Valamar Blog

Christmas time and giving presents is right around the corner. First and foremost give your leather boots a good cleaning and let them be as high as possible since St. Nicholas is coming! This year too the Culture Centre of the town of Krk will organize the programme of celebrating St. Nicholas Day from 5 to 7 December 2009 and for that occasion a mass will be held in the Krk cathedral with a children’s programme which will take place after it.

But who was St. Nicholas? Many legends have been told about him but the important thing is that his kindness, generosity and kind deeds have outlived the miracles attributed to him and sealed the tradition of celebrating this saint. On the East, St. Nicholas was usually connected with the true character of the bishop Nikolaus in today’s Turkey. Numerous legends related to him were passed on, from the one about him saving the daughters of a poor nobleman by giving them bags filled with gold coins as dowry, or saving a ship from sinking during a storm and after that becoming the patron saint of sailors, to the one about him reviving the children exhausted by a mean innkeeper thanks, what ensured him the title of the patron saint of children.

The legends known on the West tell a story about another man called Nicholas, St. Nicholas of Tolentino, who connected with many miracles and who preached about love among people and also helped the poor. The legends of these two saints were merged together and they became one nice way of expressing love towards the children and the persons dear to us. Both the young and the old are happy that St. Nicholas is watching us so that he can give us his most precious gift when the moment comes.

Happy St. Nicholas Day!