December 6 is SAINT NICHOLAS day!
From these Saint Nicholas stories evolved a feast day, a whole host of traditions around Europe (and some in North America), and a wide variety of (mostly) related holiday gift-bringers. Learn more here.
Among them we have:
- Father Christmas - Britain
- Noel Baba - Turkey
- Père Noël - France
- Pai Natal - Portugal
- Sinterklaas - the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg
- Samichlaus - Switzerland
- Weihnachtsman - Germany
- Santa Claus - United States
For a more scholarly look at Saint Nicholas and all his derivations and related celebrations, Caitlin R. Green's collection of online resources will allow you to dig as deeply as you wish!
Some Saint Nicholas Day traditions are, frankly, terrifying:
I think I prefer a kinder, gentler Saint Nicholas (without a troop of accompanying scary minions):
May your shoes be filled with nuts and fruit, or your stockings filled with coins, if you choose to celebrate this day!
As the mother of a 6-year-old beautiful little girl, I had never heard of "St. Nicholas Day". It just was not a thing in our family of origin. However, I quickly learned the ropes when you came home from kindergarten and sadly told stories about all the goodies the other kids had received in their shoes the night before. Wow! I quickly did some research (called other mothers) and the next night your shoes were mysterious filled with treasures!
ReplyDeleteThanks for filling my shoes once you learned about the tradition, mom! It seems like celebrating St. Nicholas Day is more prevalent in areas with a strong Catholic (or Orthodox) presence, and the shoe-filling is more of a thing in the US in places where there were lots of Polish and German immigrants - makes sense that it was a thing when I went to Catholic school!
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