06 December 2014

Happy St. Nicholas Day

St. Nicholas Day is an old popular tradition in Germany and other parts of Europe which I loved as a child. It is celebrated each year on December 6th.

It goes back to Nicholas of Myra who was a Greek Christian bishop and who died on that day in 346. He had developed a reputation of secret gift-giving by putting coins on or in people's shoes. The tradition still lives on with children who would place one of their boots in front of the bedroom in the night of December 5th to find it filled with treats the next morning. Important: it must be only one boot. Both boots would make the kid appear greedy. And the boot has to be a polished to show how well-behaved the child is! Otherwise, St. Nicholas would only leave a piece of wood or birch.

Happy St. Nicholas Day Guido! Your motorcycle boot looks a bit greedy and wasn't polished but St. Nicholas filled it nevertheless. ;-)




7 comments:

  1. Darn, we totally forgot about this ritual while on the road (we needed the boots on our feet that particular day... ;-)

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  2. I forgot about it as well - or I would have polished a boot, a smaller one ... ;-)

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  3. I think the tradition should only apply to people called Nicholas!

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  4. Aww, that was so nice of St. Nicholas! Look that candle and everything . . .

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