Around the world, children are told of “good old St. Nick,” who, in our culture, is more often referred to as Santa Claus. But how did St. Nicholas become the well known legend of this day?

Nicholas was born in the third century in Turkey. His parents died when he was young and he was then left with a very large inheritance and to be raised by the Christian church. All of Nicholas’ life, he was told to give everything to the poor and keep nothing for himself  because his treasures were not of this world. This led him to take all of his money and begin to give it to the needy, homeless, sick, poor, orphans, and widows.As legend has it, when Nicholas was in his early twenties, there was a man who had three daughters; the man could not marry off his daughters because he could not pay for her dowry (a gift given to the husband and wife to get them started). This man had so little money that he couldn’t feed his family any longer. He then decided to sell them into slavery in order to make sure they were fed and to get money. The night before the eldest daughter was to be sold, she hung her socks, wet from being washed, above the fire to dry. The next morning, they discovered gold coins in her stockings – enough to pay for food and her dowry. She was saved, but her sisters were still not. The next night, coins, again, were left in the stockings, saving the second oldest daughter. The third night, the father stayed up to see who the person was that was helping them. He woke up at the sound of the door clicking shut. He ran from the house to discover St. Nicholas walking away. The man thanked St. Nick for saving his daughters and all St. Nick asked in return was to keep his identity a secret.

St. Nicholas continued to do kind deeds in order to help those less fortunate. After St. Nicholas passed away, other cultures began to change the story of St. Nicholas. He became known as a protector of children as well as an avid gift giver. In later years, Germany made the tradition of leaving one’s shoes outside on Christmas Eve to be filled by “St. Nicholas.” People began to fill stockings and leave presents for their children in the spirit of Christmas.

America adopted the tradition early on and celebrating the kind giving of St. Nicholas became a common practice for many American families. This tradition, though having strange and commonly unknown roots, allows children to have a fun family tradition that lets them receive presents from a magical man who comes down their chimney. Though St. Nicholas never wanted to be famous, his abundant kindness and unstoppable selflessness made him go down in history as the magical and giving Santa Claus.