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Putting St. Nicholas Back in Christmas
The history of Santa Claus and the better history of St. Nicholas.
I have some problems with the whole Santa Claus thing.
Here’s the first problem — from the foremost opportunity, I have told my children that Santa Claus is not real.
Yes, they know we are the ones putting forth presents and they know the dude in the mall is wearing a costume.
But the reason my family abstains from this tradition is not that I don’t want to lie to my kids (which I don’t). Nor is it because the Santa Claus narrative is worthless or bad (which it, kind of, is).
My reasoning is different.
And as it is the feast day for the saint called Nicholas (December 6th), I feel compelled to share my reasoning.
Because it's a shame St. Nicholas has been reduced to a single day with slight reference to who he actually was.
And it’s worse that Santa Claus has usurped his fame.
How We Got to Santa Claus
The meandering journey of St. Nicholas’ evolution to Santa Claus is a relatively short one. Santa Claus, as we know him in modern America, hasn’t been around that long. Many historians have tracked the evolution quite well (like this article from National Geographic), but I believe there is something else going on here, hidden in the details.
Early America didn’t have much to say about Santa Claus or even Christmas. As the primary population comprised the leftovers from England and other European nations, religious vitality was a bit on the low end. The Puritans changed that. Their approach to Christmas, however, was quite fierce. As the holiday had become relatively commercialized and had adapted an immense amount of pagan interference, the Puritans banned Christmas in 1644.
Any notion of Father Christmas departed with it.
Later, as the Dutch began their own imperial convergence in the world, they brought with them the tradition of Sinter Klaas. Though the Reformation did away with most veneration of saints, Saint Nicholas’ popularity continued. The Holland faithful particularly esteemed this…
