Please. A “scholar” discovers the real St. Nicholas of Myra.
How about wandering into ANY Orthodox Church on December 6th (St. Nicholas’ name day)?
Good Lord. I sure am glad we have all these brilliant “scholars” around to tell us everything.
Ping. Blessed Nativity.
The need to draw a sleigh, and the fact the celebrations occur in Winter have served to intertwine the stories.
I have no trouble at all keeping them straight ~ but one thing I do know, based on authoritative sources, reindeer think they fly and so do the shamen.
For those who celebrate the Nativity today (not only Western Christians, but also Orthodox in the Greek, OCA, Antiochian, etc. churches):
Merry Christmas! Christ is Born! Glorify Him!
Here’s a wonderful Orthodox resource on “Santa Claus” and the REAL Saint Nicholas/Sveti Nikola:
http://1389blog.com/2012/12/24/a-brief-history-of-santa-claus/
Many Serbs have St. Nicholas as their Slava, and they celebrate their Slava on the Old Calendar date, December 19.
Germans love St. Nicholas, too, and celebrate on December 6. The German St. Nicholas (dressed as a bishop) only brings small gifts of nuts and sweets—if one wants the annual American-style potlatch, that must wait until December 25.
http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/germany/
We celebrated an Orthodox (OCA) Nativity/Christmas today and did the “whole 9 yards” beginning over the last several weeks—Nativity Fast, Confession, the Vigil for the Nativity last night, and Divine Liturgy this morning, followed by a relaxing day of feasting.