How to Make Santa Become Less Secular

November, 2025

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Do Christian families realize how Santa Claus evolved from Saint Nicholas?

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I used to play Saint Nicholas and present his story at Christmas markets designed to inspire giving to non-profits helping the needy.  There, I was astounded by how many Catholic children and parents were unaware of Saint Nicholas’s relationship to Santa.

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But they loved hearing about it.

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Our secular Santa has long been hijacked by marketeers who stimulate our desires and, in turn, their money-making businesses. Santa sometimes seems very different from the real Saint Nicholas, who stands for Christmas kindness to children and love of neighbor.

 

Don’t get me wrong. I’m a fan of jolly, red-suited and white trimmed Santa. I love his twinkling eyes, rouged cheeks, flowing beard, and rounded face as depicted in A Visit from Saint Nicholas and in gorgeous illustrations.  

Likewise, I love Santa’s message of joy and generosity.

 

What bothers me is that many people, young and old, perceive little kinship between today’s Santa and Saint Nicholas, whose kindness focused on the poor, especially orphans.  I hate how history was conveniently overlooked as the world increasingly commercialized Christmas.

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So, what can those who love Nicholas and Christmas’s real spirit do to help others better understand and personalize Santa as more than just a secular gift giver?

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 How about helping families appreciate that Santa means Saint and that Jolly Saint Nick really is the Americanization of the 4th Century “Boy Bishop” Nicholas?

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What about reinforcing that Nicholas’s example reflects what Christ would want for Christmas?

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We could share the meaning of Nicholas’s name, “hero of the people” and how he became one through his life’s work promoting Christian generosity to the needy.

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What if we encourage families to learn about Nicholas? How he was an orphan from a land we now call Turkey. How he used his inheritance from his wealthy parents’ deaths to help other orphans, and how he devoted his work as Bishop of Myra to the poor, the sick, and children facing challenges.

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How about churches and parochial schools reenacting Nicholas’s history in early Advent plays? For example, his imprisonment by Emperor Diocletian for his beliefs and his later release by Constantine.

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What if we explained how European traditions and legends that developed from Nicholas’s fame were kept alive by American immigrants?

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Wouldn’t novel ways of taking part in Saint Nicholas traditions be great? More children could set their shoes out to be filled with treats on December 5th, Saint Nicholas Eve, as we did when our children were young.

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But they’d do so in remembrance of Nicholas’s gifts to the poor and plan how they will help the needy too, possibly by gifting new shoes.

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What if we helped children discover the universality of Saint Nicholas through his different names around the world? That his Brazilian name is Papai Noel.

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 That he is called the Weinachtsman (“Christmas Man”) and Holy Sankt Nikolaus in Germany, Pere Noel in France, Father Christmas in England, Kanakaloka in Hawaii, and Shengdan Laoren in China.

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Families could make a game of quickly repeating his Dutch name, Sinterklass, as children in early New York did, to grasp how Sinterklass morphed into Santa Claus.

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Kids might delight in learning that his Swedish helper, Jultomen, was one of Santa’s first elves. They’d be amazed that he is the patron saint of Greece, Russia, children, sailors, prisoners, travelers, unmarried women, and merchants.

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To demonstrate his evolution and timelessness, how about more factual, historical and engaging displays of artwork featuring Saint Nicholas and Santa through the ages?

 

These would highlight how he was thinner and more solemn in his long robe, bishop’s hat and staff before the 1800’s, and how he packed on the pounds and smiled more over the years.

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Kids could appreciate how Santa Nicholas adapted to the snow in early New York by riding in a sleigh wearing a warm, furred-trimmed coat – just like others did back then.

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Families could connect their Christmas stockings hanging by the fire to the legend of Nicholas tossing gold coins through a chimney into three poor sisters’ stockings hung to dry.

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More children could hear how even candy canes have Christian roots as symbols for Saint Nicholas’s curled bishop’s staff.

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We could highlight how Nicholas persevered through hardship and how he was named a “santa” because of his virtue and good works. We could emphasize how Nicholas is God’s messenger of hope, joy, and love of neighbor beyond Christmas - and how his example can help us with our own challenges.

 

Finally, to augment the magic of Santa and Christmas, we could stress how all of us can become santas too - through our kindness during every season of the year.

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Mike McGrew, Ph.D., is the author of the newly released picture book, The Boy Who Would Be Santa, by Kharis Publishing, now available on Amazon.com.

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