Every year on the My Milwaukee Mommy Facebook Page I ask about St. Nick and every year I get mixed responses...some celebrate, some don't. Some of you put out shoes or socks, some use stocking. And, yet, I always have someone say that they have NEVER heard of St. Nick. And, most of the time, I find out that they didn't grow up near or around Milwaukee.
When I was a child we celebrated every year as St. Nick comes the night of December 5. Every year we put out our shoes. When we awoke, they would be filled with candy. One year we got a small stuffed animal. It was never anything much, but just a little something from St. Nick letting us know that he had been noticing us doing good deeds. For Christmas we would get our stockings full of goodies from Santa.
My husband also celebrated St. Nick. This is where I really learned that we had different upbringings...on something so simple! St. Nick would come on the night of December 5. BUT...he would hang up his stocking and that would be filled with some kind of small toy and candy. So...pretty much the same treats, but a different means of getting them. He never put out stockings on Christmas and Santa never filled his stockings - just St. Nick.
Sooo...when we got married and started making our own traditions, this was a source of disagreement. I was convinced my family had done it correctly and he was convinced his family had celebrated St. Nick correctly. Upon research, I believe my family was closer to true tradition.
Widely celebrated in Europe, St. Nicholas' feast day, December 6th, kept alive the stories of his goodness and generosity. In Germany and Poland, boys dressed as bishops begged alms for the poor—and sometimes for themselves! In the Netherlands and Belgium, St. Nicholas arrived on a steamship from Spain to ride a white horse on his gift-giving rounds. December 6th is still the main day for gift giving and merrymaking in much of Europe. For example, in the Netherlands St. Nicholas is celebrated on the 5th, the eve of the day, by sharing candies (thrown in the door), chocolate initial letters, small gifts, and riddles. Dutch children leave carrots and hay in their shoes for the saint's horse, hoping St. Nicholas will exchange them for small gifts. Simple gift-giving in early Advent helps preserve a Christmas Day focus on the Christ Child.
St. Nicholas or St. Nick is relatively unknown in most of the United States. He was a Christian Bishop living in the Roman Empire in the early 300s AD. The holiday is a German custom.
Did you grow up celebrating St. Nicholas' Day? How did you celebrate as a child? Do you celebrate with your family?St. Nicholas or St. Nick is relatively unknown in most of the United States. He was a Christian Bishop living in the Roman Empire in the early 300s AD. The holiday is a German custom.
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