Don’t forget to put your boots or shoes out on Saturday night. December 6th is St. Nicholas Day. People in central Europe and some areas of the Midwest United States with a strong German heritage celebrate this festival. On the eve of December 5^th, children set a boot out on the doorstep, by their bedroom door, or on the stairs, whatever the custom is in their region. Then St. Nicholas visits to see if they’ve been good and fills their boot with gifts and sweets. If they’ve been bad they will get a tree branch instead. Or worse, a visit from St. Nicholas’s helper – Knecht Ruprecht, who might beat them for bad behavior. In Switzerland, he is called Schmutzli, but instead of threatening them with a beating, he might carry them off in a sack to the dark forest or drown them in a river. Talk about putting the fear of God into your children. I think I would be good, too, if such a creature came around once a year to check on my behavior. It kind of puts the Elf on the Shelf to shame. Although, to be fair, the scare tactics of St. Nicholas’s helper are used less frequently today than they were in earlier times.

There are all kinds of traditions celebrated on St. Nicholas Day all over the world. In the Netherlands, Belgium, and the lower Rhineland of Germany, the eve of December 5^th is even the main occasion for gift-giving rather than December 25^th. For more information on St. Nicholas and his festival click on this link. Hope you’ve been good…