Feast of St. Nicholas in Poland called Mikołajki

     December 6 celebrates of the feast of Saint Nicholas, the 4th century bishop of the city of Myra in Asia Minor in what is now present day Turkey.  It was there, as an archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Church that a host of legends sprung up, almost all of them emphasizing Nicholas’ goodness to people in need that led him to become one of the most venerated of saints of the Orthodox Church and Catholics of the Eastern rite. In Russia he is always called Nicholas the Wonderworker because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession.

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A photo that depicts Saint Nicholas  commonly found in Orthodox churches.
Wikipedia photo.



​     Worshipped from the time of the 4th and 5th centuries, first in Constantinople, then throughout the East, his fame reached the West in the mid-8th century.  St. Nicholas  also became one of the most popular saints within the Catholic Church. December 6, the day of his death, became an occasion to commemorate his kindness.

     In Poland, hundreds of churches and parishes, including the 700 year old church of St. Nicholas in Kraków, The Bishop of Myra was also continuously honored at Wawel. In the calendar of the Kraków cathedral from the 13th century, the celebration in his honor was marked in green. Only the most important saints could count on such a distinction.  Smaller churches also gave him honor. In the presbytery of St. Nicholas Church in Słopanowo, located within the Poznań diocese, the walls depict some of the much loved Polish legends of St. Nicholas. 

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      First on the left depicts St. Nicholas  dressed in bishop's attire with a crosier and the  legend of the gifts to three sisters who were without a dowry. The father—too poor to support them or to supply the dowry they needed to marry—resolved to sell them into slavery, one by one. Hearing the story Nicholas met the family’s need by tossing a bag of his own gold through their open window on three successive nights. In iconography, the bags of gold are often depicted as three balls of gold.

      The second image depicts St. Nicholas saving a flock from wolves which caused him to became the patron saint of cattle, shepherds and animals.  Every year, the villagers appealed to the heavenly patron for special care of their livestock, calling him "shepherd of the livestock."

     The tradition of giving gifts, inspired by his good deeds, survived over the centuries. In the Middle Ages, St. Nicholas was considered the patron saint of children and in Poland, his feast day was called Mikołajki. The local church organist would dress in the traditional bishop’s attire and crozier and visit from house to house, quizzing children on their knowledge of their payers and when done well, the child would receive a small gift.  This custom was written about by Rev. Mikołaj Frąckiewicz in Kraków in 1746: "In memory of the generosity of St. Nicholas who threw gold into the window of three poor girls who needed a dowry in order to marry, on the eve of December 5th, children receive small gifts, with the reminder that they were to say their morning and evening prayers and obey their parents.”  The gifts were always modest ones: an apple, gingerbread in the shape of a heart or even of St. Nicholas himself, a holy picture, or a chalkboard to practice their letters. 
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     St. Nicholas visiting children at a school in Kraków 1925. polona.pl

     His presence and influence has survived to this day but changed significantly. In today's times he appears with a sleigh, reindeer and elves as jolly old St. Nick also known as Santa Claus.  

Sources:
      Katalog zabytków sztuki w Polsce, Tom V Zeszyt 23: powiat szamotulski, Warszawa 1966, 
      Polish Customs, Traditions and Folklore. Hippocrene Books, Inc. 2024