Originally posted by square_marker
... wait
so santa isn\'t real? :eek:
St. Nicholas was the Bishop of Myra in the 4th Century. Though the Catholic Church is skeptical of his actual existance. He was known to give gifts to children. His most famous and legendary act was hearing about a young woman about to be sold, by her parents, into prostitution because they did not have enough money for her dowry. Back in the day, no dowry for the groom\'s family, no marriage.
So, St. Nicholas snuck into their home and left some gold coins in their stockings, which were left to dry by the fireplace. Why the stockings? Well, if thieves happened to sneak in after him, they wouldn\'t check the stinky socks, would they?
Anyway, apparently the daughter had enough dowry and was married off.
Germans took this tradition and played it out during Christmas. In German, Saint = Sinter. Nicholas = Klaus. Sinter Klaus.
See? He may have existed. Oh yeah.....the Romans crucified him, I think.
EDIT - no, he wasn\'t killed by the Romans. He was jailed by them but later freed by Constantine, the Roman Emporer who switched to Christianity.