St Nicholas has inspired a Santa Claus and Call for World Peace festival in his hometown of Demre, Turkey. Sherif Sonbol was there It was the week before Christmas, and rather than wait for St Nicholas to visit us, the Turkish Ministry of Tourism invited us to visit him. We received invitations to attend the second St Nicholas festival in a small town called Demre situated on Turkey's southern shore. The 225km of coastline between Demre and Antalya is truly a beautiful sight, and no wonder at all that Marc Anthony chose this particular piece of land to present to Cleopatra as a gift. Looking at the Demre hinterland, it is hard to imagine the Saint Nicholas of popular imagination doing the rounds in 105 �F of heat, dressed in a baggy red suit and accompanied by a sleigh full of reindeer. It seems several cultural lines have become crossed in the intervening 1,650 years since St Nicholas was Bishop of Myra, during which time several legends had been mixed to drastically change his image. A certain soft drinks corporation bearing a red-and-white logo has also had a pronounced influence on his current red-suited, jolly-cheeked image. I wonder what the bishop would make of that today? Turkey officially became involved with Santa Clause in 1981, when the Ministry of Culture and Tourism organised a ceremony to commemorate the saint. The event was supported by the contributions from the private sector as well as the Vatican. The idea bloomed, and in 1991 several activities were launched under the "Santa Clause and Call for World Peace" umbrella campaign. In 1993, all Christian churches participated in the activities. The Saint Nicholas Festival was brought into being in 2001 by the Turkish Ministry of Culture. Delegates from all over the globe, including ourselves from Egypt, were invited to attend this year's celebrations. Boys will be boys, and the ones in our group were excited at the prospect of visiting the real Santa, not to mention receiving gifts from him in his very own hometown. However, I was more curious to see what the place actually looked like now. The town has an interesting history. The oldest religious structure was a temple to Artemis, which was unfortunately destroyed during an earthquake in the second century. The Romans have shown their faces in the area at various times; the city flourished under the pax romana, and was paid a visit by the Emperor Germanicus and his wife Agrippina in AD 18. St Paul also visited the town on his way to Rome in AD 60. St Nicholas, however, and not these other dignitaries, is the reason for this town becoming famous. St Nicholas is also famous for his participation in the first ecumenical council which took place in Iznik in 325 AD. The council remained divided on the status of Jesus Christ as a divine being and part of the Holy Trinity. St Nicholas was one of the those dedicated to the recognition of Jesus Christ as part of the Trinity, a viewpoint for which he is revered to this day. By the 4th century Myra had become an important Christian centre for religious and administrative affairs, and with rumours abounding of the saintly Nicholas, the town gained in popularity. The Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II made Myra the capital of Byzantine Lycia until the city fell to the Caliph Harun Al- Rashid in AD 808. The Byzantine church which existed in St Nicholas's time, some scholars say, was built on the remains of the temple of Artemis. The church was subsequently destroyed and rebuilt several times after repeated raids and numerous earthquakes. By the 11th century, Nicholas had become the most popular folk saint in the Byzantine realm, and was the patron of children, poor virgins, innocent prisoners, sailors and Russians. The fame of St Nicholas was brought to the West by Teophano, a Byzantine princess who married Otto II of Germany in 1087. Now comes the serious part. Visitors to his tomb were reportedly healed of many illnesses and many pilgrims visited his tomb. However, designs were afoot to remove the body of St Nicholas to Italy. On 9 May, 1087, the grave of St Nicholas was raided by Italian pirates and removed to Bari, where the famous Church of San Nicola di Bari was subsequently built. The church in Demre was destroyed during various raids in the intervening 800 or so years, and in 1862 the Russians hired a German architect to restore this building. A sarcophagus, ostensibly the original coffin of the saint, was sent to St Petersburg, proclaiming the relics it contained to be those of St Nicholas. The French claim to have part of one of his fingers and the Turks also have some of his bones in the new museum in Antalya. And finally, in 1972, in a gesture of goodwill, the bishop of Bari presented a few fragments from the skull in Bari (if it is indeed the skull of St Nicholas) to the Greek Orthodox community in America. Being a popular saint is no easy task it seems, one rests in pieces instead of in peace. Nobody is really sure which is the actual sarcophagus of St Nicholas. A total of six were found in the church, and there is no direct evidence as to which one contained the saint's body. The basilica standing on the site today is an 18th-century reconstruction built using materials dating from the eighth century. Some of the early frescoes are still visible. The honeycomb mosaic stones have remained surprisingly intact, as have the domes forming the roof. In the 19th century the Czarist Russians, for whom Nicholas was a patron saint, came to Demre to excavate and restore the church; the task was eventually taken over by the Turkish government. The government also promotes the annual festivities which take place on the saint's feast day on the 6th of December. Thousands of pilgrims from Italy, Greece and other countries came to Myra each year on this day and Byzantine scholars and church historians meet to discuss the life and deeds of St Nicholas. The festival we attended was exciting. Children from all over the world joined those from Demre to wave Santa's Turkish flags to welcome their guests. The Minister of Tourism extended a warm welcome to all delegates. It was evening when we left the church of St Nicholas, by which time millions of children throughout the world were waiting for Santa Claus to bring them gifts, joy and laughter. In Demre, I guess, as he was getting ready for his long ride, Santa was delighted to see all these people from all over the world visiting his church. But nobody knows for sure except that he's escaped to the North Pole. The story of the saint THERE was once a noble couple in the city of Myra who had been married for many years without being blessed by a child. The couple prayed to God until they were finally granted a son, whom they called Nicholas. The son was doted upon by his parents until one day, when Nicholas was 8, the village was devastated by the plague and his parents died. He was a rich boy, but money meant nothing to him at that young age. His riches included three gold bars which had been given to him by his father. As the boy walked the streets of Myra, money fell from his pockets and was collected by the beggars on the pavement. Passing the house of a rich man who had lost all his wealth, he heard one of the daughters of the house complaining about their hunger and asking for permission to leave the house to earn some bread. The father was reluctant to allow his once-rich daughters to work. Reflecting on their predicament, Nicholas went home, retrieved one of his gold bars and threw it through the window of the house of the nobleman. Upon finding the gold bar, the father proclaimed it a miracle. Passing the house the next night, Nicholas saw signs of a wedding party; the eldest daughter was getting married. He decided to help the other two daughters too. After helping the second daughter, he was caught trying to help the third and felt he had to leave the village. He went to Jerusalem where he had a vision that he should go back to his village and serve the Lord by helping the poor. According to some sources, the ship he boarded on the way back from Jerusalem was hit by a terrible storm. The sailors became panicked while Nicholas remained calm. No life was lost in the storm, although one of the sailors was on the verge of death. The prayers of Nicholas restored him to health, after which he became the patron saint of sailors. He was appointed Archbishop of Myra, and in 310 AD was arrested and imprisoned for his efforts to spread Christianity. He was finally released in 313 AD when Constantine ascended the throne and Christianity was declared the official religion.
