Of course Santa Claus is real and with us!

SOCIAL STUDIES - Published Monday December 21st, 2009

I believe in Santa Claus.

It is as simple as that. I see no evidence for the non existence of Santa Claus. Quite the opposite, in fact, Christmas is as filled with magic and unexplainable moments as any day can be.

Even if I told you my life story, which is fairly recent, there would be some myth, mixed with interpretation, mixed with magic, tempered with reality. It is no different for Santa, whose origins can be traced back to Turkey, of all places, and Saint Nicholas.

His wealthy parents, who raised him to be a devout Christian, died in an epidemic while Nicholas was still young. Obeying Jesus' words to "sell what you own and give the money to the poor," Nicholas used his whole inheritance to assist the needy, the sick, and the suffering. He dedicated his life to serving God and was made the Bishop of Myra.

Bishop Nicholas became known throughout the land for his generosity to those in need, his love for children, and his concern for sailors and ships.

Under the Roman Emperor Diocletian, who ruthlessly persecuted Christians, Bishop Nicholas suffered for his faith, was exiled and imprisoned. The prisons were so full of bishops, priests, and deacons, there was no room for the real criminals -- murderers, thieves and robbers. After his release, Nicholas attended the Council of Nicaea in AD 325. He died Dec. 6, AD 343 in Myra and was buried in his cathedral church, where a unique relic called manna formed in his grave. This liquid substance, said to have healing powers, fostered the growth of devotion to Nicholas. The anniversary of his death became a day of celebration, St. Nicholas Day, Dec. 6.

The fact that most of Western Culture has been shaped and influenced by Christianity is dying out. Every generation wants to believe that they invented the wheel; and I suppose that is just the way of the world. However, when we throw out our knowledge of the past, we start to be able to dismiss reality as Faerie Tale, which are also all true, by the way.

Santa Claus was and is real. Almost every sailor who found themselves storm tossed on the malicious ocean can tell you that Nicholas, patron saint of sailors and children, was there on deck as the waves tried to sweep them over. He answered their prayers and they found themselves surprisingly safe in port.

Vikings who converted to Christianity and sailed to Greenland dedicated their Cathedral to him; Columbus, after supposedly "discovering" the New World named a Haitian port after him; Spanish Conquistadores named a town in Florida St. Nicholas Port (for some reason we changed it to Jacksonville); and most importantly, Dutch Settlers, who had claimed Nicholas as the Patron of Holland, brought him with them to New Amsterdam; better known to you and me as New York, while the Germans brought him to Pennsylvania.

If you have ever seen a European Santa Claus, and you all have, you would recognize the long flowing red robe with an ermine sash, along with a hood trimmed with fur as well. Those are the robes of a bishop. Think about the Vatican and the different coloured robes that each level of cleric wears; the priest in black, the bishop in dark purple, the cardinal in bright red and the pope in white. Each colour gets lighter and closer to the purity of God . . . Santa is somewhere in between a bishop and a cardinal with his dark red robes.

In the late 1800s; at the end of the Industrial Revolution, the world was changing dramatically. Prior to this, children were seen almost as slaves, especially poor ones who often worked back breaking hours in mills and mines. Charles Dickens wrote books like Oliver Twist to try and change this and at the same time he wrote books about Christmas to help us embrace the values of the season, like Hope and Joy and Peace.

They also began to link the patron saint of children to this new idea that childhood was sacred, and since his Holy Day was in December, well, why not combine the two?

Then there was a poem; "A Visit from Saint Nicholas" which became "Twas the Night Before Christmas" that brought to light the nocturnal activities of Christmas Eve which heretofore had only happened while people slept. Washington Irving started to illustrate Santa Claus as a little more elf like, smoking a pipe, just like the poem suggested. A few years later Norman Rockwell and others changed the outfit and associated him with Coca Cola, changing the colour of the robes to the colour of a Coke logo.

By the way, Santa Claus is the way we English speakers struggled to mispronounce the German for Saint Nicholas, Sankt Niklaus.

There are those who want to dismiss Santa as just being made up to sell Coca Cola or adorn Hallmark cards. But the tradition goes back to very, very Christian origins; just like the rest of Christmas.

Martin Luther, who started the Protestant Reformation in Germany in the late 1500s and is one of Christianity's greatest theologians put up the first Christmas tree; but that is another story.

There are others who say that if Santa ever lived, it was almost 2,000 years ago and doesn't matter now.

Well let me tell you, I have seen presents under my tree that I am pretty sure my parents would never have bought. I have seen strangers inexplicably have their hearts melted and help each other. I have seen Santa in a shopping mall moved to tears by the requests of hurting children. I have seen ordinary fathers put on a red suit and be magically transformed into a Jolly Old Elf.

I have seen starving families fed and fighting families reconciled, homeless people sheltered and benevolent programs funded. I have seen whole villages in the developing world given wells, or farms, or schools.

Don't tell me there's no Santa Claus.