OT: St. Nicholas ** Merry Christmas!!!

[Guest guest]

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In 313, when Diocletian resigned and Emperor Constantine came to power,

Nicholas was released and returned to his post as Bishop of Myra. He

continued his good works and became even wiser, more understanding and

more famous by the time of his death on December 6, 343. >>

 

In Germany, St. Nikolaus comes by on Dec.6th. Children leave a shoe by the door

and he either leaves a small gift or a switch or coal..

On the evening of the 24th, after celebrating the birth of the Christchild,

presents are given and also the tree is put up and seen for the first time, a

gift to the family..than there are two Christmas days of no official work, which

is spend with family and friends.

We do not say, ' what did Santa Claus' bring you, but what did the 'Christkindl'

bring you. Meaning that the Christchild got you the presents.

I cooked a goose and spend a wonderful day with my children, dogs, and am glad

that the sun came up, so the visibility is better for them to drive home today.

We've had our first big blizzard of the year the past days and driving was white

knuckle, even for us Northeners..

C-M

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Hi Anita .. other good folks ..

 

> Merry Christmas Everyone!!

 

And to you .. though Christmas Day is behind us the Spirit of Christmas

remains for some .. right through the New Year.

 

> I'm going no-mail over the weekend. We are leaving for Ft. Worth

> sometime later today whenever my dh gets off work.

 

Hope you had a nice one. :-)

 

> Have lots left to do, so just wanted to say Hey to everyone, and wish

> you all a Merry Christmas. Will try and get into while I'm

> gone, but you never know.

 

Enjoy .. that's what its all about.

 

> Did you guys know that St. Nicholas was from Turkey? I didn't, dh and

> I were thinking Holland, but it is Turkey!

 

Yep .. matter of fact that is. And you're right in both cases .. Saint

Nicholas was born in what is now Turkey but Santa Claus was originally

hatched out in Holland.

 

I've been to St. Nicholas' church (one of many in the world) many times

over the years.

 

The below information will be old hat to some .. but interesting trivia

it is .. methinks.

 

St. Nicholas was born in 280 AD, in Patara, a city of Lycia, in Asia

Minor (now Demre, in the Republic of Turkey). He was known as the Gift

Giver of Myra .. gifts were given late at night, so the gift giver's

identity would remain a secret. St. Nicholas was eventually named the

patron saint of children, sailors, Russia and Greece.

 

St. Nicholas, a Christian priest, who later became a bishop, was a rich

person who traveled the country helping people, giving gifts of money

and other presents. The custom caught on .. and as he didn't like to be

seen when he gave away presents, children of the day were told to go to

sleep quickly or he would not come!

 

Nothing has changed for the children .. though I did wait up and had a

toddy with Santa Claus this Christmas Eve.

 

One story about St. Nicholas tells of a poor man who had no money to

give to his three daughters as dowries on their wedding day. St. Nick

dropped bags of gold into the stockings which the girls had left to dry

by the fire. The sisters found the gold and ever since then, children

have hung up stockings on Christmas Eve hoping that they will be filled

with presents by Christmas morning. One of the ladies on the list told

of hanging up pantyhose .. so I tried it. The Old Elf told me he was

fresh out of models to fit the size but he offered me one that I had to

refuse since there was no reason to accept a model that couldn't get the

pantyhose over her foot.

 

Despite being a young man, St. Nicholas quickly earned a reputation for

kindliness and wisdom and that information quickly got back to Rome. In

the year 303, the Roman Emperor Diocletian commanded all the citizens of

the Roman Empire, which included Asia Minor, to worship him as a god.

 

Christians believed in one god so their conscience wouldn't allow them

to obey the Emperor's order. Angered by their stubbornness, Diocletian

warned the Christians that they would be imprisoned. The Emperor carried

out the threat and St. Nicholas, who also resisted, was imprisoned. For

more than five years he was confined to a small cell and suffered from

cold, hunger, and thirst, but he never wavered in his beliefs.

 

In 313, when Diocletian resigned and Emperor Constantine came to power,

Nicholas was released and returned to his post as Bishop of Myra. He

continued his good works and became even wiser, more understanding and

more famous by the time of his death on December 6, 343.

 

By 450, churches in Asia Minor and Greece were being named in honor of

St. Nicholas. By 800, he was officially recognized as the a Saint by

the Eastern Catholic Church.

 

In the 1200s, December sixth began to be celebrated as Bishop Nicholas

Day in France.

 

By end of the 1400s, St. Nicholas was the third most beloved religious

figure, after Jesus and Mary. There were more than 2000 chapels and

monasteries named after him. (One on the Southern coast of Turkey)

 

In the 1500s people in England stopped worshipping St. Nicholas and

began to favor another gift giving figure .. Father Christmas. But over

the centuries, St. Nicholas' popularity grew, and many people in Europe

made up new stories that showed his concern for children.

 

The name Santa Claus was derived from the Dutch pronunciation of St.

Nicholas (Sinter Klass). Early Dutch settlers in New York brought their

traditions of St. Nicholas. As children from other countries tried to

pronounce Sinter Klass, this soon became Santa Klass, which was settled

as Santa Claus. The old bishop's cloak with mitre, jeweled gloves and

crozier were soon replaced with his red suit and clothing seen in other

modern images.

 

A bit more trivia .. the Virgin Mary and birth of Jesus Christ is

accepted as factual by Moslems .. in fact, there is more written about

the Virgin Mary in the Koran than we find in the New Testament. And

the last home of the Virgin Mary is just outside the ancient city of

Ephesus .. in Turkey. Its staffed year around by Protestant, Catholic

and Moslem religious persons from around the world. A laundry list of

factual events regarding healings following prayer and drinking of the

water from the natural spring (said to be the one Mary drank from) is

posted in the chapel. I say these are factual events because most of

them are newspaper articles from around the world. Matters not to me

others think .. the articles and crutches and such are there for us

to see and we can take them as we want to.

 

Generally speaking, Turks (except Turkish Christians) don't celebrate

Christmas .. though they consider Jesus Christ as a Holy Prophet and his

mother, Mary, as a Divine person of great power .. they honor her.

 

Turks have adopted the habit of putting up Christmas Trees identical to

the ones we find in the West. They like the idea of a Santa Claus (Noel

Baba) .. we can find them outside shops giving small gifts and trying to

entice shoppers to come in and buy something.

 

In the Turkish town of Demre, the birth of Santa Claus, or St. Nicholas

is celebrated each year during a three-day festival in early December.

St. Nicholas is still remembered and admired as a famous Turkish

archbishop, and also for his piety and kindness to children. Kindness

to children is demanded and practiced here in Turkey .. in fact, they

spoil the little yonkers. ;-)

 

> Talk with ya'll on Sunday or Monday. Be safe...but have fun!

> Anita in TX

 

And you .. hope you and yours and all the good folks on the list had a

Very Merry Christmas .. and hoping Noel Baba was good to you.

 

Y'all keep smiling. :-) Butch .. in Ankara .. http://www.AV-AT.com