St. Nikolaus’ Day

Paris Marathon Training: Week 1 of 18
Today’s target run: 33 minutes
Today’s completed run: 33 minutes

St. Nikolaus' Day, celebrated on December 6th, is favorite holiday of all children, as it is a gift-giving day. (Heck, it is a favorite day of mine if gifts are involved.) St. Nikolaus is the patron saint of all kids, bakers, and seamen.

The story of St. Nikolaus, the bishop of Myra in Minor Asia who died on December 6th, 343, dates back to the 4th century. History tells us that he was in the company of Knecht Ruprecht ("Knecht" meaning "servant"). Ruprecht was a dark and sinister figure who wore a tattered robe and carried a big sack on his back in which, as a legend says, he would put all naughty children.

As the gift-giving function of St. Nikolaus began to shift to the events of the Christmas season and an emphasis on the birth of Christ, Knecht Ruprecht became the servant and companion of the Christchild. In this role, Ruprecht became the patron saint of Christmas and was called "Weihnachtsmann," Father Christmas, or Santa Claus.



Sidenote: As I was in the Berlin airport today enroute to a business meeting, St. Nikolaus and Knecht Ruprecht look-alikes were passing out gifts (OK, technically they were not gifts; they were bags of cookies advertising another low-cost air carrier’s entry into the German travel market. Ah, the commercialization of Christmas in yet one more way). I can report that St. Nikolaus was dressed almost identically to the dude in the photo above. Sadly, I had no camera with which to snap a shot of Ruprecht. Conceptualize a guy in a court jester’s ensemble with black-face and you have the visual.

Originally, children left hay and straw for St. Nikolaus’ horses but now they simply put a shoe or boot outside their bedroom door, window, or by the fireplace on the evening of December 5th, hoping to find it full of sweets, biscuits, nuts, and fruit the next morning.

Another tradition kept for this day is baking Stutenkerl, or Printenmann (e.g. gingerbread). Not being the baker, I’ll opt to follow the gift giving tradition (smile).