Jesus, Santa, and Saint Nicholas
When you drive through your neighborhood in December, the “Christmas Wars” are evident. Some houses are decorated with Dasher, Dancer, Prancer and the rest pulling Santa through the yard; while other houses have shepherds surrounding Joseph and Mary looking over the manger. A few others are a bit more transparent about their convictions with their “Keep Christ in Christmas” signs. It seems like two different holidays are being celebrated at the same time. One focused on material rewards for good behavior and another celebrating the birth of the Savior of the world. But what if the man in the red suit and the baby in the manger may not be as far apart as we think? Many of us may not know that the jolly old legend of Santa Claus is based on the 4th-century bishop from Myra, Saint Nicholas. Christmas season begs us to ask: who was Saint Nicholas? How did we get from a 4th century bishop from Turkey to a fat man in the North Pole? And how is Saint Nicholas relevant to our celebration of Christmas today?
Saint Nicholas: The Original Santa
Nicholas was born around 270 A.D. off the coast of southwestern Turkey in the small town of Myra. He grew up in a Christian home to wealthy parents who died when he was fairly young, leaving Nicholas a substantial inheritance. Where many young men would have been tempted to live lavishly, Nicholas instead chose to devote his wealth to God and His Kingdom.
It wasn’t long after this when the most famous event of his life occurred–the event that would eventually lead to the legend of Santa Claus. There was a man in Nicholas’ town who had three daughters and by some foolish act squandered the family’s wealth. In those days, for a daughter to be married, her father had to pay a “dowry”–an ancient traditional payment essentially transferring the daughter’s property over to the new husband. With the family’s newfound poverty, the father could not pay the dowry for his daughters to be married. To add to his foolishness, the father decided that the only way of survival would be to sell his daughters into prostitution. Somehow news of this reached young Nicholas who came up with a plan to help. During the night, Nicholas snuck over to their house, threw a bag of gold through their open window, and quickly ran home. When the father awoke and found the gold, he fell on his knees praising God for the provision, and arranged for his daughters to be married. There you have it: the first Christmas! No chimneys, elves, or reindeer. Just a generous, God-fearing man giving to a family in great need. Generosity became one of the main marks of Nicholas’ life.
Nicholas was also a man who cherished the incarnation of Jesus Christ. You could say that he devoted his life to teaching the true meaning of Christmas: the message of the eternal Son of God coming down for our salvation. Nicholas would eventually be made bishop of Myra during the heyday of a heresy that waged a real war on Christmas: Arianism. Arius taught the Son of God is a created being, inferior to God the Father. Nicholas knew that if this heresy was true, we would have no hope of salvation. If anyone less than Jesus, God the Son, eternally co-equal with the Father, came down for our salvation, how could our sins be fully paid for? How could we be adopted into the family of God if it was not the true eternal Son of God who came down? Nicholas would spend much of his life teaching and defending the truth that the one who came down on Christmas night was the eternal Son of God to bring us into the life-giving fellowship of the Trinity. In fact, so great was his love for the message of Christmas, that another famous (or infamous) legend of Nicholas has endured through history. He attended the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. as an old man. As Arius was defending his theology, Nicholas became so enraged that he walked over and slapped the heretic in the face. Though this is likely an exaggerated legend, it is a testament to his zeal for the Lord and his love for the message of Christmas.
From Turkey to the North Pole
So how did we go from a 4th century minister of the gospel in Myra to a toy-making, red suit-wearing, cookie-addict in the North Pole? And how did we go from gracious generosity to moralistic materialism? Like most things, the change wasn't overnight. Many factors over the centuries slowly transformed the bishop into the modern-day Santa. Surprisingly, the main factors were Martin Luther, poetry, the American Civil War and Coca-Cola.
Shortly after Nicholas was canonized as a saint, Christians began celebrating his feast day on December 6th, the anniversary of his death. Rather than sharing a meal or having a celebratory party, Christians honored his life by giving one another gifts, mirroring his generous spirit, and recounting the story of Nicholas throwing gold to the poor father and his daughters. It wasn’t long before parents began to tell their children that it was Saint Nicholas himself who brought them gifts during the night.
It was Martin Luther’s efforts that pushed the celebration of Saint Nicholas one step closer to our modern-day Santa. Luther did not want to get rid of the practice of giving gifts entirely but wanted to refocus the tradition on Jesus. He did so by moving the day of gift giving from December 6th to Christmas Eve and by emphasizing that the one who brings us gifts, or rather the gift, is the “Christ Child” (Christkindl in German) rather than Nicholas the Saint. However, Luther’s efforts were only half successful. While many did continue to give gifts on Christmas Eve, Saint Nicholas by and large remained the traditional gift giver. In fact, in non-German speaking countries, “Christkindl” eventually evolved into just another name for Santa Claus: “Kris Kringle.”
Over a century later, as many came to settle in the New World, Dutch Catholics brought with them their celebration of “Sint Nikolaas” (the Dutch pronunciation of Saint Nicholas), who they said would ride to their home on a donkey delivering presents during the night. On Christmas Eve, Dutch children would leave their clogs near the door of their home, filled with hay for Nicholas’ donkey. In the morning, the hay would be gone and their clogs would be filled with gifts. Over time, “Sint Nikolaas” was shortened to “Sinterklaas.”
In the 19th century, another significant change would come. Clement Clark Moore wrote the now classic book of Christmas poems ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas. Wanting to make the stories of Sinterklaas a bit more relatable to English readers, Moore changed Sinterklaas’ wagon to a sleigh pulled by the famous eight reindeer (Rudolf wouldn’t show up for another hundred years or so). Saint Nicholas came through the chimney rather than the door. And instead of clogs by the door, children hung their stockings by the chimney. Moore’s poems altered Santa’s appearance as well. Rather than a skinny bishop, Moore described Santa as a round “jolly old elf” dressed in red fur.
The next step in the evolution came from a political cartoonist during the Civil War named Thomas Nast. Wanting to encourage the Union army, Nast drew a series of cartoons in Harpers Weekly depicting St. Nicholas bringing gifts to the troops. Basing much of his drawing on Moore’s poems, he drew Nicholas as a fat, joyful man (no longer an elf), with a white beard, holding a bag of toys. For the first time, Nicholas was depicted in a workshop in the “North Pole,” surrounded by helping elves and Mrs. Claus. Most significantly, Nast changed “Sinterklaas” to “Santa Claus.”
The final adaptation came in the mid-20th century, from another illustrator. His goal was not to boost morale in a war but to sell Coca-Cola. Haddon Sundblum, working from Nast’s depictions, drew the image of Santa that we’re all familiar with. He added Santa’s black belt, boots, and red hat, as well as rosy cheeks, merry dimples, twinkling eyes, and of course, an ice-cold bottle of Coke. It was so popular that, in later years, whenever Sundblum made a change or mistake in his illustration (one year Sundblum forgot to draw a wedding ring on Santa’s hand, implying he and Mrs. Claus were having some marital difficulties), thousands of letters came in demanding it be fixed. After Sundblum’s depiction of Santa, the journey from the 4th century bishop to Santa in the North Pole was complete. As you could imagine, as Santa’s legend and popularity grew in the 19th and 20th centuries, so did the “business” of Christmas. Stores began selling seasonal gifts for every parent to buy and put under the tree. Santa was often seen in store windows checking his “list” twice, reminding parents of all the toys their children want.
The Bridge back to Bethlehem
Many of you may be thinking “Thank you for the history lesson, but what’s your point?” My point is this: as we see the “war on Christmas” around us, Nicholas himself provides a way back to Bethlehem. It is true that Santa Claus may turn our eyes away from the true meaning of Christmas, to moralism and materialism. But Saint Nicholas helps us turn our eyes back from materialism to generosity and from moralism to the gospel.
While Santa demands “be good for goodness sake” (lest you get coal in your stocking), Nicholas knew that he was a sinner in need of God’s grace. While Santa rewards those who are good, Nicholas gave generously to the undeserving. Nicholas showed mercy and generosity because he knew he had received them both from the One who came on Christmas night.
While Santa Claus might be a distraction from the true celebration of Christmas, Saint Nicholas loved the incarnation of our Lord and defended it all his life. Far from being a distraction from the Christ child, Nicholas was one of his fiercest advocates. So the next time you see a jolly old man riding in a sleigh, eating milk and cookies, think of the real Saint Nicholas. Think of the man who loved our Savior and joins us in our Christmas song: “Hark! The Herald Angels sing! Glory to the newborn King!” Let Nicholas be a bridge from the Santa decorations back to Bethlehem, back to the true “reason for the season.” The eternal Son came down to save us.
