In Italy and around the world it is known as Nicholas of Bari and we celebrate the December 6the Russians, to give an idea of how much they love him, have given him the somewhat disproportionate nickname of Russkij Bog (the “Russian God”) while a global myth identifies it (incorrectly) with Santa Clausthe bearded old man who brings holiday gifts.
He is a saint that children learn to pray to and wait for long before attending catechism and who alone, in one year, receives the 90 percent of all mail delivered in Finland. Not bad for someone who has never set foot in Finland.
In short, Nicola is gods most loved and venerated saints in every part of the globe, unites Catholics and Orthodox, boasts numerous legends and miracles, is at the center of an intricate and fascinating story of intercultural devotion that led him to become apop icon.
His relics, preserved in Bari, are still disputed today and every now and then Türkiye asks for their return after they were stolen from in 1087 Myra – an ancient Hellenic city which today is located in southern Türkiye – by some sailors from Bari who burned the Venetians in time.
The way in which a bishop of the Constantinian era who lived on the outskirts of the Roman Empire became, following a complicated overlap of images and stories, the testimonial of Coca-Cola and the most famous gift bearer of all time, it deserves a separate episode.
In summary, the main reason is linked to an episode in the life of the Saint who came across a noble and rich family that had fallen into poverty. The father, who was ashamed of the state of poverty in which he found himself, decided to turn his daughters into prostitution. Nicholas, during the night, threw bags full of gold through the windows and disappeared.
On the third throw, the girls’ father, who has remained awake out of curiosity, will finally manage to surprise the strange thief in reverse. Nicola will order him not to mention his name because the gifts must remain a secret.
Something must not have gone right if several centuries later we are still here talking about it. Thanks to those bags full of gold given by the bishop, the man was able to marry off his daughters and spare them the shame of prostitution.
And so, moving on from Nordic mythology and in particular from figure of OdinSaint Nicolaus becomes the Santa Claus of the Anglo-Saxon countries, and the Nikolaus of Germany that brings gifts to children at Christmas.
The credit goes to an 1823 poem by Clement Clarke Moore entitled A visit from Saint Nicholas (also known as The night before Christmas), in which for the first time Santa Claus appears as a funny gentleman with a round belly and ruddy cheeks who glides over the rooftops aboard a sleigh pulled by eight reindeer and comes down the chimney with his bag full of presents on his shoulder.
A few years later the figure of Santa Claus merges with that of the British Father Christmas, whose origins date back to the 15th century but which only became popular in the Victorian era, thanks to the depiction of him John Leech to illustrate it Spirit of Christmas Present, the character who appears to Scrooge in the story Christmas carol Of Charles Dickens from 1843: a giant with a long beard (dark though, not white), wearing a green cloth cape trimmed with white fur, she carries a branch of holly on her head and brandishes a torch.
The road is paved. The modern iconography dates back to a Civil War-era illustrator, Thomas Nast, the first to represent Santa Claus as we imagine him today – with the long white beard and red suit and cap – in a cartoon published by the famous American fashion magazine Harper’s Bazaar in 1863.
However, the definitive consecration came a few years after the advertising of the Coca Cola where he appears dressed in red, as Nast had depicted him, while traveling in the sky on a sleigh pulled by reindeer.
The American multinational’s commercial dates back to 1931 and was born from the illustrator’s pen Haddon Sundblom, who put together the “classic” figure of Saint Nicholas and the character described by Charles Dickens in the story Christmas carol.
The goal was to convince American consumers that Coke was not just a refreshing drink for the summer but could be drunk all year round.
So here it is Santa Claus in a red dress, the color of Coca-Cola, enters the house to bring gifts to children but he can’t resist the temptation to drink a bottle of Coke. It is the last act of the definitive “branding” of the old Saint Nicholas.
But let’s take a step back. Not much is known about Nicola’s life, except the essentials: was born around 260 AD in Patara, an important city in Lycia, in present-day Türkiye, almost opposite the Greek island of Rhodes.
In ancient times the two main ports of the region were precisely those of the cities of San Nicola: Patarawhere he was born, and Myrawhere he was bishop.
There is also little information on childhood: the first to talk about it was a Greek monk in the 8th century, Michael Archimandrite, who, also driven by the edifying intent, writes that Nicholas was destined to become a saint from his mother’s womb, given that on Wednesdays and Fridays he apparently sucked breast milk only once a day and in small quantities, to respect the dictates of Christian fasting. He certainly came from a wealthy, perhaps aristocratic, family.
His election as bishop was daring. Around the year 300 AD, even if Christianity had not been legalized in the empire and there were no Christian temples, the communities that referred to evangelical teaching were already considerably organised. Since the bishop of Myra had died, the surrounding bishops had gathered in a private house to identify the new bishop to give to the city.
That same night one of them had a revelation in a dream: they would have to elect a young, lay person, who would be the first to enter the church at dawn. His name was Nicola.
Listening to this vision, the bishops understood that the chosen one was destined for great things and, during the night, they continued to pray. At dawn the door opened and Nicola entered. The bishop who had had the vision approached him and asked him his name, pushed him to the center of the assembly and introduced him to the onlookers. Everyone agreed in electing and consecrating him bishop of Myra on the spot.
After his election he distinguished himself for his irreproachable conduct, the zeal with which he defended those in need, and why not, even gifts.
His life is full of miraculous episodes: he frees three unjustly condemned to death, multiplies grain for the hungry, converts evil hearts, heals and saves from danger. As with his birth, nothing is known about his death.
In all likelihood he died in a year very close to 335 AD.
In 1087 a naval expedition left from the city of Bari towards Myra, which had in the meantime become Muslim, took possession of the remains of the Saint, which in 1089 were definitively placed in the crypt of the Basilica built in his honor and which every now and then attracts thousands of pilgrims, especially Orthodox.
The idea of stealing his remains came to the people of Bari in the context of a revitalization program after the city, due to the Norman conquest, it had lost its role as the Catepano residence and therefore the capital of Byzantine Italy.
In those times the presence of the relics of a saint in the city was important not only from a spiritual point of view but also because it became a destination for pilgrimages and therefore a source of well-being for the economic activities generated.
