- When it is kept
- December 6
- Where it fits in the year
- Advent
Nicholas was a bishop of Myra, a city in Lycia, in what is now Turkey, in the 300s. Almost nothing else about his life is certain. He left no writings, and no writer who lived in his time mentions him.1,2 One of the oldest mentions is a speech from about the year 440. The first full life of Nicholas was written much later by Michael the Archimandrite.2,3 Some say he went to the Council of Nicaea in 325. His name is on only a few of the lists of bishops there, and many scholars doubt it.1,2
No pope ever declared him a saint. People honored him more and more until his fame spread across the church.4 His feast day is December 6. Orthodox churches that use the Julian calendar keep it on December 19.1 In 1087 sailors from Bari in Italy took most of his bones from Myra. Italian accounts call it a rescue, and Orthodox and Turkish accounts call it a theft. A great church was built at Bari to hold them.1,5
In the Netherlands children set a shoe by the fireplace or the door on the evening of December 5, with a carrot or some hay for the saint’s horse. In the morning they find sweets or a small gift.6,7 The name Santa Claus is an English form of the Dutch Sinterklaas, which means Saint Nicholas.6