is equipped with episcopal regalia, mitre and staff. Father Christmas’ career took off when he was exported to the USA, especially when he joined forces with Coca-Cola in the 1930s. In Santa Claus, another relative of St Nicholas emerged at this time, also in a red coat but with a pointed cap and reindeer sleigh.
Global saint
The episcopal St Nicholas is remembered for his kindness and courage, which allowed him to repeatedly overturn existing conditions. This is also demonstrated by the medieval practice of child bishops. On 6 December, children took over the leadership of monastery schools in the spirit of an ’upside-down world’.
St Nicholas is an ecumenical, possibly a global saint. Early on, he found his place in the Eastern and Western calendars of saints. In a litany from Byzantium, which probably originated around 1000 AD, it says: ’The Occident and the Orient sing and praise him. There is no nation, no country, no city, no spot, no island, even in the most distant parts of the world, where his name is not honoured’. His good deeds and his kindness are honoured by Christians and non-Christians alike. This is perhaps a comforting message, especially in dark times like the present - everyone likes to remember St Nicholas as a symbol of kindness and generosity, of the unifying power of sharing and giving, of heavenly miracles for the afflicted and for children, and thus nurture the hope that another world is possible.
The quote comes from: Thomas Hauschild, Father Christmas. The true story, Frankfurt/Main 2012, 102.
