Christmas questions mostly for those outside the US, but for we Americans, too

[Food Lady]

So this could be fun.

Here in Wisconsin because of the German background, in some towns on the night of December 5th St. Nicholas Eve is celebrated; kids get gifts from him in their stockings overnight. As far as I can tell, St. Nick is a separate figure from Santa Clause, though I'm not entirely sure. Where you live, is St. Nick's Eve/Day celebrated? Is he different than Santa/Father Christmas?

Secondly, when my dad was a kid, due to the background here in our state, the town included in St. Nick Eve activities his companion Black Peter (Krampus). I have not really heard that from people here except Dad, so maybe that was a 1940s thing or a thing in that part of the state. Are there any Krampus' running around terrifying children on Dec. 5th where you live?

Also, do any of you celebrate St. Lucia Day? I have a Christmas cookbook that has recipes from all 'round the world, and St. Lucia bread is in it. I'd love to hear about it; it's a lovely tradition.

ETA: I forgot to say tell us what country you're in. I sometimes forget which of you are where.

[gremcint]

I grew up with the understanding that saint nick was another name for santa. heck saint nickolas sounds a little bit like saying santa claus

[Seshat]

St Nicholas and Black Peter are both from Nordic/Scandinavian origins. Black Peter is slowly winding down, as its considered racist these days: despite the possibility that it originated purely independantly of dark-skinned humans (ie, totally mythologically).


I'm Australian.

Christmas is in summer, and most of our original colonist-immigrants were of British Isles heritage (the prisoners being British Isles or Irish-from-occupied-Ireland). Thus, most "Australian" Christmas tradition is hot weather adaptions of the British Christmas traditions.

We also have a sizeable contingent of Germanic immigrants, who brought their traditions, and of Mediterranian-area post-war immigrants from after both WWI and WWII.

My own family's traditions amount to 'get as much of the family together as possible and have a buffet meal', with the meal being preferably Christmas Day or Boxing Day, sometimes Christmas Eve, depending on scheduling.

We never really ever celebrated Advent, or 12th Night, or any other extended-celebration or extended-ritual elements of Christmas. If we happened to be near our home church (rather than off with family), we'd attend a Christmas service.

[EricKei]

Well, from back in New Orleans -- the XMAS season itself is done pretty much the sam eway as anyone else, with what I'm sure are some regional variations. Our Christmas Kringles are more likely to be essentially cinnamon-pecan king cakes rather than traditional cinnamon roll/bread dough. Yes, you can get Mardi Gras-style King Cakes already, at some places, because of this We do recognize Twelfth Night (January 6th) -- I'm not sure if most other areas in the US formally do so at all. Here, while it's the 12th day of Christmas (as in the song), it's even more important as the day Carnival season begins. As such, it comes complete with its own balls/celebrations, and a formal start to Carnival, courtesy of the Phunny Phorty Phellows Krewe with their streetcar ride/party, and a celebration in honor of Joan of Arc.

[Seanette]

Here in Wisconsin because of the German background, in some towns on the night of December 5th St. Nicholas Eve is celebrated; kids get gifts from him in their stockings overnight. As far as I can tell, St. Nick is a separate figure from Santa Clause, though I'm not entirely sure. Where you live, is St. Nick's Eve/Day celebrated? Is he different than Santa/Father Christmas?

Never celebrated St. Nick's Eve, always thought that was simply an alternate name for Santa. Hadn't heard of Krampus until this year. I've heard of St. Lucia, but haven't seen any observances relating to her.

Lifelong resident of the western US.

[EricKei]

I have often, but not always, see [Old] St Nick used as equivalent to Santa Claus. Note that this is something different from "Old Nick," aka "Old Scratch," aka the himself.

[dalesys]

... [Old] St Nick = Santa Claus... different from ... "Old Nick" ...

Not when you're the one financing the presents!

[MoonCat]

I'm in the U.S.

Saint Nicholas became Santa Claus by way of the Dutch "Sinter Klaas"

According to some, Nicholas was a (4th? century) bishop in the Asia Minor city of Myra. Too long to post it all here but you can Google it. Over time, St. Nick kind of melded with other Yuletide figures.

I grew up with the idea of Santa. We're Polish/German; My family was Catholic so Advent was a thing, but I never learned about the Polish Christmas figure "Star Man" until I was in my 40s.

Modern Christmas traditions are a mish-mash of centuries of various Yuletide things, and it's all pretty fascinating and fun to read about.

[Food Lady]

Star Man? Gonna have to google that one.

[shanarocks]

I'm in Texas and grew up in the Jehovah's Witness religion. I didn't grow up with any long-standing traditions for Christmas, therefore, do not have a version of the fat guy to say I grew up with.

As for my little girls. they celebrate the over-popularized verion of Santa Claus who comes though the door fir the lack of a chimney and leaves presents after eating the cookies and drink the milk.

[MoonCat]

Star Man? Gonna have to google that one.

Here's one place http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od...Polishxmas.htm

We didn't do most of the stuff they talk about on the page

For Christmas Eve my mother used to make rice soup, which is basically rice cooked in milk, and salmon patties (made with canned salmon). I have no idea where that tradition came from, it's just a family thing we used to do. For Christmas Day we used to have baked ham as the main dish. Of course, we had to go over to my grandparents' house, too, which meant we had two dinners that day. This explains a lot

We did sometimes have the oplatek, which is a wafer similar to that used during Holy Communion. You pass it around the table and everybody breaks off a piece to eat, saying "God bless you," to the person you hand off the wafer to. My mother used to get these from the church, but not every year for some reason.

[Eireann]

Here in the Czech Republic, the holiday known as "Mikulas" (the Czech word for "Nicholas") is held on December 5. Kids are visited by three adults (sometimes family members, but quite a few people rent themselves out to play the characters so the kids won't recognize them). These three adults are dressed as St. Nicholas, a devil, and an angel. They ask the children if they've been good all year, and give them a small present. Christmas is celebrated December 24 here, and the 25th and 26th are also holidays.

One year, I saw a man dressed as a devil pick up a little boy and tell him, "We're going to hell! We're going to hell!" The boy giggled happily.

[NorthernZel]

BTW, as far as I know the "Zwarte Piet" ("Black Peter") character is only celebrated in the Netherlands.

In Denmark, we celebrate "advent", wherein the children get a small present either every day or each Sunday in December. Advent can also be celebrated by lighting one or more candles with numbers printed on them, as a sort of "countdown".

Presents within the family are exchanged and opened on Christmas Eve, and Santa (or one of his helpers) fill the stockings during the night. (Oh, and we have Pixies instead of Elfs. They live in attics and one has to treat them well, or they'll pull a lot of pranks on you during December!)

Also, in Italy not everyone has a Santa tradition - instead they have "La Befana" ("The Hag") that fills the stocking on the night of January 6th (Day Of The Three Magi). La Befana gives candy to the good kids and coal to the bad kids - but since, eventually, kids as general won't behave 100% well during a whole year, there will normally be a piece of candy shaped and coloured like a piece of charcoal amongst the goodies.

[Seshat]

Thanks, Zel. I only knew he was from the Scandinavian countries someplace, but no details. I'll consider you far more the expert on Scandinavia than someone like me. (Looking at your 'location' vs mine.)

[NorthernZel]

No problems, Seshat. I actually just had the Zwarte Piet tradition reminded by a children's show running through December that depicts Christmas traditions all over the world, and Zwarte Piet got covered yesterday.

AFAIK, all Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland) don't have any Christmas related characters but Santa and the pixies. There might be references to old Solstice traditions, but it's mostly decoration-wise (as, for instance, goat figurines made of straw or china).

EDIT TO ADD: Actually, a very fun fact: Many countries argue where Santa lives. Denmark claims that the REAL Santa lives on a farm in Northern Greenland (all Danish letters addressed "Santa Claus, North Pole" are redirected to the Nuuk post office), but at the same time acknowledges the fact that there are several Santas all over the world. Hence, we hold a yearly World Santa Convention in a wood a bit north of Copenhagen every summer. They have their own meeting hall kept nice and ready all the time, and the convention also is to elect the year's Honorary Pixie (a celeb that has contributed to the right holiday spirit through the year - one year a Muslim politician got elected, so it's all about the good spirit).