Advent, Advent! On the fifth of December!

Advent, Advent! Today, on December 5, dear Friends and Fans, I will tell you about St. Nikolaus. So, Nikolaus was real. At least as real as Robin Hood. The character goes back to Nikolaus von Myra, a Bishop and a Christian Saint and martyr. According to Wikipedia, he is the patron Saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, brewers, pawnbrokers, toymakers, unmarried people, and students in most parts of Europe. The patron Saint of unrepentant thieves is Robin Hood.

 

Myra was a town in Lycia, a Greek region in the Western part of what became Turkey about 700 years later, when the Turks drove the Greeks out. So no, Nikolaus was not Turkish, the same way Geronimo was not an Englishman. At the time of Nikolaus, Lycia belonged to the Roman Empire. Around the year 300 after Christ, the Roman Emperor Diokletian went after the Christians all over his lands. He had churches burned down and Bibles destroyed, and he killed or enslaved many Christians, especially clerics, including Bishop Nikolaus.

 

Nikolaus had a testament that gave his earthly possessions to the poor, which was not surprising because also in his life time, he did a lot of charity, some of it secret. He was said to have given toys to poor children and also performed miracles. Fast forward to the near-present, Nikolaus would visit German and Austrian children on the evening of December 6 (in some other countries on December 5) and leave little gifts in their boots outside. Like a tiny bar of chocolate, two cookies, and an orange when I was young, or a Sony PlayStation and a big screen TV today.

 

Nikolaus was depicted as that old man with a white beard, a red hat, and a red coat. His helper and companion was Krampus, who had a deformed foot and a rod. Krampus gave a piece of coal to kids who did not behave, or would even spank them. I would not know because I w
as always a very well-behaved kid.

 

In America, Dutch settlers brought his story to the new world (they call him Sinterclaas), and the British also knew him as Father Christmas (sadly, they did not emphasize Robin Hood). Soon, Nikolaus would develop into Santa Claus. The New York caricaturist Thomas Nast drew the first picture of Santa Claus as we know him. His red-and-white coat was eventually picked up and popularized by the Coca-Cola company.

 

And he would no longer show up at the beginning of December, but on Christmas Eve, the night before Christmas. With a sledge, filled by his North Pole elves (also a later add-on). Coca-Cola-Santa Claus has made his way back to Europe after WWII, including Germany, with the help of Hollywood movies, but not necessarily beloved by everybody. Because traditionally, the Christ Child brings the gifts, not Nikolaus. Tomorrow, I will tell more about Christmas and why some people think Santa Claus is really Odin, the Germanic God of war.

 

In the meantime, here is an angel from our book „Wings of Desire —Angels of Berlin“. Also available in German, including in book stores.