Saint Nicholas of Myra is the patron saint of children, sailors, thieves, Bankers ( wait, that seems to be close to thieves), pawnbrokers, scholars, travelers, perfumers, and others. Somehow, the church never named a patron for woodcarvers, but I nominate Nicholas.
My Dad noted a tradition of naming boys in the family Nicholas after the Saint. And when I researched the Carreras family history, the Nicholas Carreras were everywhere in Girona, Catalonia, where the family originated.
The photo accompanying this post is of our family, Santa. This Saint Nick dates to the early 1940s. I don’t recall a Christmas in our house without it. This Saint Nick is not a jolly, richly attired Clement Clarke Moore Santa, nor a Coke-swizzling, cooking-slurping, overweight Saint. He’s a tired older man with a walking stick and a basket of presents. He may complain about his sore feet.
This Saint Nick could be found in German or, in my Grandmother’s case, German-Hungarian homes. My father bought it in a German delicatessen in New York one Christmas, and no Christmas in the Carreras home would have been complete without it. My Grandmother could get whatever she wanted from my Dad, and tried without luck to get it for her apartment. There would have been an instant mutiny if it had changed households. So, if Grandma wanted to appreciate it, Grandma had to come to our house.
Santa does not wear plush or velvet, has no vast flowing beard – and has no magic sled pulled by flying deer. He’s the sort of Santa who complains loudly about his aching feet. He has no Santa Hot Line, and NORAD does not track him. He represents simple goodwill and love. I don’t think we need more at Christmas.
Happy feast of Saint Nicholas.
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Happy St. Nicholas Day, Lou. I was telling my daughter how we put shoes outside the door the night before and he would bring us an orange and a few nuts or something in our shoes if we had been good. An indicator of how Christmas was going to go. I think I did it for a while for my children when they were small but don’t think it made much of an impression. That’s the St. Nicholas I remember from childhood in Germany as well. Our customs were so different than here. I love who St. Nicholas was compared the coke and cookie sucking Santa of today. Great story. Mom was only an Easter Christian after making us beautiful new outfits she had to show us off somewhere. I thought it funny that she was a staunch atheist the rest of the year. Dad an agnostic. Christmas was a big deal growing up in our house. But no decor of any sentimental value ever survived all the moves we went through. I like that you have at least something of sentiment. Great story.
In this country, it’s tough to keep Saint Nicholas’ feast day so close to Christmas. I just try to remind my sons about it although they range on the agnostic side of things. My mother liked to throw things out so I think the little Santa owes his survival to my sister.
Saint Nicholas, the full twelve days, and the three wise men get short changed in American Christmas. Too bad.
Nice to hear about the tradition in your family too. Things are only valuable because they stimulate the process of recall.
Happy feast of Saint Nicholas! I was so surprised to learn that there is no patron saint of woodcarvers, seems very unfair that bankers and thieves got Saint Nicholas, no less!
Strange how Joseph is always known as the carpenter, but is the patron saint of craftsmen, not the patron saint of carpenters.
My dad retired from Coca-Cola so we had every Santa Christmas item known to man. Didn’t keep any of it but I can go to our local museum and bring back all the memories. Happy feast of Saint Nicholas.
St. Luke is the patron saint of artists because, like artists, he mixed up amazing things to cure people. Also, in olden days, many pigments were made by apothecaries. I love that so much.
Artists, but not carvers…We demand our own saint….Flat artists have saints…why can’t we!!! I’m going on strike til this issue is resolved Until then it’s Saint Nick al the way.
I should have typed “painters” but I wasn’t thinking 😃