Saint Nicholas is hardly the same as "Santa", which has his own wikipedia page [1]. Modern day Santa has some partial roots in Saint Nicholas (as well as a few

Saint Nicholas is hardly the same as "Santa", which has his own wikipedia page [1]. Modern day Santa has some partial roots in Saint Nicholas (as well as a few other figures), but other than the sometimes-used moniker of "Saint Nick", has very little to do with the actual saint. Santa is the one associated with the red hat, while Saint Nicholas has no such association. The only real link between the two is that Saint Nicholas was known for gift-giving and so is Santa, but I hope we aren't about to label gift-giving as a religious activity... 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus