Santa Claus meets St Nicholas

Thought I better photograph these before they disappear. Both of these chocolate Santas were Christmas presents for my daughter, but one was bought in Glasgow and one was bought in Brussels.

Being in Brussels in December meant I was hoping to get to one of the Christmas markets to buy a few things. Unfortunately work got in the way and I was unable to manage to any markets, however just next to my hotel was a Neuhaus chocolate shop so I popped in there and bought a chocolate Santa. Of course it was the version much more prevalent in continental Europe, which is not really Santa, but St Nicholas.

St Nicholas was an historic 4th-century saint and Greek Bishop of Myra (Demre, part of modern-day Turkey) in Lycia. Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker. He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting coins in the shoes of those who left them out for him, and thus became the model for Santa Claus, whose modern name comes from the Dutch Sinterklaas, itself from a series of elisions and corruptions of the transliteration of "Saint Nikolaos".

The contrast between the continental European tradition of Christmas and the one we have, which seems to be a half way house between the European version and the version that holds sway in the USA has always intrigued me. Is it true that the version of Santa Clause we have (white beard & red suit) comes from a Coca Cola advert or is that just a modern fairy tale?

The European St Nicholas version is clearly a bishop rather than a fat guy in a red suit with accompanying reindeers, but even if the image of Santa that we have does come from a Coca Cola advert I am sold on it.