The Saint Nicholas Game

Pastor Seth Hedman, Garwin Valley Community Church.
Saint Nicholas was a bishop of Myra the 300’s, a city of the Roman Empire, in modern-day Turkey. He was a man known for his generosity and passion, whose stories of heroic faith and miracles spread far and wide after his death. Once, when he was a young man, there were some neighborhood girls who were too poor to afford a dowry to get married. Upon hearing this, Nicholas snuck up to their window at night, secretly dropping in bags of gold coins, some say into their socks hanging out to dry over the fireplace. This story, among others, came to mark him after his death as the “Patron Saint of Children.”
In the Middle Ages, a game arose around his feast day, on December 6th, the day of his death. Children would put their shoes or socks out by the fireplace and, re-enacting the dowry gift, parents would fill their shoes with coins and little treats, especially oranges. This game is one of many such traditions that arose around various feast and saint days throughout the year. The Pre-Lenten pancake feast, Shrove Tuesday, would feature a pancake flipping race. St. Lucy’s Day, especially in Norway, would feature young women wearing a candle crown and making “Lucy Cats.” The Feast of the Presentation on February 2nd, would also include a traditional weather update: checking the shadow of a hibernating animal to predict the length of winter. These traditions and games are wonderful examples of creating culture as the Church. Like the planets around the Sun, they are the many stories and celebrations orbiting around the central story of Jesus.
One can see the origins of our own culture’s “Santa Game” in the St. Nicholas story. Yet we can also see the important differences and problems. First, St. Nicholas’ feast on December 6th has taken over the entire Christmas season, including December 25th. Second, the treats have grown from a few fruits and coins to a massive spending spree unlike anything else in the year. Third, the real St. Nicholas has grown into an entire cinematic universe of the supernatural mythology of “Santa.” Fourth, the playful wink of the St. Nicholas game has turned into an intense and prolonged insistence of “believing” that it’s all really real.
Planets make poor Suns. As a story orbiting around Jesus, St. Nicholas is a great lead-up and first stop in the Christmas season. But at the center? Must he not become bigger and bigger just to become worthy of it? Isn’t the expanding mythology around Santa exactly this kind of deification? St. Nicholas was a Saint, he was a great man and hero of the faith that is worth remembering and celebrating. But he was just a man. He died and was buried. His bones are said to be in Bari, Italy. His soul is in Heaven with Jesus and the great cloud of witnesses, cheering us on, waiting for the resurrection. Do you think the real St. Nicholas would approve of all this? Would he not have us rather look to Jesus? With every new Santa movie, I think the real St. Nick is rolling his eyes, getting an elbow from Peter, “Hey, Santa, did you know you have super strength now too?”
In our house, on December 6th, we play the St. Nicholas Game. The kids put their shoes by the tree, pretend to go to sleep, and I sneak in and put their own toys in their shoes. They wake up to squeals of laughter and joy. We play it a hundred times. Overnight, we put chocolate coins and an orange in their shoes. With a wink, we pretend that St. Nicholas came. They love St. Nicholas, but the real one. And they love Jesus more. Just like St. Nick would want. To St. Nicholas!