Saint Nicholas Day

HAPPY SAINT NICHOLAS DAY!

Today is December 6, Saint Nicholas Day!

Here is a little history. We have adopted this holiday since living in Germany. It is a lot of fun to look forward to and when we were back in the States it reminded us of our German adventures.

Today is the “feast day (December 6) of St. Nicholas, patron saint of Russia and Greece, of a number of cities, and of sailors and children, among many other groups. Little is known of the life of the historical Nicholas. He was the bishop of Myra (now Kale in southwestern Turkey) in the 4th century and developed a reputation for generosity. In 1087 Italians stole his remains from the church in Myra, by then under the control of Muslims, and took them to Bari for reburial, and during the Middle Ages he became extraordinarily popular. After the Reformation, St. Nicholas was largely forgotten in Protestant Europe, although his memory was kept alive in Holland as Sinterklaas. There St. Nicholas is said to arrive on horseback on his feast day, dressed in a bishop’s red robe and mitre and accompanied by Black Peter, variously described as a freed slave or a Moor, to help him distribute presents to good children or lumps of coal, potatoes, or switches to bad ones. The Dutch took the tradition to New Amsterdam (New York City), where he was transformed into Santa Claus. In Britain he was replaced with Father Christmas.” * Encyclopedia Britannica