Santa Claus and Saint Nick

In my last Crappy Albums posting, I seemed to have made a connection between the Santa myth and the legend of Saint Nicholas.

I have read from Wikipedia that Saint Nicholas was born Nicholas of Myra, some time in 300 BC. He has had many miracles attributed to him, and was sanctified later because of this. However, he was known for the use of his inheritance for the giving of gifts to the needy. This connects with the modern myth that “all gifts come from Saint Nick”, because at one time it really was true.

“Santa Claus” is a corruption of the Dutch “Sinterklaas”. Not sure of the connection of what must roughly translate from “Saint Claus” to Saint Nick”. I don’t think anyone I’ve read has attempted this.

And anyway, if Saint Nick is in heaven now, he probably really does know if you’ve been naughty or nice.

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