Book of Days

The first of the midwinter 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 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 on St. Nicholas’ Day to find their shoes filled with fruits and nuts and sweets. He is the first of many gift bearers across cultures that wend their way through the midwinter darkness. He’ll be followed over the next few weeks by the Christkindl, by Father Christmas and Santa Claus, by los Tres Reyes (the Three Kings) and a kind old witch named Befana.

The Feast of St. Nicholas is celebrated on the 6th of December. He is sacred to countries throughout Europe, but especially to Russia, Greece, the Netherlands, Germany, and Italy (Bari, in particular, where his relics are kept at the Basilica di San Nicola). 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!

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This is a slightly edited version of a Convivio Book of Days chapter that was first published on Krampusnacht, 2013. We learn so much from reader comments and here are two that were posted after the original publication of this chapter: Kelly O’Brien wrote, “I live in Germany & just experienced my first Krampus fest in the Austrian Tyrol region over Thanksgiving. It was terrifying! Not only do modern-day Krampus tout chains and whips, but parade through the village with torches and lots of other fiery devices. The costumes & masks were creepy beautiful, apparently a source of local craftsmanship pride. Do you think this is where ‘going to hell in a hand basket’ comes from?”

And Tad DuBois wrote, “I live and work in Germany and we went to sleep to howling winds last night and awoke to snow and ice. The neighbor’s kinder were all standing in front of their windows watching the snow fly (and no doubt hoping for school cancellations). At my office this morning St. Nicholas and Krampus have just visited. St Nicholas dispensed candy canes and Krampus had little bags of something dark, coal or reindeer turds perhaps (actually was dark chocolate molded to resemble bits of coal). To be truthful, the Krampus who visited seemed to be a mash-up of Eye-gore from ‘Young Frankenstein’ and Riff-Raff from ‘Rocky Horror.’ Still a wonderful tradition.”

The image above 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.

I have long suspected that Americans just don’t have as much fun as folks in other countries. It’s that Puritan Work Ethic. We work and work and work and this is what the Puritans wanted us to do and we’re still doing it. The Puritans worked even on Christmas; they hated the idea of Christmas so much, they actually banned it. But that’s a story for another time. Or maybe not. We’ll let the Puritans be: both them and their austere ways.

Amongst more jovial people, there is a lot more celebration, and tonight is a wonderful example of that, wonderful as in wonder-full, full of wonder. It’s the Eve of St. Nicholas, a night belonging to mystery, for St. Nicholas is the first of the traditional wintertime gift bearers. He is the older cousin to the American Santa Claus. St. Nicholas the gift bearer comes from an historical person: St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra in the fourth century, who became known far and wide for his acts of generosity… not the least of which was his hiding bags of coins in the shoes of poor girls who were without dowries. The legend grew from there and now St. Nicholas is sacred to countries throughout Europe.

Tonight’s gift bearer is not all happy and light, though; he has a dark side, as we all do. Actually, a dark companion. Perhaps this comes out of the humanity St. Nicholas is rooted in. His dark companion goes by many names depending on the country, but he is most commonly known as Black Peter or as Krampus, a sort of half human, half goat figure whose job it is to punish badly behaved children.

And while Santa Claus tries his best to operate under secrecy and dark of night, St. Nicholas and Krampus are often found parading through cities and villages on this night. One of the parades for St. Nicholas’ Eve include the Klausjagen parade, or “Nicholas chase,” pictured above. It’s part of an annual festival in Küssnacht, Switzerland, this eve of St. Nicholas’ Day. Many marchers in the parade will be wearing Iffelen––enormous, ornate hats that are made of paper and wood, meant to evoke the mitre hat of a bishop but also the stained glass windows of churches. They are lit from within by candles, and are upwards of seven feet tall.

Now that’s a sight to see. Surely there is good ale to be had, too, and perhaps some delicious cookies just for St. Nicholas’ Day. There’s plenty of time for work. A little celebration will probably do you good, no matter what those stern Puritanical ancestors thought. Anyway, St. Nicholas probably thinks so, and I bet even Krampus does, too. Krampus knows it’s all about balance.

Image: A photograph of the Klausjagen parade, December 5, 2011, by Matthias Zepper (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.