The first of the winter Gift Bearers arrives on the 5th of December: St. Nicholas. He is a much older cousin of the American Santa Claus, but there are striking similarities. On the Eve of St. Nicholas, which is tonight, children throughout Europe would traditionally place their shoes by the chimney before going to bed for St. Nicholas to fill with gifts, as well as set out carrots and hay for his donkey. Good children might wake up the next morning to find their shoes filled with fruits and nuts and sweets.
St. Nicholas’s feast day is celebrated on the 6th of December. He is sacred to countries throughout Europe, but especially to Russia, Greece, the Netherlands, Germany, and Italy. Nicholas was a bishop of Myra, in southern Turkey, in the fourth century. He is most famous for his generosity, and this, perhaps, is the reason he is connected with the bestowing of presents. One story that has come down through the ages tells of three sisters who were without dowries, for their father was very poor. The situation became so desperate that the father decided his only option was to sell his daughters into prostitution. Nicholas heard of the problem and took action: one night as the household lay sleeping, he tossed a bag of gold through the open window, and suddenly the eldest daughter had a dowry. In time, he did the same for each of her sisters, too. He bestowed these gifts in secret, until the third time, when the father of the girls caught him in the act. He was forever grateful to the good bishop, and thus the legend of St. Nicholas as a gift bearer began.
The Eve of St. Nicholas and its related traditions are, in some places, of greater importance than the arrival of Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. Santa is a relative newcomer compared to St. Nicholas. And one thing St. Nicholas has that Santa doesn’t is a dark companion. He goes by many names throughout Europe: Knecht Ruprecht, Black Peter, Pelznickel… but this dark companion is best known as Krampus. In fact, the 5th of December is known in some parts as Krampusnacht. Krampus is most often depicted with horns on his head, a very long tongue, and cloven hooves or sometimes one human foot and one goat foot. The punishment by Krampus is pretty harsh: he carries switches and rusty chains for the express purpose of swatting naughty children, and then he’ll stuff them in a sack or a basket and carry them off to hell. Serious stuff. And while the American Santa Claus has to do it all––reward good children with gifts and punish naughty ones with coal––you might think of St. Nicholas as a wiser man, a delegator: he gets to take care of the good kids, but he gives the task of punishing the bad ones to Krampus.
So do be good. St. Nicholas would love to fill your shoes with fruits and nuts and sweets tonight. And if you’ve been bad…. Beware the Krampus!
Our image is from an old penny postcard sent to us by our good friend Linda Dailey in Maine. Is it St. Nicholas garbed in modern day clothing rather than his traditional bishop’s robes? Perhaps. And that, for sure, is a Krampus doll in his hands, just to remind us all to be as good as we can. Sweet dreams.