The Italian Californian: December 2023

Italians immigrated to almost all parts of the world, the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia, Latin America, and the North Pole. Wait...what?? The North Pole? Yes, the North Pole; we all know Santa Claus lives there, along with his wife, some elves, and maybe a few reindeer, but what you probably didn't know was that Santa was Italian.

Okay...well...yeah...that's not exactly all true either. Santa Claus, the real-life model being Saint Nicholas of Myra, is now entombed in the Italian city of Bari. So in reality he never made it to the North Pole, but is now Italian, though he is only Italian through "adoption" since he was born and lived his whole life in what is now Turkey.

According to Lfe in Italy, "San Nicolò di Bari began life in the late third century AD as the son of a wealthy Christian family in Patara, a Greek-speaking colony of the Roman Empire located in modern Turkey. There is little historical documentation on his early life, but it is known that he became Bishop of Myra while still a young man. His life as a cleric spanned through the persecutions of Emperor Diocletian and later Galerius, to the eventual legalization of Christianity by Constantine. During that time span, San Nicolò is known to have destroyed pagan temples in his diocese and participated in the pivotal Council of Nicea in 325 AD, where he spoke out against the Arian heresy. One legend claims that San Nicolò slapped the heretic Arius in the face during the Council. This is a rare case of the saint showing a temper, as most legends and tales attributed to San Nicolò are of a much gentler kind."

A Legend Begins

As further explained by Justin Demetri writing for Life in Italy, "There are numerous versions of this legend, but they all begin with a poor man that could not afford dowries for his three daughters who, as a consequence, were not considered suitable for marriage. With no other opportunities available, the poor man was considering forcing his daughters into prostitution (some versions say they were going to be sold into slavery). When San Nicolò caught wind of this horrible situation, he decided to use his inherited wealth to help the three young women. On three separate occasions, late at night, San Nicolò secretly tossed bags of gold through an open window of the poor man’s house. According to one version of the legend, they landed in shoes or stockings that were drying by the fire. The first two sacks of gold allowed for a proper dowry for the two eldest daughters, but the poor man wanted to find out who the mysterious gift-giver was. In some versions, the poor man catches San Nicolò in the act, only to have the pious saint-to-be crediting God with the gift.

"However, there is another version of the story that says San Nicolò, who understood the poor man wanted to catch him in the act, decided to drop the third sack of gold down the chimney, instead of using the window, as he did for the previous two. After providing dowries for the three daughters, the generosity of San Nicolò began to spread. After that, it was believed that any anonymous gift made in his diocese of Myra was attributed to him."

The Bishop of Myra Becomes Italian

Life in Italy goes on, "San Nicolò is said to have died of old age on December 6th in 343 AD, a rarity in a time when most saints were martyred. His bones were laid in a Greek sarcophagus in the cathedral of Myra, which became a popular pilgrimage site shortly after his death.

"For over seven hundred years San Nicolò’s relics lay in Myra. However the city was then conquered by the Seljuk Turks, who threatened the safety of the pilgrimage site. In 1087, sailors from Bari arrived in Myra and stole the bones from the church in a race against Venetian sailors who wanted to do the same. On May 9th, 1087 the sailors returned to Bari with the holy relics of San Nicolò, where in 1089 they were placed in a new crypt by Pope Urban II. The people of Bari built an enormous Basilica over his bones, which now directed pilgrims to Southern Italy instead of Asia Minor. With a much safer pilgrimage route, San Nicolò became one of Western Europe’s most popular saints."

According to the CNN article The Italian town where Santa Claus is buried | CNN, Bari is now trying to capitalize on tourism by making the world know (or think?) that it's the final resting place of the "real Santa Claus":

"A new awareness is spreading among some Baresi, eager to boost efforts to exploit the Nicholas-Santa link and turn Bari’s Christmas connections into a tourist highlight. Many spots in Bari are named after the saint. There’s a San Nicola bakery, a stadium, a bar, a hotel and an orecchietteria (a shop where traditional handmade earshaped orecchiette pasta is sold). In December actors walk around town alternatively dressed as Santa and San Nicola.

"Paco Ricchiuti, head of Velo Service, a local tourist operator, has started to cash in on Bari’s Christmas tie. He organizes guided tours to the basilica and the local museum where Saint Nicholas artifacts are held. Other tour stops include San Nicola stadium, a research center dedicated to the saint and wall paintings around the town that have turned Saint Nick into a pop-art hero.

"In the Bari Vecchia historic district, there are various murals of the local hero, including one in which he’s doing yoga. Ricchiuti says he wants to turn Bari’s Christmas link into a brand.

“We take visitors on guided walking, bike and rickshaw tours, the vehicles have just been painted with images of San Nicola and Father Christmas, and we like to take actors dressed as both along to enhance the experience,” he says. Tourists are also treated to the popular San Nicola beer made with local ingredients. A smaller beer bottle called “Nicolino” features an image of the saint on its label.

"Brewer Paola Sorrentino says she created the beer to pay homage to the saint, who’s also the protector of beer-makers and strangers. “I’m Neapolitan and this city has welcomed me with open arms, just like its patron. Plus I’m a brewer so what better way to celebrate and thank San Nicola,” she says.

"Souvenir T-shirts bearing the image of San Nicola can also be bought in Bari, but Ricchiuti says the town should do more to sponsor the Christmas link worldwide.

“I’m happy that the real Santa is buried in my hometown, which is the origin place of the myth of Santa Claus,” he says. “People around the world envy this and we don’t realize how blessed we are.”"

They celebrate hm on his feast day of December 5th: "Celebrations for Saint Nicholas Day begin in Bari on the night of December 5. Locals attend Roman Catholic Mass at dawn the next day and then tuck into hot chocolate, pancakes and sticks of fried polenta called sgagliozze.," says CNN, "Street concerts are held as the statue of San Nicola is paraded through the old district to a huge Christmas tree. Bars and pastry shops are open non-stop."

"San Nicolò – How Did He Become Santa Claus?

"So how did this pious and generous saint become a jolly fat man delivering presents on Christmas Eve?," Life in Italy explains. "The origin of the American Santa Claus stems from the traditions surrounding San Nicolò, but is more directly influenced by the Dutch tradition of Sinterklaas. As stated above, San Nicolò was one of Europe’s most popular saints, and traditions of gift giving on December 5th, the eve of his feast day, were widespread. The Dutch tradition of Sinterklaas gets its name from a shortened version of San Nicolò’s name in Dutch – Sint Nikolaas- and he is portrayed wearing the robes of a Catholic Bishop. This tradition was brought over by Dutch settlers to their colony of New Amsterdam and when the British took over the settlement, which later became New York City, they also took on the tradition of the gift giving Sinterklaas. The new settlers mispronounced the Dutch name, and so Sinterklaas became Santa Claus.

"As the Santa Claus myth grew, the character became an entity unique to American culture, and started to resemble the historical San Nicolò less and less. Even though the Santa Claus tradition is so far removed from the veneration of San Nicolò, the most important parts have never changed. Both San Nicolò and Santa Claus are devoted to children and both are kind, gift giving figures known for their charity and selflessness...."

In the American version of San Nicolo di Bari, Santa Claus, though some of his bones are entombed in Italy, somehow the rest of him is living in a village in the North Pole. How this Greek-speaking Catholic Bishop from modern-day Turkey ended up living there or why he choose to reside in such an isolated, cold and lonely spot (save for his wife and elves) rests somewhere in the annals of legend and myth, but I can personally deduce that he picked it for its central location making it easier to deliver gifts all over the World. So only one question then arrives: why aren't there pilgrimages to the North Pole? Well actually a few questions come up, like are there Greek or Italian restaurants in the Arctic? (I'm guessing there's a pizza place.)

So yes, long story short, Santa Claus is an Italian immigrant of Greek (modern day Turkey) origin that is now a citizen of the Arctic. And I will be asking my parish priest to organize a trip there, though we may wait until Summer.