Advent season is upon us. The jolly fat man in the red suit rode into town a couple of weeks ago (Christmas pageant), so the kiddies know the Big Day is coming soon. Of course the shops have been trying to tell us that since late September. The way they’re going it won’t be long before Christmas stuff will be in the shops all year round!

I’m speaking at a Christmas luncheon soon and thought I’d give a quick history of the legend of Santa Claus/Father Christmas. Interesting stuff. The original St Nick (St Nicholas of Myra) was born in 280AD and died in 343AD. He was a lovely fella who was particularly generous to the poor. He had a delightful habit of throwing money, or gifts, through the window; or in through an open door; or down the chimney, and he was particularly kind to children.

After his death he was proclaimed a saint. If you like to travel, you can still visit the ruins of the church in Turkey where he was a bishop, and see his desecrated tomb. Italian sailors “liberated” his bones in 1087 and you can visit his new tomb in the church of di San Nicola in Bari.

In many European countries St Nicholas day is still celebrated on Dec 6, the date of his death. They have someone dress up in red bishop’s robes, wearing a mitre, carrying a staff, and handing out presents to children. Nice idea: perpetuates the memory of a lovely fella, the kiddies get their pressies, and it doesn’t detract from Christmas Day, which is Christ’s birthday.

How did we get to the Santa we now know and love? Well, it’s the power of the written word; in particular the Moore poem, “Twas the night before Christmas”. It’s the power of art; in particular that of American artists Thomas Nash (1800s) and Norman Rockwell (early 1900s). And it’s the power of advertising, begun by Coca-Cola in the early 1930s. They wanted to sell more soft drink in their “off” season (winter) and some bright spark thought it’d be a great idea to get Santa to help. Now the old boy’s used to sell all sorts of stuff.
St Nicholas would be appalled. He’d never want the Christmas season to be all about him. For him, Christmas was a celebration of the most amazing miracle ever in the history of the world: God became like one of us, so that we could be restored to a loving, eternal relationship with him. That deserves a lot more than a ho-ho-ho. That’s a five star yippee, ten woo-hoos and several hundred (thousand) hallelujahs.