Who is Santa?

A lot of different Christian traditions created what we now call as Santa Clause. St. Nicholas, Bishop Nicholas, Santa Clause, are all born of the same traditions, but are different societies ideals of good, generous, and joy.

The entire tradition started with one man. Bishop Nicholas, was a real man. He was kind to the poor at a time when the life of a poor man was worth less than a good hound. Lords demanded a seven year old boy swear fealty for the rest his life. Fealty meant ‘a life of slavery.’ This was a time when a woman had no rights to her body. If a Lord took her, and she became pregnant, she and her bastard child would be cast out to die. This was the world that Bishop Nicholas lived in. The world of Martin Luther, of a new awakening of the bible, which was soon to be squelched and abridged by King James. It was a time when a woman could rule for an entire lifetime without being a regent – for the first time in modern history.

The original Bishop Nicholas was a far cry from the roly-poly red-suited American symbol for merry holiday festivity and commercial activity. He evolved, because society needed an icon.

St. Nicholas lived a precarious existence during the 16th century Protestant Reformation. Thousands of Catholics were murdered at the time. The Guise family in France killed hundreds of thousands of Protestants. King Henry of England killed hundreds of thousands of Catholics. In fact, every decade, every change of bishop, king, or queen, changes which religious group was to be murdered at the time.

Reformers and counter-reformers tried to stamp out St. Nicholas-related customs. They had little success. England is the only country were the religious traditions of Christmas were permanently altered. This is because the common people loved St. Nicholas, so he survived in European as people continued to place nuts, apples, and sweets in shoes left beside beds, on windowsills, or before the hearth.

In January 1809, Washington Irving published the satirical fiction, Knickerbocker's History of New York, with numerous references to a jolly St. Nicholas character. This Saint followed the Dutch tradition of a jolly man.

In 1823, from a poem destined to become a classic, "A Visit from St. Nicholas," now "The Night Before Christmas," captured American’s Hearts.

Traditions changed, first food was left on window sills, then in stockings, now it is more common to exchange food and wine with other adults in the form of Christmas Gift Baskets. Traditions evolve, despite the term’s definition in the dictionary.