Once again
I am participating in Virtual Advent Tour, this year organised by Sprite at Sprite Writes.
Today is
the 6th of December, one of very special December days, because it
is the name day of Saint Nicholas, the good man who brings presents for the
good (kids) and hazel rods and coals for the naughty. ;)
St. Nicholas was a
bishop in Myra in the 3rd/4th century. As per one of the
legends, there lived a poor man who couldn’t afford a dowry for his three
daughters, so the bishop secretly brought three purses of gold coins, one for
each daughter, and threw them into the house through an open window at night,
so they could get married.
That and
numerous other good deeds of generosity earned him the reputation of a
gift-giver, so his name day became the day when ‘St. Nicholas’ brings gifts to
children (well, nowadays, adults may get a little something as well) in Central
and Western Europe.
Nowadays, with
consumerism and all, in some families gifts can be quite fancy, and St. Nicholas
is no longer the only gift-giver, since most people adopted the tradition of
Santa Claus (and Grandpa Frost) as well.
However, most
people where I live still consider St. Nicholas the main gift-bringer of the
season and they mostly keep up the tradition of modest gifts, usually things a
child needs.
Traditional
St. Nicholas gifts are fruit, either fresh (oranges and mandarins) or dried
(plums, pears, and apples, or figs), and nuts (most often walnuts, hazelnuts, or
peanuts), clothes (such as new underwear and socks or winter-wear like gloves
and hats or even a new pair of shoes/boots or a new piece of clothing to wear
for the Midnight Mass.) Books, colouring books, or notebooks and writing/colouring
utensils are also traditional gifts.
Of course,
the most important part of celebrating St. Nicholas is the anticipation, trying
to be as good as one can, or at least a little bit better than before, and
writing letters to St. Nicholas.
If one was
really, really naughty, St. Nick might give them over to devils, or so the
adults would scare the kids. In the weeks before the holiday, the adults or
older children from the neighbourhood would go around other houses where
younger children lived in the evening and rattle with chains or knock on
windows, pretending to be devils waiting to ‘get’ the ‘naughty’ child, but the
scare usually only adds to the thrill.
On the
evening before the holiday, the kitchen table would have to be made extra tidy
and a large bowl would be placed on it, which would be full of presents in the
morning.
In Catholic
families, St. Nicholas would bring some presents at home, but he would also
bring some at a church event, so the children can ‘meet’ him, and usually
there would be also a short play with St. Nicholas, angels, and devils (who
would in the end go hide behind the altar and lay in wait should St. Nick deem
any kid naughty enough to give him or her over to them – which never happens,
of course. ;))
It would
all be very exciting, albeit a little scary, but the scare is part of the excitement,
as I’ve said.
 |
| St. Nicholas's procession in Ljubljana (source) |
Now I’ve
relived some of my favourite childhood memories and I am grinning from ear to
ear. And why, yes, I still get excited about St. Nicholas like a five-year-old,
not as much for potential gifts, but for the spirit of the holiday.
What about you? Have you heard of St. Nicholas
bringing gifts on the 6th of December? Is it him or someone else
bringing presents where you live?
I’d love to
hear some of your memories and gift-giving traditions, so feel free to share
them in the comments.
