St. Nicholas Day

Yesterday was St. Nicholas Day. I did a little research just to bone up on the history and tradition of this day, and to help make us all a little smarter (except for those of you who already know this history, of course...). The following is from Wikipedia. I could have just put a link there, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet. :)

"The tradition of Saint Nicholas Day, usually on 6 December, is a festival for children in many countries in Europe related to surviving legends of the saint, and particularly his reputation as a bringer of gifts. The American Santa Claus, as well as the Anglo-Canadian and British Father Christmas, derive from these legends. "Santa Claus" is itself derived from the Dutch Sinterklaas.

The history of the festive Saint Nicholas celebration is complex and reflects conflicts between Protestantism and Catholicism. Since Nicholas was a canonised saint, Martin Luther replaced the festival that had become associated with the Papacy with a Christkind ("Christ child") celebration on Christmas Eve.^{[citation needed]} The Nicholas celebrations still remain a part of tradition among many Protestants, albeit on a much smaller scale than Christmas.

In Germany, Nikolaus is usually celebrated on a small scale. Many children put a boot called Nikolaus-Stiefel outside the front door on the night of December 5 to December 6. St. Nicholas fills the boot with gifts and sweets, and at the same time checks up on the children to see if they were good, polite and helpful the last year. If they were not, they will have a tree branch (rute) in their boots instead. Sometimes a disguised Nikolaus also visits the children at school or in their homes and asks them if they have been good (sometimes ostensibly checking his golden book for their record), handing out presents on a per-behaviour basis. This has become more lenient in recent decades."

And, just to show it's not all fun and games, here are the next two paragraphs from Wiki:

"But for many children, Nikolaus also elicited fear, as he was often accompanied by Knecht Ruprecht (Servant Ruprecht), who would threaten to beat, or sometimes actually beat the children for misbehaviour as using this myth to 'bring up cheek children' for a better, good behaviour. Any kind of punishment isn't really following and just an antic legend. Knecht Ruprecht furthermore was equipped with goatlegs. In Switzerland, where he is called Schmutzli, he would threaten to put bad children in a sack and take them back to the dark forest. In other accounts he would throw the sack into the river, drowning the naughty children. These traditions were implemented more rigidly in Catholic countries and regions such as Austria or Bavaria.

In highly Catholic regions, the local priest was informed by the parents about their children's behaviour and would then personally visit the homes in the traditional Christian garment and threaten to beat them with a rod. In parts of Austria, Krampusse, who local tradition says are Nikolaus's helpers (in reality, typically children of poor families), roamed the streets during the festival. They wore masks and dragged chains behind them. These Krampusläufe (Krampus runs) still exist."

So, there's the history. Here is how it went down yesterday...

I had breakfast with Martin's mother, Renate, and was greeted at the table by this:


I can't remember what it is called, but it is a traditional bread for St. Nicholas Day. It is also traditional to give chocolate St. Nicks, like the one to the left in the photo above. Fun!

The afternoon held another fun day at the Weihnachtsmarkt, or Christmas Market, and then in the evening I was invited to some acquaintances' house to sing carols around a huge Christmas tree in their back courtyard.



And, for your aural senses, here's a quick video:





Hope you all had a good day!