Saint Nicholas


 Saint Nicholas


December 6 was the feast of Saint Nicholas.  Nicholas was the historic source of the Santa Claus tradition and is strongly associated with the Christmas season.  He is one of three Yuletide Saints that I have painted, heavy with symbolism.

Saint Nicholas, Ἅγιος Νικόλαος, was a 4th century bishop in Myra, Lycia (now Turkey).  The holy man is revered as a generous benefactor of the poor, with attributed deeds and miracles added to his tradition over the centuries.  The three young boys running from a wet-curing barrel in the painting had been slaughtered and left to cure into hams by an evil butcher, but were resurrected by the saint.  We also see the three poor sisters whom Nicholas anonymously provided with sacks of gold for dowries, saving them from an unwed state that would have doomed them to lives of prostitution.  The wine, pomegranates, grapes, and other provisions for the poor are similarly  representative  of St Nicholas and his evolution into Santa Claus in recent centuries.  Nicholas’s traditional symbol of three gold balls, and his name in Greek identify him for us.

 

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