Song of the Day - 6th December
Today's Song of the Day is our first Christmas-themed song! Today is of course the feast day of St. Nicholas. Dutch families took the tradition of celebrating the feast day of St. Nicholas with them to New Amsterdam in the American colonies, beginning as early as the 17th century. They referred to him as Sinter Klaas. That name became Santa Claus to the early United States’ English-speaking majority. Nicholas was born sometime around A.D. 280 in Patara, near Myra in modern-day Turkey. Much admired for his piety and kindness, St. Nicholas became the subject of many legends. It is said that he gave away all of his inherited wealth and travelled the countryside helping the poor and sick. Nicholas’s popularity spread and he became known as the protector of children and sailors. His feast day is celebrated on the anniversary of his death, December 6. In 180...