Around the year 280AD, the figure of Saint Nicholas, a fourth-century Greek bishop and gift-giver of a Christian community in the ancient town of Myra, begins to emerge. As the story goes, he was brought up in a wealthy family, lost both of his parents as a young man, and used his inheritance to help the poor and sick. He famously is said to have helped the poor father of three marriageable daughters who could not afford their dowries. To save them from a life of prostitution, which was a common fate for unmarried women in the third century, he dropped three sacks of gold down their father’s chimney late one night, making him the patron saint of prostitutes – probably don’t tell that one to your kids on Christmas Eve.
We hebben het hier op Sargasso wel vaker gehad over de oorsprong van sinterklaas en het kerstfeest. Voor de mensen die dit interessant vinden is dit artikel over de psychedelische oorsprong van het kerstfeest wellicht interessant, en zoals jullie in de bovenstaande quote kunnen lezen komt Sinterklaas ook nog even voorbij. Als teaser:
The shaman would collect the mushrooms, which grow almost exclusively under pine trees, in a large sack, and would often use an opening in the roof to deliver his gifts, as the vast amount of snow would block the door. During Siberian winters, the snow piles up past the doors of the villagers’ yurts, so the red and white clad shaman must climb down the chimney to deliver the presents in his sack.
Het stuk leert ons ook nog eens dingen over rendierenpis, en waarom je de gele sneeuw niet (nou ja, of juist wel) moet eten.
