If you’re in Europe, Happy Saint Nicholas Day! Saint Nick – or as he is known in The Netherlands, Sinterklass – was also referred to as Nicholas the Wonderworker. He was an early Christian bishop from Turkey who practiced from about 300-340 CE and died on December 6, hence his feast day.

He was revered for his generosity and particularly for his custom of secretly providing desperately needed food or money to the poor or struggling. He also gave small gifts to children.

When Dutch colonists arrived in New Amsterdam, today’s New York state, they brought with them the tradition of Saint Nicholas or Sinterklass, which was translated into English as Santa Claus. However, Henry VIII – the much married 16th century king of England who also tended to behead his spouses if they upset him – had already decided to move any celebration around Saint Nicholas (known as Father Christmas in the U.K.) to December 25.

For countless centuries prior to the rise of Christianity this particular day had been celebrated as – among many others – the Feast of Saturnalia or the Celebration of Yule, a time to honour the return of the sun through light displays, gift-giving and banqueting. Over time, the traditions of the two sets of “New World” colonists, U.K. and Dutch, became combined into a December 25 celebration of a fly-around-the-world-in-one-night, North Pole-domiciled entity known as Santa Claus.

I think it’s important to remember that the tradition of Saint Nicholas or Sinterklass or Father Christmas or Santa Claus was based around the idea of giving – in secret – to the less fortunate, something that seems to have become terribly lost in our intensely spendy world.

Food for thought.