He is real, St. Nicholas is real! The jolly red man who comes down your chimney… not so much. But he was real! Not everything about Santa Claus was not entirely made up. While the original Santa Claus wasn’t climbing through chimneys to give you presents and candy with St. Nicholas was known for being very generous. Since Nicholas had been raised extremely Christian, he followed the Biblical order to, “go sell your possessions; give everything to the poor. All your wealth will then be in heaven. Then come follow me.” St. Nicholas learned generosity at a young age and followed these principles.

With this being an old story there have been many different versions of the story, making the image of Santa Clause differ from place to place. But for St. Nicholas, the story starts in the village of Patara in Asia Minor. Which during the third century was Greece, Nicholas was born March 15th, 270 A.D. With St.Nicholas parents being religious before they passed due to an epidemic they raised little Nicholas to be a devoted Christian he followed their wish. Since he was so devoted he sold the stuff from the inheritance of his wealthy parents to the poor. This helped Nicholas become a bishop, Set. Nicholas of Myra while he was still in his thirties, according to stnicholascenter.org (https://www.stnicholascenter.org/who-is-st-nicholas) states,”Bishop Nicholas became known throughout the land for his generosity to those in need, his love for children, and his concern for sailors and ships.”

However, the most common tale of St. Nicholas is a story of a father and three unmarried daughters from trouble. History.com(https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/santa-claus) states, “He saved three poor sisters from being sold into slavery or prostitution by their father by providing them with a dowry so that they could be married.” To stop the father from selling his daughters, St.Nicholas supposedly went to the man’s house and threw a bag of gold into the house so that the daughter could have the dowry(money brides offered their husbands when married). This is a very common story and is how St. Nicholas became known for being such a generous gift giver.

However, this is not the only legend of St. Nicholas there are many different variations leading to the many different types of Santa Claus. In Austria, Slovenia, and Hungary there are two types of santa! Mikulás and Krampus, these two characters being complete opposites. Mikulás being a traditional Santa very similar to the Santa Clause Americans and Canadians think of. However instead of big gifts under the christmas tree Mikulás puts candy in the shoes of good little kids. While Krampus is described as a,” horned, devilish creature known as Krampus who punishes naughty children by gifting them birch twigs,” according to Santa’s around the world https://collinstreet.com/blogs/holidays/santas-from-around-the-world. With Krampus becoming more popular in Austria, Slovenia, and Hungary the people of these places have started a Kampuslauf or Krampus run on December 5th(also known as Krampusnacht) every year.

While most of the Santas from all over the world have a similar pattern of a white bearded man who brings some kind of goods to the kids who are well behaved and something bad for the kids who have not been well behaved. However this is very different from Italy’s case. While they do have the traditional Santa Claus called Babbo Natale, they also get a visit from La Befana. She is described as an ”old woman covered in a dark shawl flies through starry skies on her broomstick and enters houses through the chimney.” Instead of milk and cookies for La Befana they leave out cake. She comes on January 6th which is known as the Feast of Epiphany. She brings goods to the bad kids but garlic, cinder, and coal to bad kids. 

While there are many different types of Santa Claus, they still come from the same story of St. Nicholas. The different legends of him create the different Santa Clauses. From a generous Christian orphan, to a bishop, to the legends, to the Santas. This Christmas we will all be thinking a little bit more about good old St. Nick.