Saint Nicholas,
Bringer of Gold
The Fourth Story of The Christmas Cycle
In 1985 Saint Nicholas, Bringer of Gold was first presented at Christ Church, Presbyterian in Burlington, Vermont. The story focuses upon a dynamic and vast participant in the Christmas season known by many names— Father Christmas, Bobbo Natale, Joulupukki, Saint Nicholas, Sïnter Klaas, Santa Claus and more.
Taking place around 300 CE, it is the story of a young man living in Myra, Turkey who is a protective, generous presence eventually becoming one of the most revered saints in Christianity—Nicholas, the Wonderworker—patron saint of children, bakers, sailors, pawn brokers, Greece, Russia and many more.
Saint Nicholas, Bringer of Gold is also a ‘key hole story’—one in which the ancestral past before Christianity rises up to inform the image as it is expressed today, a past palpably present in its sacred focus.
A pre-talk with images and discussion precedes the story describing the relationship of the Christmas season to the calendar of the natural world in the northern hemisphere, a time when the Earth is dreaming and great opportunity for deepening as a human being is present. A discussion of the ancestral underpinnings of today’s Saint Nicholas of many names is also included.
For adults and mature children.*
Click an image to enlarge.
Music by Aurora Ancient Music, Evan Premo & Boštjan Gombač, and I Cantori Gregoriani
Purchase Tickets
Tickets and streaming for Saint Nicholas, Bringer of Gold has ended.
*Regarding Children:
The Christmas Cycle stories are prepared for adults. Children attend at the discretion of their parents or guardians.
For this story, the pre-talk will be exploring the very long history of Saint Nicholas and Santa Claus, as well as the important beauty and spirit that is embodied in these figures. It could become clear to a child that Saint Nicholas and Santa Claus are present in humans who are embracing that way of being, and not in one person who is visiting children everywhere.