From St. Nicholas to Santa Claus: Connecting the Symbolism

The historic St. Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, children, students, and pawn brokers. Yes, pawn brokers. The traditional symbols representing St. Nicholas have evolved into some of our basic Christmas traditions and a few other odd tid-bits. Why stockings by the fire? Why the gift giving? The answers become clear when history becomes legend becomes tradition.

Stockings by the Fire
St. Nicholas' generosity is exemplified in the story of the three daughters. The poverty of a local widower meant his three daughters would have no dowries. Without dowries, Byzantine girls could not secure respectable husbands and often ended up being sold as slaves. As each of the girls reached the age of marriage, a bag of gold was mysteriously tossed in their window at night. Tradition adds that the gold landed in the shoes drying beside the fire place. Some counties, like Holland, still place shoes by the fire on Christmas Eve. In other countries, this tradition has evolved into hanging stockings from the mantle.

Patron saint of pawn brokers, really?
From the story of the three girls we get the symbols of three money bags, three gold coins and three gold balls. Though St. Nicholas freely gave the money to the pauper, the three-ball symbol was co-opted by pawn brokers and St. Nicholas was adopted as their patron saint. This probably has to do with the aspect of pawn shops as places where down-on-their-luck people go to raise quick cash.

Oranges in your stocking?
In keeping with the gold-ball symbol, oranges serve as modern substitutes. Many today place oranges in their Christmas stockings and have no idea why, other than it is a family tradition. This practice too, points back to the story of the three poor girls and St. Nicholas' anonymous gifts. The anonymity of the gift giving is a direct correlation to the modern Santa Claus.