Nicholas: The Epic Journey from Saint to Santa Claus - Hardcover

Seal, Jeremy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1582344191 ISBN 13: 9781582344195

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA, 2005

Synopsis

An elegantly written, idiosyncratic biography of Santa Claus, from his saintly origins in Turkey to his current reign as the king of Christmas.

Nicholas is a biographical travelogue tracing the evolution of one of the greatest cults of modern times―the rise of Santa Claus from his origins in Byzantine Turkey to his role as the jolly man who grants every child's wish. It is a compelling story of religious worship and strife, cultural interpretation, and mass commercialization brilliantly framed by Jeremy Seal's modern-day voyage in Santa's footsteps. Saint Nicholas, as Santa was originally known, lived and worked in Myra on the southern coast of Turkey 1,700 years ago. He became a revered figure in the Orthodox and Catholic churches, attracting devotees across the Christian world as his cult shifted westward with the centuries. The saint's bones are said to still exist, and Seal's dogged pursuit of these relics launches his quest for Santa's true lineage―one that takes him through present-day Turkey, Italy, Holland, England, America, and finally Lapland as he pieces together the history of this extraordinary man-to-myth transformation. In the tradition of Bruce Chatwin and Tony Horowitz, Jeremy Seal is a natural storyteller, weaving fascinating history and intrepid travelogue into a book every bit as enchanting as its subject

About this title

About the Author:

Jeremy Seal is the author of several books, one of which, A Fez of the Heart, was shortlisted for the Thomas Cook/Daily Telegraph travel book award. He is also a contributor to London's Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph, and Conde Nast Traveller. He lives in Bath, England, with his wife and daughters.

From Booklist:

On the heels of an eye-opening pre-Christmas trek to Santa's Kingdom with his six-year-old daughter, Seal commenced mapping the route an unassuming fourth-century bishop took to become a twenty-first-century icon who, surrounded by fake snow, didn't look like the sort "who usually went out of his way to be nice to children." Said to have secretly provided a poverty-stricken nobleman with enough dowry to marry off his three daughters, Nicholas had humble beginnings. Despite achieving the not insignificant distinction of sainthood via good works rather than martyrdom, his road to international fame wasn't easy by any means, what with Christian cities that revered him suddenly falling to non-Christians and banishing all things Christ-related. Then there was that pesky Reformation, when all saints became personae non gratae. Those obstacles came to seem speed bumps compared with others that Nikolai/Mikulas/Nicolaos/Nigul Klaus/Sinterklaas/Santa Claus would encounter. Told as if the generous saint were orchestrating his own popularity from a heavenly perch, Seal's account is chockablock with historical detail and dry humor. Donna Chavez
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1582344191
• ISBN 13: 9781582344195
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 368