Before he was called a saint, and long before he was associated with the benign nature of Christmas, Saint Nicholas of Bari was a bishop in Mira (Myra), a Greek city in modern-day Turkey, in the 4th century AD.

Saint Nicholas of Bari, AciPrensa points out, “is a unifying figure between Catholics and Orthodox Christians, as both groups venerate him.”

It is also known as ‘San Nicolás de Mira’ and ‘San Nicolás’. Several legends arose about his figure, but ultimately his story has to do with miracles, childhood and kindness.

His feast day among Catholics is December 6, recalls AciPrensa, a medium affiliated with the Church that publishes that Sinterklaas “is known as the real inspiration for the Christmas character of Santa Claus.”

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The relationship between Sinterklaas and the origin of the legend of Sinterklaas

San Nicolás, Santa Claus, Sinterklaas, Santa Claus and Viejito Pascuero are called, as in Chile, the character who dresses in red, has a thick white beard and ‘travels’ in a sleigh.

But “Sinterklaas and Santa Claus are different figures, but the relationship between these two popular characters is the inspiration for the creation of the legend of Santa Claus,” points out National Geographic, which takes data from the websites of the Encyclopedia Britannica and the Encyclopedia of World History.

Many people know – according to AciPrensa – “that Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of children, but they may not know why he has that title.”

Not everything is like this delicate in this story of Sinterklaas. AciPrensa highlights a ‘grisly legend’ linked to a famine in Mira.

“Three young men were lured to a butcher’s shop, where they were murdered and then pickled in a wooden barrel with the intention of selling them as ‘ham’. The good bishop performed a miracle: he brought the children back to life and saved them from a terrible fate,” the media wrote.

According to the story, National Geographic further notes, “this man once saved three sisters from being forced into prostitution by their father, a bankrupt merchant.”

It was then “when Nicolás decided to save them and threw three bags of gold coins down the chimney of the family house: the bag fell on the girls’ stockings, which were placed in the chimney to dry.”

He also emphasizes that “Dutch colonists brought this tradition – of the saint – to New Amsterdam (modern New York) in the 17th century.

Sinterklaas, a Dutch variant of the name Sinterklaas, “was adopted by the country’s English-speaking majority as ‘Santa Claus’ and became the legend of a kind old man who combined the idea of ​​Sinterklaas’s charity with old folktales” Nordic stories about a magical being who rewarded good children with gifts.”

According to Britannica, Santa Claus was not only inspired by Sinterklaas, the publication clarifies.

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Where is Sinterklaas buried?

It is believed that Saint Nicholas was born around the year 270 AD and died 67 years later, reports CNN en Español.

Sinterklaas, whose name means ‘protector and defender of the people’, was so popular in ancient times that more than two thousand temples are dedicated to him around the world.

He was revered throughout the Mediterranean for his generosity, especially in Bari, Italy. “Perhaps that is why some Barinese sailors stole his bones – which were in Mira – in 1087 and brought them to their city,” the news network points out.

“Bari has been making this alternative history of Santa Claus her own for almost a thousand years.”

In that city it is not Santa Claus, but Sinterklaas, ‘who is also considered the patron saint of single women.’

He is also the patron saint of the falsely accused and of sailors and travelers.

It was invoked by the faithful in danger, at shipwrecks, at fires and when the economic situation became difficult,

He has a different date to celebrate him: “For Christians who follow the Julian calendar, as the Eastern Orthodox do, the main feast of St. Nicholas is celebrated on December 19.”

The Basilica of St. Nicholas in Bari “is an important place for ecumenism (…). In the crypt, where Saint Nicholas is buried, there is an altar for the celebration of the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic liturgies,” Aciprensa describes.

Quoted on CNN en Español, Rossella Mauro, who was a teacher, said: “I am very proud that our patron saint inspired Santa Claus. “Bari prides itself on having the relics of the real Sinterklaas and it’s great that we have his skeleton in our backyard.”

(JO)