During this narrative I will be answering the eternal question which is all pervading during the festive season namely does Santa Claus really exist?
Obviously,
the answer we want is a resounding yes and so it will be.
Secondly, I
will be exploding the popular myth that it was the Coca Cola Company who were
responsible for the red suited image of Santa.
St Nicholas is known by many different names around the world and he
undoubtedly a legend.
The legend began in the 4th century A.D. in what is now Demre in modern
Turkey.
Nicholas was
a Christian priest and was born in 280 A.D. in the Lycian city of Patara near
the ancient city of Myra where he later became Bishop.
Nicholas was
the son of a wealthy man and when he inherited his father’s wealth, he travelled
the land helping the poor and sick and he was greatly admired for his piety and
kindness.
He became
the subject of many legends for example he
was said to have brought a dead child back to life and he once saved the life
of a prisoner by putting himself between the condemned man and his executioner
also he is said to have stopped a storm in order to save three sailors from
drowning.
But the most enduring and perhaps
the best known of the Nicholas legends was when he secretly left golden
dowries at the house of a poor man who was on the verge of selling his three
daughters into slavery or prostitution.
The dowries
meant the three poor sisters could be married.
This
remarkable event has led to a tradition we still celebrate to this day as the
sisters had left their stockings by the fire to dry and it was in the stocking
where Nicholas placed the gold.
Despite his
many secret late-night visits to the homes of the poor and needy of the city he
is forever known as the gift giver of Myra.
In the year
303 A.D., Diocletian the Roman emperor commanded all citizens of the Roman
Empire to worship him as a God.
Nicholas and
his fellow Christians believed in but one God and in all conscience could not
obey the Emperor.
In his Anger
Diocletian threatened the Christians with imprisonment if they did not comply.
Many
Christians including Nicholas defied The Emperor and were imprisoned.
Nicholas was
confined to a small cell for almost ten years and suffered greatly but never
wavered in his beliefs.
It was In
313, when Constantine replaced Diocletian to become the first Christian Emperor
and Constantine’s first act was the release of the Christians and upon his
release Nicholas returned to his post as Bishop of Myra where he continued his
good works until his death on December 6, 343.
On his death
he was sainted to become St Nicholas the patron saint of Children and sailors.
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