James Baquet

    Ming is chatting with his classmate Mark in the common room of their dorm.

    Ming: Hi, Mark! Can you help me with something?

    Mark: If I can!

    Ming: My teacher told us to write an essay about the “three faces of Santa Claus,” and I’m stumped.

    Mark: Santa Claus? So soon? Christmas is a couple of weeks away!

    Ming: Yes, but my teacher said that December 6 was his “feast day” — whatever that is.

    Mark: A “feast day” is the day the church celebrates the lives of its saints, and —

    Ming: Wait — Santa Claus is a Christian saint?!

    Mark: Sort of. And that’s the key to your essay. Are you sure your teacher said “faces?”

    Ming: What else could he have said?

    Mark: He might have said “phases.”

    Ming: That’s possible. What would “three phases” mean?

    Mark: Well, Phase One would be the life of Saint Nicholas who lived in what is now Turkey in the 3rd and 4th centuries. He was a bishop of the church and was famous for helping people, especially young ones.

    Ming: How did he do that?

    Mark: One famous story says that there were three sisters who were too poor to get married. Their father was going to sell them as slaves.

    Ming: They needed money to get married?

    Mark: Yes. In those days, a girl’s family was expected to pay her husband’s family some money, which was called a “dowry.”

    Ming: I see. Is that why in America a girl’s family usually pays for the wedding?

    Mark: Maybe! Anyway, each night for three nights, Saint Nicholas threw some money through their window so they could get married and avoid slavery. Some sources say that by the end of the Middle Ages, Nicholas was one of the most popular saints in Europe.

    Ming: I can see why, if he was so generous.

    Mark: In Holland, then, he was a pretty big deal. “Klaas” is short for “Nikolaas” in Dutch, so they called him “Sinter Klaas.” That’s Phase Two.

    Ming: Okay...

    Mark: Now as you may know, New York City was first settled by the Dutch, who called it “New Amsterdam.” So as you might suspect, early New York had a large Dutch population.

    Ming: And they celebrated Sinter Klaas?

    Mark: That’s right, on December 6. American writers like Washington Irving recorded their traditions, and Clement Clarke Moore wrote “A Visit from Saint Nick.” That poem, more than anything else, gave us the last phase: the modern American Santa Claus.

    Ming: “Santa Claus.” “Sinter Klaas.” I get it!

    Mark: Good! Now go write that essay!