I have a confession to make: I have never done the whole Santa Claus/Father Christmas thing. We didn’t have it as a Christmas tradition growing up, and if we ever have children I won’t be doing it with them either. I know that can sound super rigid and depressing, but it really isn’t. Especially when you know a bit more about the real Santa Claus.
Meet Saint Nicholas AKA Santa Claus
St Nicholas of Myrna was a Catholic bishop, who lived from 270 to 343 AD in what is now Turkey.
St Nicholas also attended the Council of Nicaea and was one of the bishops who signed the Nicene Creed, a key prayer that is part of Catholic teaching and liturgy today. He argued staunchly against the heresy of Arianism and many miracles are attributed to him both during his life and after his death.
He is most well known for rescuing three dowry-less girls from prostitution by dropping bags of money through their window. This is the beginning of the tradition for gift giving on his feast day, which falls on 6 December every year.
Over the years, the Dutch tradition of celebrating St Nicholas’ day Sinterklaas because Santa Claus in English speaking America. This morphed in the 1900s into a mash up between the spirit of Christmas ‘Father Christmas’, Sinterklaas and the ubiquitous Coca Cola ad which gave us the red and white suit.
Creating traditions around St Nicholas
Just because St Nicholas was a real person, that doesn’t mean you can’t create fun traditions around him. Every year, we would clean and polish our shoes to leave outside our door on the night of December 5th. The next morning, on St Nicholas’ feast day, we would rush out to see what the saint had left us. Usually, it was beautiful gingerbread biscuits and gold chocolate coins.
Some years we had a letter from the saint, praising us for areas we were improving in, and pointing out places where we needed to focus our attention. If we had been particularly naughty, there might be a lump of coal, a rock or a little stick as well.
This is a particularly Dutch/German tradition, which comes from my family heritage. It gives you and your family a chance to enjoy surprise and delight. It comes with that sense of miracle/magic that is associated with Santa Claus. But it also allows you to have a teaching moment around virtue and vice. It is, after all, the original source of ‘naughty or nice’. You can also read the story of St Nicholas’ life as an encouragement to live a life of courage and generosity.
Why the real Santa Claus keeps Christmas in focus
Today, Christmas has been reduced to a commercialised holiday. Santa Claus dominates the season, with decorations and songs about his visit. I often find the focus shifts away from Christmas and towards ‘what Santa will bring me’ or ‘when Santa is coming’. For me, that feels like a distraction from the true meaning of Christmas. It’s about Jesus coming, not Santa. It’s about what we bring to Christ, not what we receive under the tree.
That said, I’m not anti-gift giving and I don’t want to take away all the fun traditions of Christmas. I just like to refocus them. That’s where I think celebrating St Nicholas’ Day instead of having Santa Claus is great. You can keep Christmas in focus, while still having a fun, memorable and magical event on the road to the nativity. And I think St Nicholas himself would appreciate that. After all, his whole life was about bringing people to God.
So this year, I’d encourage you to embrace the St Nicholas Day tradition. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
[…] like St Nicholas’ feast day on December 6 (AKA the real Santa Claus), Advent has another beautiful saint with an epic tradition. This is a Swedish tradition, where […]