Day 6: St Nicholas

The sixth day of our Advent journey has been anciently observed as the feast of saint with a very intimate modern connection with Christmas – St Nicholas.

St Nicholas was the Bishop of Myra in what is today Turkey but then was an eastern Province of the Roman Empire. As well as being a Middle Eastern Orthodox bishop, present at the Council of Nicaea, there are also legends of Nicholas’ special care for children. One early story told how he had rescued three poor girls from potential human trafficking, by providing money to be offered as dowries for them, dropping the bags of gold anonymously down the chimney. By the sixteenth century, the cult of St Nicholas had spread from Italy to the Netherlands, and it was here that Sinta Klaas, the gift-bearing Bishop really entered into the Christmas spirit.

A merger with the English tradition of Father Christmas, meant that the image of the gift-bearing bishop was largely swamped by the semi-pagan midwinter spirit, as the North Pole became his residence and elvish toy-makers became his companions.