06 December, 2008

saint nicholas...

along with advent, december holds a few other smaller but very special celebrations. the first of which is celebrated today - saint nicholas day (december 6). this is a european, as well as a waldorf, tradition in which saint nicholas and his silent servant, rupert, visit children. on the eve of december 5, children place their shoes or boots outside the door (as well as a bit of hay for saint nicholas' horse) hoping saint nicholas will stop by and leave some treats for them - golden walnuts, clementines, an apple, maybe a bit of chocolate and perhaps a small gift. such a fun little celebration for our children to usher in this festive month of december.

ostheimer saint nicholas and rupert



felted saint nicholas' by etsy's haddy2dogs



yours in wishing you a happy saint nicholas day,

shelley

5 comments:

cari said...

Here in Switzerland, St. Nicholas actually comes to visit the child in person! We're expecting him in 2-3 hours. :-)

Anonymous said...

We love that tradition here too, as our grandparents are all european, but we have Black Peter instead of Rupert. Happy St Nicholas day!

Anonymous said...

what a sweet tradition!

TheSingingBird said...

lovely :)

atelierlemlem said...

And I thought that Sinterklaas was only vissiting us in the Netherlands! We call him Sinterklaas, Sint Nicolaas or simply Sint. His friend is called zwarte Piet. Some people tell their kids that it is all reality, and they all see sinterklaas walking over the roofs with his horse for real haha!