Ah Christmas, a time of celebration. Christ is Born! Glory to Him.
This is also a time of gift giving and tolerating relatives. But just what is the story behind jolly old Saint Nick? Why would a fat man come down a chimney and put gifts in stockings?
Well, Sinterklaas, commonly known as Santa Claus, is a Dutch legend which is based on one of the deeds of Saint Nicholas of Myra, the 4th century saint and bishop of Myra; a city in what is now Turkey.
I thought I would share the story which formed the basis for Santa Claus to get us into the Christmas spirit and maybe gain a better understanding of our history and traditions.
There are many different versions of this story so I will tell the one that I liked the most. But then, I compiled this story with elements from a few different versions so perhaps this is a different version entirely. Fortunately, all versions are more alike than they are different.
Saint Nicholas and the Three Daughters
In the town of Myra, there lived a poor man who had three beautiful daughters. He could not afford a dowry and he soon would not be able to afford food or clothing. The man knew that he would have to turn his daughters into prostitutes so they could eat.
Now Saint Nicholas of Myra, who was the bishop that city, heard of this family’s despair and the evil plan that came from it and he decided to help them.
Saint Nicholas did not want to receive praise for the charity, so he waited until late at night when everyone was asleep. Then, he walked by the poor man’s window and threw in a bag of gold for the first daughter.
In the morning, the poor man found the gold and thought, surely, this was a gift from God.
The next night, Saint Nicholas walked by and threw in a bag of gold for the second daughter.
The third night, the man decided to stay up and try to find out who this secret benefactor was.
But Saint Nicholas was clever, and he had guessed that the man would try to catch him at the window on the third night.
So instead he snuck up onto the roof and dropped a third bag of gold down the chimney. The third daughter had washed her stockings that day and hung them over the embers to dry and it was in those stockings that the bag fell.
In the morning, she discovered the gold and told her father. With these three bags of gold, the father was able to offer dowries to good families for all three daughters. They praised God; He had delivered them from falling into spiritual destruction.
And Saint Nicholas always strove to keep his charity and good deeds secret.
And that is the story of Saint Nicholas and the Three Daughters. If you know a different version that you prefer then so be it. This is of course only his most famous deed among many but hopefully now you have a better understanding of who Saint Nicholas is and where this story comes from.
Thank you for reading and Merry Christmas.