Santa's Turkish Roots

Every December, Christian clergy and scholars from around the world make the pilgrimage to the southern Turkish village of Demre to honor St. Nicholas, the historical figure who inspired the legend of Santa Claus. St. Nicholas was bishop of Myra during the 4th century A.D., the ancient Lycian city along the Mediterranean coast of Turkey that is now Demre. Few details about his life are certain, but it was his reputation for benevolence and good deeds that provided the original inspiration for the character of Santa Claus.

Born into a wealthy family in the ancient Lycian seaport city of Patara on the southern shore of what is now Turkey, Nicholas was orphaned at a young age, the heir to a substantial inheritance. He vowed to devote his wealth to charitable causes and soon developed a reputation for generosity and kindness. It is said that when Nicholas heard of a distinguished citizen of Patara who was unable to find dowries for his three daughters, he secretly gave the family three bags of gold – enough for each daughter to marry. It is believed that this event eventually linked St. Nicholas to the custom of giving gifts at Christmas.

Numerous miracles were also attributed to Nicholas during his lifetime. According to one legend, he restored three boys to life who had been murdered up by a local butcher. Another story tells how Nicholas, returning from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, saved a sinking ship through prayer and resurrected a sailor who had fallen overboard, otherwise destined to drown at sea. The event earned him the title of “savior saint of sailors.”

Historic accounts indicate Nicholas was also extremely influential in the early Christian church. Upon returning from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Nicholas decided not to return to his hometown of Patara, but to live in the town of Myra, an important center of the Christian faith approximately 47 miles east of Patara.

Legend has it that Nicholas arrived in Myra when the local clergy were in the process of selecting a new bishop to succeed the one who had recently died. Unsure of whom to appoint, they prayed for guidance and were directed to anoint the first man who entered the church the next day. As Nicholas was the first to arrive at the church, he became bishop and went on to represent Lycia at the First Ecumenical Council of the Church at Nicaea in 325.

The benevolent international icon we know as Santa Claus today sprouted from these tales, which spread throughout Europe during the Middle Ages. But it was Clement C. Moore, an American professor of divinity, who was most instrumental in developing the modern concept of Santa Claus with his 1823 poem “A Visit from Saint Nicholas.” The poem provided the inspiration for the first portrait of Santa Claus, drawn by newspaper cartoonist Thomas Nast in 1870. That picture permanently transformed St. Nicholas into the round and rosy-cheeked character so treasured today.

It is believed that Nicholas died in Myra on Dec. 6 at the age of 65. After his death, Nicholas was elevated to sainthood and buried in a graveyard just outside of Myra, where a chapel was built over his tomb. Later, in the 6th century, the Church of St. Nicholas was constructed on that same spot to commemorate his life and work. During raids in the 8^th and 11^th centuries, the church suffered great destruction, but was, according to church records, restored by Constantine IV in 1043. Shortly after, in 1087 during the Crusades, a group of merchants from Bari, Italy broke into the tomb and stole the saint’s bones, which they took back to Bari with them. The few bone fragments left behind are now kept in the Antalya Museum.

An attractive example of Anatolian Byzantine architecture, with a mosaic-paved floor and frescoes that were added during the 11^th and 12^th centuries, the Church of St. Nicolas dates to the Mid-Byzantine period. A sarcophagus there, believed to be the tomb of St. Nicholas, is early Christian in date. However, the lid bearing two recumbent figures and dating from the Roman period, does not belong to the original tomb.

The Church of St. Nicholas continues to honor its namesake saint with an annual three-day symposium, beginning this year with a commemorative ceremony on Dec. 5. The ceremony attracts many tourists who spend their Christmas holidays on the sunny Mediterranean coast of ancient Lycia.

Scenes from St. Nicholas’s Life

Myra – St. Nicholas’s Home

Located at the outskirts of Demre, the ancient city of Myra was among the six most important cities in the Lycian League – witness the fact it was assigned the right to mint coins during the second century B.C. By the time of the reign of the Byzantine emperor Theodosius, it had become the capital of the province. Believed to have been inhabited as early as 500 B.C., it is said that the town was named after the Greek word for myrrh, the sweet-smelling resin of bushes found abundantly in the area. Today, Myra boasts some of the best-preserved rock tombs in the region, built into the face of a cliff that overlooks a magnificent Roman theater.

Patara – St. Nicholas’s Birthplace

Once the principal harbor of Lycia, Patara offers longest and most beautiful white-sand beaches on Turkey’s 5,000 miles of coastline. Legend has it that the town was named after Pataras, the son of Apollo and it may possibly have been the birthplace of Apollo as well. Indeed, a small hill located in the southwest corner of the area is the suspected site of the Temple of Apollo and its oracle, one of the greatest sites of antiquity that has thus far evaded discovery. Although, like the possible temple site, much of the ancient city has yet to be excavated, a triple-arched gateway erected in 100 A.D. and a partially excavated theater dating from the second century A.D. are significant historical attractions.

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