What is St.Nicholas Day?
A tradition my family does is celebrate St.Nicholas Day. St.Nicholas Day is a European Christian holiday celebrated on December 6th. On the 5th you would put out your shoe or slipper in the front foyer of your house, and in the morning you would have a small treat or gift in your shoe.
This tradition started in the 4th century in a place called Myra; now known as Turkey. St.Nicholas was a Bishop who was rich and very kind, he left small gifts and coins in the shoes of the poor, so they would have something. How he became St.Nicholas is he witnessed a father who could not pay for his daughter’s wedding, so he dropped a bag of coins down their chimney which landed in a stocking drying on the fireplace. He was soon recognized for doing these gestures, that each year St.Nicholas would go to each house on a horse and ask the kids if they had been good or bad, or just leave a gift in their shoes that they put out.
The purpose of this day is to honor St.Nick, have festivity early in December, and emphasize the giving of small gifts and your family members. For my family this is a German tradition, even though we are not Christian or religious we still celebrate it. It gets passed down to each generation because my dad is German and his whole family who lives in Germany and in Canada all celebrate it to show that small gifts and family are worth a lot.
Works Cited
Cooper, James. “The Man behind the Story of Father Christmas/Santa Claus.” Why Christmas, 9 Nov. 2000, www.whychristmas.com/customs/fatherchristmas.shtml. Accessed 22 Mar. 2017.
Licht, Peggy. Interview. 21 Mar. 2017.
St.Nicholas Center. “Why Celebrate St. Nicholas Day?” Saint Nicholas Center: The Truth about Santa Claus, 7 Dec. 2002, www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/how-to-celebrate/. Accessed 22 Mar. 2017.
Wikipedia. “Saint Nicholas Day.” Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia, 18 Mar. 2017, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicholas_Day. Accessed 22 Mar. 2017.
