Event: Turkey

St Nicholas' Festival

When:	6 Dec 2007 (annual)
Where:	Demre

The jolly old saint who was to become the rotund and bearded incarnation of Christmas was once a fasting ascetic-turned-bishop in fourth century Demre, Turkey.

He had a long and arduous journey ahead of him, across several continents and more than 1500 years, before finally achieving global domination in his present shape in the 20th century. Today his humble origins are commemorated every year by the inhabitants of his hometown, who celebrate a feast in his honour.

The feast mostly takes place in the Martyrium church, reputedly erected on the site of the saint's final resting place. The tomb of the saint has a gaping hole in its side, said to have been left by pirates from the Italian city of Bari who were hired to steal the body in the 11th century. During the celebration visitors to the shrine place candles on and around the saint's crypt and there is a special multi-denominational service held at the church.

Visitors can also pay homage to some bones and other material remains of the saint in the local museum. Whether you want to tell your kids that 'Saint Nicholas' is actually officially dead or not is up to you...

To find out where the most celebrated remains of the original Saint Nicholas lie today, check out our coverage of the Festa di San Nicola di Bari, in Italy. You'll be surprised at what un-Christmaslike antics the old codger is still up to!

Exactly how this saintly holy man polymorphed into the jolly red-clad elfmaster we all write letters to today is grounds for speculation. A likely source is an apocryphal local legend that concerns his tendency to sneak around at night and leave gifts for people.

A good family had three daughters who were too poor to marry. The saint, upon hearing this, snuck anonymously to the house and placed sacks of gold, enough for their dowries, under the windows of the daughters. The father, desperate to track down the benefactor, finally caught him and realised it was in fact the holy man Nicholas who had left the gold. Thence sprang the legend of the saint's modus operandi, ie, of sneaking into houses in the dark of night to leave presents behind for the good.