L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2018 www.italoamericano.org 18 L'Italo-Americano LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE D ear Readers, this is the time of the year when we little Ital- ian American kids learned in the class- rooms of P.S. 9 and other Public Schools in New York City, that Jolly Old Saint Nicholas would be leaving the North Pole with a sleigh filled with toys for good girls and boys, and head South. A t home w e learned that S t.N icholas w as an Italian known as San Nicola "and that his bones were buried in Bari, Italy (in Puglia, a coastal Region of Italy that includes Brindisi, Foggia, Lecce and Taranto). It is true that the remains of St- Nicholas, the patron saint of Bari, Orthodox Russians, and children the world over, were stolen by more the 60 boisterous sailors from the original home in Asia Minor and brought to Bari. The sailors built a wonderful crypt for him with translucent marble and a colonnade of 28 stone columns. You can visit the crypt in the Bas ilica di S an Nicola.  In New York City, the Italian Connections of St. Nicholas had a great deal of credibility because in pre-refrigerated days everybody had an ice box, ser- viced by friendly ice men. The Barese had a monopoly on the ice delivery business in summer and coal delivery in winter and since St. Nicholas lived in the N orth P ole w e did think he might be supplying the ice. *** Saint Nicholas was born at Patara, Lycia, in Asia Minor (now Turkey) into a wealthy Christian family. HIs parents died in an epidemic and he was raised by his uncle, Bishop of P atara. A t the age of 19, Nicholas was ordained into the priesthood, becoming Bishop of Myra while still a young man. The young Bishop became known for his many acts of gen- erosity. These acts of kindness and love are what have con- tributed to his image of Father Chris tmas . In the Wes t, Nicholas is most known as the patron saint of children. One story tells of a citizen of Patara who had lost all his money. He had to support three daughters who could not find husbands because of their poverty. Their plight came to the attention of Nicholas, who under cover of darkness threw a bag of gold into an open window of the man's house, supplying a dowry for the eldest girl and she was s oon married. A t intervals , Nicholas did the same for the second and third daughters. The last time the father was on the watch, recognized his benefactor and overwhelmed him with his gratitude. *** St. Nicholas is believed to have died on December 6, 343, and was buried in the city of Myra. There was a basilica built in his honor at Constantinople, today the modern city of Istan- bul. When its great shrine passed into the hands of the Saracens, his bones and relics were trans- ported by sailors to Bari, Italy, arriving safely on May 9, 1087, where a new church was built to shelter them. Over the years, stories of his miracles and work for the poor s pread to other parts of the world. St. Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors and ships, offer- ing safe voyage and protection from storms as well as patron of those wrongly condemned. He became known as the protector of children and is associated with gift giving. He is an important figure in Holland, with the Dutch continuing to celebrate the Feast of Saint Nicholas. It was a com- mon practice for children to put out their shoes the night before his feast Day, December 6th. In the morning, they would discov- er the gifts that St. Nicholas had left there for them. Dutch immigrants to America in the 1600s brought with them the tradition of St. Nicholas, or by the name they affectionately gave him, S interklaas , H e became known in America as Santa Claus. Instead of giving gifts on D ecember 6th, he became a part of the Christmas holiday, after the Dutch lost con- trol of New Amsterdam to the British in the 17th century and "Sinter Claus" was anglicized to Santa Claus. *** St. Nicholas, the orphaned boy who became a priest, giving away all of his wealth to those in need, underwent a couple of makeovers in the US. In the 1820 poem, A Visit from St. Nicholas by Clement Clarke Moore, Saint Nicholas is described as a jolly, heavy man, who comes down the chimney and drives a sleigh pulled by fly- ing reindeer to leave presents for deserving children. *** In 1931 unemployment in the United States soared to 16 per- cent. The stock market crash of two years earlier, 1929, was hav- ing a devastating impact of the country. Individuals and families w ere affected by the G reat Depression, as were America's larges t corporations . O ne of these, Coca Cola, needed to find ways of boosting sales, even dur- ing a depression. Their slowest time of year was winter, because people received their product as something to be consumed only in w arm months . Executives decided to find a way of promot- ing Coca Cola as a winter drink as well as a summer drink. In 1931, they commissioned an American illustrator to develop advertising images featuring Santa Claus leisurely enjoying Coca Cola in a variety of set- tings. Inspired by the poem "A Visit From St. Nicholas" and the lines:  "He had a broad face  And a little round belly,  That shook when he laughed,  Like a bowlful of jelly." He created Santa Claus, a larger than life figure dressed in red and white holding a Coca Cola. A jolly, rotund figure who oversees a North Pole workshop staffed by

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