6 Dec 2008 (St Nicholas' Day)

Santa Claus

It’s that time of year again when the land rings with the sound of grouching. Can the Christmas season really have started already? And with credit so well and truly crunched. No surprise, this of all years, that some of us are sure to have had it with Santa long before he slides down our chimneys.

The truth, often forgotten, is that the man behind all this was not originally a Christmas visitor. Santa Claus is an Americanised corruption of the Dutch Sinterklaas, or St Nicholas, who traditionally ‘visited’ in the early hours of his saint’s day, December 6th.

A bishop saint originally from Byzantine Turkey, St Nicholas established himself widely but nowhere more so than in Northern Europe. Even today, he marks his saint’s day by bringing time-honoured trinkets – fruits, chocolates, nuts and not a lot else - to children across much of Holland and Belgium, Switzerland and Germany. It’s an occasion generally free of the rampant consumerism increasingly associated with the arrival of his commercially-reversioned American cousin some three weeks later.

There used to be such a St Nicholas tradition in Britain, at least until the Protestants abolished it in the 16th century. Now, though, there are signs of a revival, with December 6th St Nicholas festivals springing up all over the country. It’s an eventoften marked by the appearance of the man himself, looking much like Santa, except for a few crucial differences including the bishop’s mitre and crosier. At such places where the saint has re-established himself – Sloane Square, London, and Canterbury among them – you may even hear parents describing him to their children as ‘the real one’. That’s telling. Since St Nicholas is primarily known forhis defining act of charity, giving secret night time gifts to a needy family, this saint may be about to reemerge from Santa’s bulky shadow and lead towards a more balanced, and hopefully less bank-busting, approach to Christmas.

Jeremy Seal

Guild member Jeremy Seal is the author of Santa: A Life, published by (Picador, £7.99) - a perfect Christmas present. For this and other Christmas stocking fillers by Guild members look for suggestions under the Membership menu button.