children are often given cookies, candies and gifts under their pillows or in their shoes and stockings during the feast day. Common St. Nick's Day items include oranges, chocolate coins and candy canes.
Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, brewers, pawnbrokers, toymakers, unmarried people, and students
St. Nicholas Day is celebrated every year on Dec. 6, typically by filling the stockings and shoes children leave out overnight with sweets and toys.
Nicholas, a fourth-century bishop who lived in the ancient Roman town of Myra, now Demre in Turkey, was reputed to be neither plump nor jolly, but did earn a longstanding reputation for charity and gift-giving. This, naturally, was the linchpin that would eventually link him to Christmas.
Saint Nicholas was known for his generosity and kindness, which gave rise to legends of miracles he performed for the poor and unhappy. As a result of this reputation, devotion to Nicholas extended to all parts of Europe.
