December 16th Meeting

Candy introduced Portland Rotarian, Russ Burleigh who was making his annual visit and historical Christmas presentation. Every year he manages to give us a different or new presentation. However, I have reached back in my files and used my notes from 2004:

 

Saint Nikolaus was a real person in Antalya, Turkey around 260 – 289 AD. It is not easy to uncover the historic facts about Sankt Nikolaus, the fourth century Greek bishop of Myra in Asia Minor, who died on December 6th, 343. He came from a very wealthy family and being a real good Christian, proceeded to give away everything he had. Apparently, there was a man, who was unable to leave a dowry for each of three daughters, so Saint Nikolaus threw 3 bags of gold into the house and one fell into a stocking. (This is the origin of the tradition of putting an orange in a stocking. The three bags of gold were the origin of the 3 gold balls hung outside a pawnshop.)  However, there was no celebration of Christmas through the middle ages.

 

In 1223, Saint Francis of Assisi introduced the tradition of the presepio in order to make the story of Jesus' birth vivid to his followers. Saint Francis used townsfolk to play the parts of Joseph and Mary, Jesus, the Wise Men, and the shepherds. The notion of dramatizing Christ's birth became so popular that churches all over Italy instituted their own presepios, sometimes with people, but more and more often using small, beautifully
carved figures.

 

As with the Christmas tree, St. Nikolaus was brought to this country by German and Dutch immigrants. KNICKERBOCKER'S HISTORY OF NEW YORK by Washington Irving is published in December 1809. The book satirizes local tradition including Sinter Klaas. The American version of the Santa Claus figure received its inspiration and its name from the Dutch legend of Sinter Klaas, brought by settlers to New York in the 17th century.

 

This Dutch-American Saint Nick achieved his fully Americanized form in 1823 in the poem A Visit From Saint Nicholas more commonly known as The Night Before Christmas by writer Clement Clarke Moore. Moore included such details as the names of the reindeer; Santa Claus's laughs, winks, and nods; and the method by which Saint Nicholas, referred to as an elf, returns up the chimney.

 

Thomas Nast, a short, chubby artist at Harpers was highly prized for his talent at caricature. His powerful political drawings earned him the title “Father of the American Cartoon”. He was the first to illustrate a portly, white beaded Santa, which appeared in the magazine in 1881.

 

Francis P. Church's editorial, "Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus" was an immediate sensation, and became one of the most famous editorials ever written. It first appeared in the The New York Sun in 1897, almost a hundred years ago, and was reprinted annually until 1949 when the paper went out of business.