TASH Talk Report by Robert Gurney: The December Christmas lecture by Chris Bradley, December 2025

The December Christmas lecture, given by Chris Bradley, had a very appropriate seasonal theme, on the life of St Nicholas and how he became the origin of Santa Claus.  

St Nicholas was born in Patara in south-west Turkey.  His parents died while he was young, and he inherited a substantial sum of money.  He became known for giving gifts, including dowries for three young sisters so they could get married.  He became Bishop of Myra, and was one of the delegates to the Congress of Nicaea, which debated many early Christian doctrines, including the nature of the Trinity, hence the stories associated with St Nicholas of gifts given three times.  

The conclusions of the Congress are encapsulated in the Nicene Creed, still in use today.  St Nicholas’s reputation as a miracle worker and protector continued to grow, and he became the patron saint of sailors.  

In the 11th century, fearing that Islamic groups would overrun Turkey and destroy his remains, sailors from Bari took most of his skeleton back to Bari.  Not to be outdone, Venetian sailors then took the small bones remaining him his tomb back to Venice.  Both Venice and Bari later gave some small bones to important nobles elsewhere in Europe as objects of veneration.  

Sailors throughout Europe continued to venerate St Nicholas, and in The Netherlands a tradition developed of giving gifts on his saint’s day, December 5th.  His name was corrupted in Dutch to Sinterklass.  When the Dutch established colonies in North America, the name further changed into the familiar Santa Claus.  The red costume comes from a bishop’s colour of cassock, and the familiar beard, round body and boots come from traditional winter myths of the green man.  

In art, Santa Claus was originally depicted in a horse-drawn sleigh, with the addition of reindeer, a home at the North Pole and elves as helpers coming from Nordic myths.  In some cultures, gifts are still exchanged on December 5th, but in the anglophone world the date has changed to being at Christmas.  

The talk was very well-illustrated with both archaeological evidence and of pictures of St Nicholas through the centuries.  A great start to our festive season.