The fame of his superpowers not only survived to this day, but, having transformed over the centuries, froze in the image most necessary at all times - a kind wizard who condescends to simple human desires and fulfills them. Saint Nicholas, who has become Santa Claus, visits every year the houses where there are children, and gives them the most valuable thing in our world - hope for a miracle.
WHERE ARE YOU FROM, SANTA?
So winter has crept up, the ice mistress has come into its own. The cold, wind and snow make us dress warmly, pull on hats and wrap up in scarves, covering our noses and cheeks. We hurry from home to work and from work home it gets dark, but the road is illuminated not only by street lamps, but also by bright shop windows. And the closer the New Year's Eve, the more you notice that a cheerful fat man in small glasses dressed in a red suit with white fur trim is looking at you from the glass windows - this is Santa Claus. He's everywhere now. Slyly smiles at us and hides a huge bag of gifts behind his back. Looking at him, you smile with anticipation of the holiday, but you also shiver from the cold. After all, the fat man's homeland is in Lapland, and there is such frost that even at the thought of him you want to put on a second jacket. However, it is worth remembering that Santa Claus is by no means from Lapland. And his name is not really Santa at all. To be more precise, Santa Claus is only a prototype of a real person who was born in Asia Minor and has never been to Lapland, and he hardly saw snow, and his name was then Saint Nicholas.
GOOD BOY
In the second half of the 3rd century AD, the long-awaited and supplicated son was born to the rich and pious parents of Nonna and Theophanes. The parents swore that if they had a child, they would dedicate it to God. The boy's mother was weak in health and the birth was difficult, but the woman silently prayed and endured, knowing that only in the joy of the birth of her son there would be peace and happiness in their home. Indeed, as soon as Nonna was released from the burden, miracles began. The child was as beautiful as a little angel, and the mother's ailments were divinely healed. The woman took her long-awaited child in her arms and wanted to attach it to her breast, but the child refused to eat. Only then the woman prayed fervently and thanked God for the miracle given to her. Only after prayer did the baby accept the breast. Sometimes, in order to exalt the saint, church men wrote out of the ordinary tales:that the infant took mother's milk only on Wednesdays and Fridays. But there was also a lot of truth. For example, the fact that in early childhood Nikolai loved not so much to play with the neighbors' children, but to read and study the divine scripture. As a kid, he helped everyone who, in his opinion, needed help. Having become a young man, Nikolai repeatedly told his parents that helping one's neighbor is the basis of life. Give joy to everyone and you will be happy yourself.
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ABOUT THE LIFE OF A SAINT OR WHO WORKED MIRACLES
One day, the future wizard learned that the father of three daughters could not marry them off to worthy husbands, because he became impoverished and was unable to pay them a worthy dowry. On the next night of good deeds, the master went to the house of the inconsolable widower and threw a purse, tightly filled with gold, out of the window. After a while Nikolai threw a second wallet of the same kind into the same window. The second daughter, like the first, was married with a good dowry. The head of the family began to watch every night at the windows to find out who the benefactor was. And so the third purse flew through the window and hit one of the socks that were hung to dry in front of the fire of the hearth. The father rushed to thank Nikolai, but he only asked not to tell strangers about his act. However, chatty girlish tongues could not keep the secret of their salvation for a long time. And the rumor about the very first miracle of Nicholas,which in those days was charity, coupled with modesty and the desire to remain unrecognized, scattered around the district. Nicholas would repeat this miracle, ordinary by its nature, later - more than one sock or shoe of the poor man, exposed to dry by the fireplace, will be filled with gold coins.
Once Saint Nicholas saved three soldiers agreed by the mayor from execution. Unafraid, he climbed onto the platform and held the executioner's hand, and then called the mayor himself to account - he repented of his sins before the future saint - the execution was canceled.
Miracles of will and kindness replaced miracles of faith. Wandering across the sea on a ship, more than once with his prayers he tamed the obstinate element, and the storm retreated, obeying the will of God. And when Nicholas, in front of the shocked travelers, resurrected a sailor that fell from the deck in a storm and crashed into the water - the pagan faith of eyewitnesses was shaken. Through the prayers of the saint, the whole city was also saved from a terrible death by starvation. Appearing to an Italian merchant in a dream, Saint Nicholas told that the merchant needed to sail to the city of Mira and sell grain there. The saint promised an honest payment and even left the merchant a deposit of three gold coins, which the merchant found in his palm upon awakening in the morning. Needless to say, the merchant swam out immediately?
SAINT NICHOLAS AND CHANGE OF NAME
In the 17th century, a ship arrived from Holland to North America with a statue of St. Nicholas on board. The settlers founded a small village and moved the statue from the ship to the square of their small village. Time passed, the number of immigrants became more and more, but they all spoke differently. And the name of St. Nicholas in their mouths sounded at first as "Sinter Class", and then paraphrased in "Santa Class" until it became familiar to us - Santa Claus. Since then, people in the New World began to talk about Santa Claus.
FROM LEGENDS TO A FAIRY TALE, OR FROM AN OLD MAN TO ELVES
Through the ages they carried the image of the holy elder. They fought for his relics, died with his name on their lips, they called out to him out of fear of the elements or asked for help. As time went on, more and more miracles were attributed, and the figure of the saint was drawn more and more infallible and stern, until, on Christmas Eve in 1822, Clement Clark Moon published his poem "The Parish of St. Nicholas." This work tells how on the eve of Christmas a little boy met with a saint who brought him a bag of gifts. In the poem, the author has completely deprived Saint Nicholas of severity and asceticism. Before the readers appeared Santa Claus - a cheerful and good-natured fat elf with a long beard, constantly smoking a pipe and releasing puffs of snow-white fragrant smoke. A red cap and a team of reindeer were assigned to the image of the new Santa Claus.
New Santa Claus was constantly painted in different sheepskin coats, until in 1931 the Coca-Cola company began its advertising campaign, mainly for which Santa Claus was elected. The artist painted a cheerful fat old man in a red and white robe with a snow-white mustache and a beard with a bottle of Coca-Cola in one hand and a bag with gifts on his back. It is such Santa Claus that we now imagine, and the image of the saint is gradually being erased from memory. But on the eve of a series of New Year and Christmas holidays, it's time to remember and repeat at least partially his feat in life - so simple and such, whose name is charity. Maybe she is the first step towards the development of superpowers in any of us?
Maria Voronina