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Did you know that Santa Claus (known as Babbo Natale in Italy) is inspired by Saint Nicholas, a bishop born in Myra (modern-day Turkey) in the 3rd century AD? The Bishop of Myra - a beloved figure in both the Catholic and Orthodox worlds - became venerated by the masses after performing several miracles which often involved children and teenagers.
In fact, it is said that in order to prevent the three daughters of an impoverished nobleman from becoming prostitutes, Saint Nicholas dropped a bundle full of coins through the window of their house on three consecutive nights. This provided the girls with a dowry so they would be able to marry. Another legend goes that the bishop gave three apples to three poor children, and by the next morning, those fruits had transformed into precious golden apples.
On the 5th and 6th of December every year, St Nicholas - considered the “saint of the children and the downtrodden” - is celebrated in some Italian cities and in many Northern and Eastern European countries: Germany, Netherlands, Greece, Slovenia and Romania. As the legend goes, Saint Nicholas would travel at night by horse or donkey, leaving sweets and gifts in the shoes and slippers of the best-behaved children. In many European cities, on the evening of the 5th of December, little ones leave all kinds of shoes outside their doors - including full and mule slippers - whilst they eagerly wait for the saint to pass through. The saint carries a large gold book around with him - in which he has recorded all the little ones’ good and bad deeds - and then decides whether to fill the shoes with gifts or leave them empty to punish those who have not behaved as well as they should.
Saint Nicholas is usually accompanied by a frightening character with monstrous features, whose name varies according to the country (Black Pete, Krampus, Père Fouettard or Zwarte Piet). This figure frightens children by wandering through the streets armed with cowbells, whips and chains. In South Tyrol, for example, the Krampus dons a carved wooden mask and goatskins, and parades through the streets, letting his long chains clang behind him as he walks.
The modern figure of Santa Claus with his flying sleigh, reindeer, red suit and white beard, is inspired by this saint. His creation is mainly due to the poem published in 1823 and attributed to the writer Clement Clarke Moore: "A Visit from St. Nicholas”, now widely known as “Twas the Night Before Christmas”. It tells the tale of a plump, white-bearded man with rosy cheeks who, after having landed on the roofs of houses on his reindeer-pulled sleigh, heads down the chimneys to leave sweets and gifts in the stockings hung over the fireplace.