Today is the Feast Day of Saint Nicholas, (270-343) who evolved, through the centuries, into Santa Claus, because of his legendary roles as a protector of children and secret gift-giver. This was quite an evolution, in more ways than one! Nicholas is known alternatively as Nicholas of Myra, as he served as Bishop of that southern Turkish city (now called Demre) for much of his life, and Nicholas of Bari, as his relics were removed to southern Italy in the eleventh century. The Italians who confiscated the relics of the revered Saint claimed that were acting in the name of “security”, as Myra was increasingly vulnerable to Muslim attacks, but one could certainly ascertain that it was a case of simple theft. There are many stories associated with Nicholas’s holy works, so many that he is also referred to as Nicholas “the wonder-worker”, but the most popular relates a rather dark tale in which Nicholas visited an inn during a regional famine, and quickly discerned that the innkeeper had chopped up three boys and encased them in brine to sell them as pickled pork. Nicholas brought the innocents back to life, and evolved into the savior of children who found themselves “in a pickle”.
British Library MS Stowe 12, “The Stowe Breviary”, 1322-25; Dutch woodcut print, 1480-1490, and hand-colored engraving from a Flemish prayer-book by the “Monogrammist M”, 1500-1525, both British Museum.
Images of Nicholas with the resuscitated boys (in their pickle barrel) can be found in all manner of religious texts from the medieval and early modern eras, as illustrated by those above, and were also the single focus of a succession of paintings and prints from the Renaissance and after. When Nicholas is not in the company of the boys, he is often pictured with the young women whom he saved from lives of prostitution by secretly gifting their father with gold for their dowries, another work of wonder that solidified his connection with the young (and vulnerable).
Two altarpiece panels representing the holy deeds of Saint Nicholas by Bicci di Lorenzo, 1433-35: Saint Nicholas Resuscitating Three Youths and Saint Nicholas Providing Dowries, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The religious history of Saint Nicholas is pretty easy to reconstruct, but when hagiography meets folklore it gets a bit more confusing. One thing is certain: the transformation of the saint into the jolly dispenser of gifts is much more a phenomenon of western Christian culture than it is of the Orthodox Church, which still recognizes Saint Basil of Caesarea as the benevolent gift-giver (on his feast day of January 1). The other factor that seems pretty clear is the role of the Reformation. The modern Santa Claus seems to be an amalgamation of the Dutch and Flemish Sinterklaas, the English “Father Christmas” and a secularized Saint Nicholas. While the Dutch Sinterklaas still arrives on the eve of St. Nicholas, wearing a Bishop’s hat and bearing a staff, the Protestant prohibition of his veneration gradually transformed him into a secular figure. Across the English Channel, a similarly-dressed (and aged), “Father Christmas” reemerges only after the Reformation and Revolution, when the Restoration ushers in a return to the “merry old England” of memory. And when these figures cross the Atlantic, the melting pot of American culture (and Coca Cola) gradually transforms them into our very own Santa Claus.
Engraving of Saint Nicholas by Antonius Wierix, 1604, British Museum; Sinterklaas celebration in Amsterdam, 2011, and a Father Christmas card, c. 1890, Victoria & Albert Museum.
December 6th, 2012 at 9:03 pm
Fascinating – I will never say I’m “in a pickle” again 😉
December 7th, 2012 at 9:39 am
Thanks, Vickie–I am venturing into your territory soon: so inspired and excited about Barbara Stanwyck on TCM this month!
December 6th, 2012 at 11:43 pm
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December 7th, 2012 at 2:36 am
If I remember rightly, Saint Nicholas’ gift of a dowry to the three poor girls consisted of three golden balls. These are still used today in certain pawn shops in Britain, where you will see three golden balls hung outside as their street sign.
There is also a beautiful painting of St Nick in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, albeit a fragment from an alter piece: http://www.ashmolean.org/ash/objectofmonth/2001-12/theobject.htm.
December 7th, 2012 at 7:00 am
What a beautiful image, Alastair–thanks so much for linking us to it! I think I could have written more about the gold balls, but I had NO idea about the pawn shop connection. Now I’m intrigued.
December 7th, 2012 at 8:41 am
You don’t see them as often as in the past, but I just did a Google image search and found a suitably Victorian-looking pawnbroker’s shop, with the traditional sign: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/516701
It’s really Dickensian, isn’t it?
December 7th, 2012 at 9:25 am
Love the pawn shop balls–that custom did not make it over here (I think!)
December 7th, 2012 at 4:47 am
That sheds new light on Santa! I love the dowry idea, and the picture of him handing out to supplicants. The colours are heavenly. It s the green and the orange that do it . Thanks!!
December 7th, 2012 at 7:01 am
Always great to have an artist’s perspective!
December 7th, 2012 at 12:05 pm
Santa Claus day (6th December) is my favourite day of the year, when naughty German kids of all ages get their come-uppance and find a stick in their boot on the window sil instead of sweets and presents. We regularly gave a stick to my dad!
I didn’t know about the dowry, thanks for this informative festive post!
December 19th, 2012 at 8:14 am
What is the appropriate greeting for this day?
December 19th, 2012 at 8:19 am
Well, I suppose it’s Happy Saint Nicholas’ day! I’m not entirely sure as we don’t celebrate it here in the US. Good question.
January 20th, 2013 at 11:43 pm
Urghhh! That story sounds awful. Who in his right mind would pickle boys?!
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