One of our favorite holidays, St. Nicolas Day, is running to an end.

We know that he was a Christian saint who is revered as the Miracle-Worker. In Ukraine there is a part of his relics with an icon.

Ukrainians have always paid special honors to this saint and considered him to be their Protector. When we had no statehood, in the times of Cossacks, in every house there were icons of Jesus Christ, Virgin Mary, Saint Nicolas, and Saint Barbara.

In Ukrainian, the Saint Nicolas’s name sounds like Mykola and can be split in two parts, one of which means “us” and another means “circle.” This symbolizes Ukrainian unity and tradition which dates back to pagan times. This is a symbol of love to your neighbor, of caring for those in need, of the tradition of getting united to make each other happy.

This virtue of granting happiness has stricken such strong roots in our society that UN proclaimed December 19th to be the International Day of Help to the Poor.

In fact, it is Saint Nicolas who became the prototype of Father Frost and Santa Clause whom children like so much. And in our country, this day children will be searching for presents under their pillows and writing dream-letters to Saint Nicolas.

There are a lot of legends devoted to Saint Nicolas in Ukrainian folklore.

According to one of them, he came to the earth to give presents from God to different nations. Everyone was fighting for these presents. Everyone wanted to get the best ones. In the end, when no presents were left and everyone left the place too, Saint Nicolas saw a poor girl sitting nearby. She was crying. He asked who she was and why she was crying. And the girl answered that she was Ukraine and she couldn’t pave her way to him when presents were being given. Saint Nicolas got very upset with the news but he said that he had still some things left. These were beauty and a song. And Ukraine received them.

Thus, even now Ukraine is famous for the beauty of its land and the inner beauty of everyone who was born there.

Moreover, Ukrainian people have composed more that 200 thousand songs. All of them were preserved in oral tradition. And now we can boast this precious treasure.

This day is special, because it reminds us of how important are love, goodness, and mercy.

Let Saint Nicolas protect our families, while we will be waiting for big and small miracles from him.