We got our first snowfall of the season in the People’s Republic yesterday. Just in time to prepare the way for Saint Nicholas Day, which is today.
Saint Nicholas was the Fourth-Century bishop of Myra, one
of the participants of the Council of Nicaea, which ruled on the divinity of
Jesus as the son of God. This is actually the day he died, which
makes a bit of a change for celebrations.
(Although his death is kind of a thing; at least his corpse
was. Because about 600 years after he died, Italian merchants robbed his grave
in Myra and took his body to Bari. I’m not touching the issues around what
possesses a group of people to do that kind of stuff and expect to remain in
God’s favor. But we’re certainly seeing a whole lotta loudly pious “Christians”
these days doing unbelievably unchristian things in the name of Christ, so it’s
definitely a thing.)
He’s the patron of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant
thieves, children, brewers, pawnbrokers and students. I’m trying to think of
what commonalities connect those groups, but without luck.
We of course have conflated Saint Nicholas with major gift
giving (which might explain the children, merchants and pawnbrokers; possibly
the repentant thieves, too), via the Dutch version of his name, Sinterklaas.
And today is the day (instead of the 25th) when children in a number
of countries get their gifts (if they’ve been good; if they’ve been naughty,
they get coal or switches, depending on the local custom; you might even
be eaten by a giant cat).
To honor the good bishop, let’s have something traditional
by the hardest working man in show business. Because all children, wherever
they are and whatever their national origin, deserve the hope of something good
in their lives.
©2025 Bas Bleu
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