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Yes, Virginia, once upon a time there lived a kindly gift-bringer who sometimes came down the hearth smoke to leave presents, a friend and patron of children and women, especially maidens (Jones 300, 315). And, Virginia, her name was Artemis of Ephesus. Oh, I know what you were thinking, but let me explain and you will learn that the story of Santa Claus reveals more wonderment than you have imagined. This story is for you, Virginia, now that you are considerably older. Please pardon the delay.
Long ago and far away, so say the legends, there lived a Bishop of Myra in Asia Minor, a bearded Father of the Catholic Church named Nicholas. This Patriarch won his way into the hearts of the people, recently converted from idolatry to Christianity, by destroying the temple of Artemis, a many-breasted goddess of the sea and of grain, a pagan Earth Mother who had a long and distinguished career as a midwife and protector of women.
Her story begins when Leto, wived by the great god Zeus, clung to the sacred date palm, the tree of birth and nurturant life, as she bore Artemis without pain. Immediately--and amazingly--the infant goddess arose and assisted in birthing her own twin, Apollo. In later years, Leto and her daughter often went hunting together (Tripp), no doubt a consequence of such early bonding. At any rate, Virginia, you can now understand better the meaning of "long and distinguished career," and you will soon note similarities between Artemis and the precocious Nicholas.
Surely it is easy to understand why at the first pangs of labor women might call upon Artemis for relief, or why maidens wishing to marry might offer a lock of hair to this "Nurse of Youths," goddess of fertility, birth, and the many-breasted tree (Zaidman 361). But women who wished to remain virginal or chaste, who did not wish to approach or be approached by men, also turned for protection to this goddess sometimes called Diana. The Cretan goddess Britomartis, pursued by the god-king Minos, escaped his clutches into the sacred precincts of an Artemisian grove. Orion, as he attempted to violate Opis, was killed by arrows of Artemis who, like Hecate, was also a goddess of death. Her "kindly...