Today is the feast of St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas probably
gets to claim the title for “more movies than Jesus” thanks to his pop culture
alter ego, Santa Claus. But the real story is even better than a jolly man with
flying reindeer. He was a fourth-century
Greek bishop serving in modern-day Turkey.
Legend says that a poor man had three daughters and could
not afford dowries for them. This meant
that the women would not be able to wed, and would probably have to resort to
prostitution. Nicholas wanted to help
them, but he was too modest to give them money in public. So that night, he
threw three purses filled with coins through the open window of their house.
Some versions of the story say that the daughters had left their stockings
hanging over the embers to dry, and Nicholas filled the stockings with gold. It
is probably from this story that the tale of Santa Claus filling stockings and
delivering presents in the night originated.
St. Nicholas attended the famous Council of Nicaea in 325.
One of the issues of this council was dealing with Arianism, which included the
belief that Christ was not divine. As Arius was speaking, Nicholas became so enraged
at the heresy, he struck Arius with his hand. For his violent outburst, he was
dismissed from the council and imprisoned until some of the other bishops had
visions of Christ and Mary showing sympathy with Nicholas.
And that, kids, is how Slapsgiving was born.
Santa is one of those commercialized Christmas things that I actually don't mind. And maybe that's because Santa Claus represents the spirit of giving and teaches children how to anticipate Christmas. After all, Advent is all about anticipation. So yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. And he's pretty badass.
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