By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Before we commercialized and infantilized every aspect of our culture, we used to understand the power of symbols. Our government was regarded as a benevolent uncle named Sam bidding us to do our part. Our soaring strength and spirit of ever climbing higher was embodied in an eagle. A bell in Philadelphia announced to the world that while our society was far from perfect it remained free of the Old World’s pretenses and encumbrances. A statue in a harbor welcomed even the wretched to a land promising both opportunity and hard work. Symbols define our ideals about life, desires, and even ourselves.
And regardless of your religious affiliation or if you have none at all, the symbol of Christmas remains one of life’s enduring icons of what is best in all of us. The holiday is personified by a fourth century clergyman, Nicholas, bishop of Myra. Myra lay in the Roman province of Lycia in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). Almost nothing is known about Nicholas except that he was born sometime around 260 CE and died after 333 CE. Most of his good works in Lycia are obscure and his piety is presumed but never verified. He stands as a part of history based on one story told and retold throughout the centuries.
In his capacity as bishop, Nicholas became aware of a man living in the City of Patara. Once a wealthy and influential member of the community, the man had fallen on hard times and could not provide even the basics of life. Blessed with three daughters, the man knew he would never be able to pay the dowries that would permit the young women to be properly married and assume their places in polite society. In that culture being unable to marry meant more than just a life of hard labor in the fields; it usually meant prostitution for young girls. Distraught the man turned every stone to improve his situation but all to no avail.
Hearing of the plight, Nicholas resolved to do something about it. Whether based on religious prescription or his own benevolent intuitions, the prelate decided to provide direct aid to the man by tossing a small bag of gold through his open window during the early hours of the morning and thus avoid further embarrassment for the man. Nicholas returned night after night to add to the man’s dowries but, finding the window inexplicably locked on the third night, dropped the gold down the chimney where it landed in a wet stocking that was drying by the dying embers.
There was good reason for the locked window after all as the occupant was waiting for the good bishop after he clamored down off the roof. Learning at last who his benefactor really was, the man promised to let everyone know about the kindness of the Christian bishop. Nicholas would have none of it and had the man promise never to tell anyone about what had happened. That promise was likely not fulfilled.
Saint Nicholas of the Roman Church has come to define all that we admire about charity — generosity of spirit, selflessness, and a genuine regard and understanding of the sometimes intolerable plight of our fellow man. It is true religion and that is what many of us will honor on Tuesday.
God Bless us — every one.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
Source: CNN
~Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Anonymously Yours,
Thanks for trying. Hope some others also have read the article from Wiki.
Sweden has adopted some Saints from Christianity but Santa Claus was NOT one of them by any name. Your choice of Wiki article confirms this.
No Nordic country is included in the article. The wise church decided that we could keep some of our heathen practices.
Hope you have read my belated comment above.
Tease away, I thrive on it and pleasured by it too. Ho ho ho ho!
And that was not our jultomten. He never laughs. Nor drinks Coke.
Jultomten asks after knocking at the door. “Finns det några snälla barn här?
(Are there any nice obedient children here?)
Whereupon all answer “YESSSS”, and presents are presented by name to each small one.
BTW. the town of Gävle erects in straw, a giant 30 foot high replica of the Tomte Goat every Christmas season. And they try to protect it but each year some vandal succeeds in setting it on fire before Christmas Eve.
Given the history of homo sapiens, and for the sake of balance alone, symbols exist today to be openly mocked and little else. Uncle Sam? Please, Santa? Industrialization tipped THAT one over, and the info age did him in. That chic holding the scales with the blindfold? Cover up her breasts for gods’s sake! And don’t get me staaaaded on the death-cult crucifix.
What christmas symbolizes best is an unholy greed that shifts billions of dollars around at the end of the year (beginning in September) while permitting things like “homelessness” and “crumbling schools” to continue to exist in our American lexicon the remainder of the year.
Hard to feel honest wishing anyone well with THAT, certainly not without fingers of accusation raising a righteous “bah, humbug!” in one’s general direction.
That said, do enjoy your time off work. You’ve earned about 10 times that amout of vacation given how the wealthy have behaved. And chocolate will help with the depression as you remove all those lights, just as we head into the darkest time of the year. There will be NO joy in January, by Circe!
Both bah and humbug!
Previously posted on the wrong thread.
idealist7071, December 23, 2012 at 9:54 am
AY,
Do you believe that we have a Sinterklaus here sponsored by CocaCola???
Who told you that? Or are you trying to prevent a comment from this end?
We don”t even have any sort of fat man who delivers the presents. Only something called Tomten, a non-human dwarf-like being, who uses a large goat to bear his bags. Coca-cola is not a popular Yule drink. That will be glogg, sockerdrycke, eller Apotekarn’s own with no alcohol. But the little nubbe of vodka, spiced or not, will not be far from hand.
Mark Esposito,
Glad whatever you are celebrating. And for the legend.
It at least exhibits a rich bishop giving at least a part to the needy.
Something missing in America.
Saint Nicholaus fame confirms by its strength how rare such a deed was and is today.
So, where did the bishop get the gold?
Oh, and I forgot to mention Schwarte Peet, the little sidekick to SinterKlaas with the funny had and blackface. All over Amsterdam on Dec 5th.
When I was little I was taught by an Orthodox Rabbi (for no known reason; nobody in the town was Orthodox) and he taught that there were three levels of giving, from Best to “least best”:
GIving when neither the donor nor the recipient knows who gave and who received
Giving when the recipient is known to the donor but the donor is not known to the recipient
Giving when the donor is known to the recipient but the recipient is not known to the donor
Now that I went on-line to refresh my memory of the three levels, I learn that there are actually eight (maybe Rabbi thought we were too young and unsophisticated for the long answer), but these three still appear in that order.
That’s only one of my Santa Claus stories. But it is the most obscure.
BarkinDog: It was Holland that we were guide dogs for the blind ambassador and they observed SinterKlaas Day on Dec 5th, Not Germany. He is separate from the Saint Nick guy in the Catolic church.
Info for you to ponder id707….http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas
Mark,
St Nick epitomizes the true meaning of Christmas and I has nothing to do with Christ. But it has everything to do with Christianity.
The Christians co-opted the pagan rituals of northern europeans, particularly German pagans. In the Third Century a Pope named Julius moved Christs Birthday from July to December 25th to coincide with the pagan goings on and Jewish Hanukka (sp). The Santa character evolved from
Sinter Klaus (German version). In Germany they reserve December 5th for Sinter Klaus Day to keep it separate from Xmas Day and to keep it distinctly secular yet mystical. It would be good if Americans with chimneys in their homes would not be celebrating Christs Birthday on Dec 25th instead of mid July with the simultaneous onslaught of Sinter Klaus coming down the chiminey in the middle of the night laden with presents for the brood. Saint Nicolaus or Saint Nick or Saint Bernards all put a good little catolic frost on the cake. Us dogs? We are opportunists. We take advantage of all the fixins that get thrown in the bowls while the humanoids are reveling in their various fantasies and frauds prefected on their children in the name of God, Jesus and Macy’s. Danka Sinter Klaus. Where’s the beef?
I honestly wish that symbols were not taken as seriously as they are, and I do not understand the people that confuse them with reality.
The eagle is just a bird little different from a crow or hawk, I honestly think it is a miscarriage of justice to have any penalty whatsoever for shooting one. (I am not a hunter. And an exception for endangered species, humanity has an interest in protecting biodiversity.)
The flag is just a flammable piece of cloth with a design on it. I risked my life for my country which that flag represents, but I do not think it is worth dying or killing anybody or even being angry at anybody to literally defend a flag as a flag. Burning a flag, or smearing feces on one, does zero harm to our country, it is a symbolic expression of an emotion that is held whether the action is allowed or not.
Symbols are great as a concise way to convey complex concepts quickly; but the downside of symbols is forgetting they are just symbols, and treating them like religious relics leads to real-world actions that harm people for literally nothing. If bald eagles were not endangered, killing and eating one would be no different in effect than killing and eating a wild chicken. Like the burning of a flag, or effigy, protecting symbols (including State flowers, birds, etc) is wrong-headed superstitious nonsense that punishes people for a lack of reverence.
I think people have a right to be irreverent.
Nice story Mark explaining St. Nick’s history.
To all those celebrating Christmas I wish you all a most joyous and comforting one, surrounded by those you love.
mespo, is smoking Boston Butt as good as Panama Red. The medical cannabis movement has created some great marketing names ala, Killa Crip Crisp, Apollo13, Dankey Doodle, and many more. Some are named after real and fictional characters, Jack Kevorkian, Charlie Sheen, Connie Chung, Willie Nelson[of course!], Mobey Dick and more. Will I go to hell by including this in your well thought and written piece on St. Nick?
Good thing St. Nick did not live in Florida or Texas. He would have been SHOT by a redneck after he came down off the roof.
None needed, Mark. I hadn’t started writing it yet. It’s all good.
Sorry, Gene. I should have checked. I just staggered in from my early morning smoking of my Boston Butt and scribbled this down.
Doh! You got my topic. 😀 But well done.
However, I have one small quibble. I don’t think we as a collective species have ever properly understood the power of symbols or they wouldn’t be so useful in manipulating the masses.
Let’s not forget Sinterklause….. The Swedish version of Santa Claus…..popularized by coca cola…..
– The Pause Of Mr. Clause:
Santa Clause has a red suit
He’s a communist
And a beard, and long hair
Must be a pacifist
What’s in the pipe that he’s smoking?
Mister Clause sneaks in your home at night.
He must be a dope fiend, to put you up tight
Why do police guys beat on peace guys?
Arlo Guthrie
Hope you all have a warm and wonderful holiday season, from Dawali through New Year and beyond!
Mark,
Excellent….. This was one amazing peron for the time….. You know what’s ironic about the celebration of Christmas in the US…. It was basically banned in the original 13 colonies….. Then advance a few years we have the civil war….. Then Thomas Nast does a beautiful drawing…… Lincoln makes the last Thursday of November thanksgiving….. Then Christmas is started to be celebrated in the US…. For what purpose….. To stimulate and unite the country……