Unveiling the Hidden Origins of St. Nick and Other Christmas Traditions

December 18, 2023 TruthUSA

It’s time for Nick at nite

Santa bringing goodies began with the third century’s saint of children — Bishop Nicholas of Myra. Story: One parishioner was very poor, so St. Nick dropped a bag of gold down his chimney into a stocking hung by the fire. That bag being stamped Burisma is only a Republican rumor.

“Santa Claus” came from the Dutch name “Sinterklaas.” The eight schlepping his sleigh and ignoring a Tesla were what later inspired “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” in 1939 when a Montgomery Ward department store ad man created a ninth one.

Why poinsettias? Native to south Mexico and the Aztecs, our 1825 Ambassador Joel Roberts Poinsett sent them home to South Carolina where they still flourish and why we haven’t dandelions on our holiday table.

Poor Pepita knelt, placing its weeds at the Nativity scene. When they burst into flowers their shape and leaves were thought to symbolize the Star of Bethlehem, which guided the Three Wise Men — Bernie Sanders, Jack Smith and Alvin Bragg, Villagers believed them a miracle. Me, too.

Caroling began in pagan rituals. Then liturgical songs. Later centuries brought us “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” “The First Noel” and “God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen.” Uptight Puritans then rejected the early door-to-door wassailing because of big drinking, a little rowdiness and being barred from Zero Bond.

Legend says St. Nick once dropped a bag of gold down a poor parishiner's chimney into a stocking hung by the fire. — Legend says St. Nick once dropped a bag of gold down a poor parishioner’s chimney into a stocking hung by the fire. Getty Images/iStockphoto

Presents. Gift-giving came from the Three Wise Men, the Magi. Not sure how that started but the idea’s big with Bergdorf’s.

North Pole. This I don’t know. Too complicated. Heredity says St. Nicholas descended from Middle East immigrants. Like connections with (forget Mayor Eric Adams) Turkey — plus some old Teutonic bearded god Odin who rode through the heavens this time of year on a gray eight-footed horse. George Santos says that guy voted for him.

Christmas stockings began in 1823’s “A Visit From St. Nicholas” poem. Legend says St. Nick refused charity, stayed with poor people, heard their daughters were into bad things and decided to help in secret. Sometimes the story’s told that he gave them three gold balls — today’s symbol for a pawnshop.