Every Christmas, the only thing that brings joy to the children is Santa Claus. Santa Claus is a legendary figure of Christmas that often bring gifts for the kids in many parts of the World. Today, our kids are very aware of Santa Claus and Christmas but only a few among us know the real history of Santa Claus. Are you among those who do not know from where the tradition of Santa Claus started and who was the real Santa Claus? The popular image of Santa Claus is based on the tradition associated with Saint Nicholas. However, his intentions were not to introduce his figure to people but his fate was destined for this to happen. The history of Saint Nicholas
Who was Saint Nicholas?
Saint Nicholas was the real Santa Claus who gave origin to the tradition of Santa Claus. He was Greek-born and ruled the late third and fourth centuries. He is a well-known Christian Saint and became a famous bishop in Myra. Myra is an old name of Modern Turkey. He was an orphan. His parents died leaving him very young. He inherited a handsome amount of wealth from his parents.
How Saint Nicholas introduced the tradition of the real Santa Claus
Now here is the story revealing the story of Santa Claus tradition. In the town of Myra lived a very poor family who was also the neighbor of Saint Nicholas. The family was in huge debt and had lost everything they own. They also starved for days having nothing to eat.
The poor family had three daughters. One day the family decided to sell each of their three daughters into slavery to pay off the family debt. The family was left with no other choice because they already lost everything and were left with nothing except their three daughters.
Saint Nicholas saved the first daughter
Hence the day was coming near when the first daughter was about to be sold as a slave. A day before, when the eldest daughter was going to sold. She unintentionally washed her stockings and hung them by the fireplace to dry. She slept and the next morning when she woke up she saw a lump in her stocking. Surprisingly, She found a small bag filled with gold coins in her stocking. This saved the first daughter.
The gold found was not enough to pay off all the debt. Hence the family still opted to sell their two daughters to pay the remaining debt. But surprisingly something amazing happened the next morning too. The family was amazed to find another bag filled with gold coins. By doing this St. Nicholas wanted to save the second daughter from being sold as a slave.
Saint Nicholas’ undefined intentions to help the poor family
This incident amazed and also shocked the family. The family eagerly wanted to know the truth and find out who was helping them. The father decided to stay awake the third night to find out the reality. Although he fell asleep but woke up with a loud noise in his house. The noise was made when a small bag of gold coins was thrown in his house through the window in the stocking beside the fireplace.
At that point, the father stood up and ran outside to see who was helping them. He saw a young man who was his neighbor too. The father thanked the man to which the man replied not to thank him. The man was St. Nicholas who belonged to a religious family.
Saint Nicholas saved the family
By doing this Saint Nicholas saved the family. The family got enough to eat and live their life. However, Saint Nicholas the real Santa Claus continued his journey he secretly helped the needy people and asked for no thanks or glory in return. He is also a protector of many people and saved many orphans and prisoners too.
The tradition of hanging stockings
Saint Nicholas became the real Santa Claus known to people. Hence, he was the originator of the Santa Claus tradition. Although, Santa Claus is depicted as a white beard man wearing a red coat with white fur. According to history Saint Nicholas never wore a uniform to serve people. The tradition to wear a red coat and cap later became popular.
The above story also explains why children hang stockings during the Christmas Eve. During ancient times oranges were placed inside the stockings representing the gold that saved the three sisters.
