St. Nicholas a.k.a 'St. Nick'

Saint Nicholas was actually a real person, being one of the most honored saints by the Greek and Latin churches. He lived in the 4th century (born somewhere between the years of 280 and 300 AD) in Myra, Asia Minor (which is presently Demre, Turkey). In his youth Nicholas entered a monastery and became the bishop of Myra.

There is a foggy legend that connects Nicholas with generous gift giving. Supposedly, there was a nobleman with three daughters he could not marry off for their lack of a dowry. He was at the point of abandoning them to a sinful life when Nicholas heard of his problem. That very night he took a purse of gold and threw it in an open window. The nobleman used the gold as a dowry for the oldest of his daughters, and so Nicholas repeated the trick twice more. And two more times the nobleman used the gold as the dowry for his daughters. But on the third night the nobleman caught Nicholas in the act. He asked the nobleman to keep his identity as well as his generosity, a secret. From that day on Nicholas has been associated with the tradition of gift giving, and the three purses of gold later became the here golden balls that is the symbol of pawn brokers.

Another account states that the man was a peasant named Shem with three daughters—Sara, Celina, and Ruth who had no dowry for their weddings. It is said that Nicholas gave the first girl a pocketful of silver, the second a bag of incense, and the third a sack of gold. The bag of gold is rumored to have been thrown down a chimney in the wee hours of a winter night. The gold landed right inside a wet stocking that had been hung by the fire to dry. Again, Nicholas asked that his unselfish deeds be kept secret, but the word of his kindness spread.

On December 6th, 342 AD, Nicholas died and 600 years after his death, he was crowned a patron saint of Russia by Emperor Vladimir.