Santa Claus
- María Molina
- Dec 25, 2025
- 2 min read
The man who inspired Santa Claus was born in Anatolia, now Turkey, in the year 270, and was named Nicholas. Nicholas inherited a large fortune, which he devoted entirely to helping those in need.
One of his most famous deeds was to help a ruined father provide dowries for his three daughters by throwing a bag of gold coins through the window at night for three nights. In another version of the story, Nicholas does not throw the gold coins through the window but down the chimney, where they miraculously fall into some woolen stockings that the three young women had left out to dry (does this sound familiar?).
His remains were transferred to Bari (Italy). That is why he is known as Saint Nicholas of Bari and his feast day is December 6.
The Feast of Saint Nicholas (in Dutch: Sinterklaas) is celebrated on the eve of Saint Nicholas Day (December 5) in the Netherlands, and on Saint Nicholas Day (December 6) in Belgium. Saint Nicholas, dressed as a bishop with a mitre and crozier, arrives from Spain (yes, Spain) by boat to deliver gifts at night, riding a white horse that jumps from roof to roof.
Brought by the Dutch to America, specifically to New Amsterdam, which would later become New York, his Dutch name was anglicized to Santa Claus.
On the other hand, there is a character in many European cultures that symbolizes the spirit of Christmas, usually generous old men who come from the forest or the mountains. Examples include the English Father Christmas and the French Père Noël.
Both characters, Saint Nicholas and Father Christmas, are combined in the United States in Santa Claus, who is the character we know today and who spread throughout Europe in the early 19th century.
With his multicolored outfit, chubby appearance, beard, red suit, and sleigh from Lapland, we owe his current look to a 1931 Coca-Cola campaign.
San Nicolás has a church dedicated to him in Seville, and on the façade and the main altarpiece is San Nicolás with some balls that symbolize the bags of gold.
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