Greece celebrates Saint Nicolas on December 6th, who according to the Greek Orthodox faith is the predecessor of Santa Claus.
The omnipresent, joyous white-haired man, dressed in red most of the time, became particularly popular in the 19th century, but his story unwinds back into the past of Bishop Nicholas. the devoted Greek bishop who lived in the 4th century in the Lycian town of Myra in Asia Minor.
Although Santa Clause or Father Christmas is the figure that all nations with Christian traditions associated with Christmas. one major difference exists between the Greeks and the rest of the world regarding the identity of the man who brings children their gifts at the most special time of the year.
In Greece, the name "Santa Clause" simply does not exist. and children always wait for their beloved Agios Vassilis (St Basil) to bring them gifts of New Year's day.
Although this classic image of Santa Clause originated from western Europe his name is clearly a diminution of "Saint Nicholas", since Claus is the Germanic version of the name Nicholas.
The name Sinter Klaus (Saint Nicholas) as he was known by the Germanic people became Anglicized to Santa Clause. This happened as part of a completely natural merging of traditions between many of the early western European immigrants who made America their new home.
The Greeks had never associated Saint Nicholas with Christmas to such an extent as the Dutch and other western Europeans did.
Saint Nicholas's major characteristic in Greek folk tradition is that he served as the protector of seas and patron Saint of sailors.
Serving as Bishop of Myra he was known as one of the participants in the Second Council of Nicaea in 825, during which the adoption of the Nicean Creed took place. The Creed forms the basis of the beliefs of Christians.
He was later cast into prison during the persecution of Diocletian, but was released after the accession of Constantine.
Regarded at the time to have spoken vociferously against the Arians, or those who believed in Jesus Christ was not divine but completely human. An anecdote that has survived through the millennia says that Nicholas either slapped the face or boxed the ears of the ideological opponents.
Whether this is true another action of his much more generous, was recorded with a poor family in Myra with many daughters was known to have fallen on hard times, which were so dire, that the father was considering of selling one of his daughters in slavery so the others could survive.
To save her from this horrible fate, Saint Nicholas threw gold coins down the chimney of the man's house thereby saving her and rescuing the family from their predicament.
Whether or not things happened this way it was St Nicholas who was said to have committed this act of kindness and this is the reason he is associated with chimneys.
One version of the story says that the gold coins landed in the girl's stocking which she had hung up on the mantle to dry. And of course this is why gold coins made out of chocolate are given at Christmastime.
In 1087, the Christian Greeks of the region were subjugated by the newly-arrived Muslim Seljuk Turks, and soon afterward, a group of merchants from the Italian city of Bari removed the bones from Saint Nicholas's skeleton from the sarcophagus, without authorization and brought them to their home town.
They are now enshrined in the Basilica di San Nicola. The remaining bone fragments from the sarcophagus were later removed by Venetian sailors during the 13th Crusade.
No comments:
Post a Comment