Looking for information on Sv Mikulas day

[Gertrude]

I'm trying to put together a small presentation on Sv. Mikulas celebrations. I know the basics - Mikulas, the angel and the devil. Sadly, though, I'm not finding any really good sources that go deeper than the surface stuff. I'm looking for something to personalize it or add a bit of interest. Specifically the presentation is for a Czech heritage group, but I'd love to hear of other cultures' take on it. So I implore the all knowing and powerful board hive-mind - educate me on the wonders of Mikulas. As an aside, we're also going to present a couple of Christmas carols - Narodil se Kristus Pan and Pujdem spolu do Betlema. Do you have any favorite or classic carols you could point me to? Thanks in advance!

(yes, I know the diacritical marks are lacking - too lazy to put them in for this post)

[Lykos]

St. Nikolaus is my favorite saint. I'm german with catholic parents and on december 5. we put our polished boots outside our door so we would find them filled with presents and a Nikolausteller with nuts, oranges and sweets beside it.

That's why I associate Spt. Meribald with St. Nicholas.   If you're looking for Czech customs you could PM Ygrain (I don't think she frequents GenChat)

Here are some links to the devilish side - the bogeyman that punishes the misbehaved.

Story of Knecht Ruprecht

Knecht Ruprecht

Zwarte Piet

And finaly  Christkind vs. Santa Claus.

[The guy from the Vale]

To add some information from the south German area, there's Krampus, St. Nicholas' helper who doles out punishment to the children who misbehaved. There's no angel in Germany, though; St. Nick gives out the gifts himself.

When I was in kindergarten, one year we had Saint Nicholas and Krampus arrive. St. Nick had a big golden book where he read about the children and how they had been behaving, giving gifts to the nice children while having Krampus give a birch rod to the not so nice ones. (No actual corporal punishment took place. The birch rod was entirely symbolical)

We had the filled boots and the Nikolausteller, too (although I'm not quite sure how much of that is coming from my father who isn't quite from this area)

[Jo498]

Apparently it was not only symbolical not so long ago. My mom told stories that in the 1950s (in a protestant region!) the Nikolaus had been so frequently invoked as a threat to discipline children that young boys panicked when a disguised Nikolaus or Knecht Ruprecht actually appeared on Dec. 6th. I don't think they were actually beaten or put in a bag but the threat and a masked guy was obviously enough...

[Ygrain]

I must say that Mikuláš is a bit different these days than it used to - for example, you can hire Mikuláš to come to your kids, but when I was a kid, it was more kids to kids, or various uncles and friends etc. Also, there are a lot of fancy costumes available now, whereas before, it was all home-made. Still is to some extent these days, I guess, because it's fun (and cheaper).

Mikuláš doesn't look quite like Santa, his colours are white and gold and has to have a bishop's mitra and staff, usually with a small bell, so that you hear him coming. Angel wears white and silver, and wings, and is mostly female, though not necessarily, and carries a basket with sweets, which s/he gives to the kids after Mikuláš questions them if they have been good. Mikuláš sometimes asks about school stuff, as well :-)

Devils usually wear some furcoat if they can get their hands on one and are smeared with soot (you'd better use some grease beforehand unless you want to spend hours scrubbing your face afterwards). The best ones carry a huge sack for naughty children, and sometimes you see stuffed socks or stocking peeping out. They give away coal and/or raw potatoes. If they offer candies, you shoud be cautious, because these are usually "improved" with pepper. Ah, yes, and some devils rattle chains.  Dunno why they have them, perhaps for tying the poor sinners. Either way, devils are most fun, and even though they are not supposed to be really scary, little kids often freak out.

If parents don't arrange for Mikuláš coming, they prepare small bags with chocolates, oranges and the like themselves and hang them on the doorknob or hide them in the kids' room, and then send the kids looking if Mikuláš has already visited; the thrill of expectation is almost like at Christmas. There are also Mikuláš parties with presents but I never liked them much, so I can't really tell what's going on there.

Older kids don't believe in Mikuláš, of course, but are quite happy to get some presents, as well. It is also a good opportunity to persuade teachers to drop tests or exams on that day :-) I had quite extraordinary classmates at the secondary school, willing to come to school an hour earlier to make sure we wouldn't be having any lessons the whole day, so we were a whole class of devils and angels. There were some awesome punk devils with red hair and black leather jackets

Well, that's about it, I guess, was that helpful?

 

[Gertrude]

Thank you guys so much for sharing your stories. I do appreciate it This has helped to round out the info I've been able to find. It's interesting to me that the Czechs adopted the angel in addition to the devil/krampus/black pete figure.

[Ygrain]

You're welcome :-)

As for carols, I've found this video list of the most common ones. The accompanying pictures are by Josef Lada and are considered a traditional depiction of Christmas and winter, and folk tradition in general. Christmas or Easter cards with his pictures are an evergreen.

From modern-day Christmas songs, Purpura is very popular, though you might want to try a cover. This parodic song of Christmas traditions is quite fabulous.. 

 

[Buckwheat]

In my family we used to leave a boot in the hall and get small gifts from "Miklavž" in them on the morning of the 6th of December too. We did not offer any food on a plate though.

Krampuses made from bread-like dough are sometimes eaten around that time too, we call them parkelj.

[Gertrude]

8 hours ago, Ygrain said:

As for carols, I've found this video list of the most common ones. The accompanying pictures are by Josef Lada and are considered a traditional depiction of Christmas and winter, and folk tradition in general. Christmas or Easter cards with his pictures are an evergreen.

Sweet - this has been my go-to list for carols. Especially since it clearly scrolls the words as it goes. Suuuper helpful!

[Jo498]

For the ones studying/speaking slavic languages, any idea how/when the N of Nikolaos changed to M?

[Seli]

In the Dutch tradition we have Sinterklaas (from Sint Nicolaas ie Saint Nicholas) and of course Zwarte Piet (with all the problematic issues). And it is celebrated on Saint Nicholas' eve, December 5th. Dutch tradition has been actively reworked and is still changing all the time and many aspects of the current tradition seem to have been introduced in the 19th century.

The Saint is dressed in a red and white bishop's attire, wearing a mitre and uses a bishop's staff and rides a Gray. When I was young he was the distant judging personality who kept all our good deeds and misdeeds in his big book, leaving Zwarte Piet to do the rewarding and punishing. The character in recent decennia has softened and become more approachable, and the punishing aspect has more or less completely disappeared.

One of the weirder aspects of our version is that when he is not visiting the Netherlands (most of November until he leaves on the eve of his nameday) Saint Nicholas lives in Madrid, Spain. And every year he arrives in the Netherlands in a big steamer loaded with presents. Which meant that one of the threatened punishments used to be that a misbehaving child would be taken back by Sinterklaas to Spain, in the same big bag he used to bring presents. Personally more interesting than the lump of coal or the switch.

Traditionally a shoe would be set on the eve and (small) presents received. But these days the 5th is a big day for presents, while shoes are set (for candy) in the preceding weeks. Offerings with the shoe are generally aimed at the horse, carrots or straw, and it is the perfect method to get your wishlist to the saint (since he is coming around to bring the candy anyway). The presents are often accompanied by rhymes that (gently) jab at the receiver. There is a big tradition of packaging a gift in a elaborate way that reminds of the receiver, and/or are trapped and an intentional chore to unpack. 

In it's way the feast is more important than Christmas (although that has been changing). But the focus of the two big feasts is different, even though the both focus on family, friends, food, and presents.

[Ygrain]

1 hour ago, Jo498 said:

For the ones studying/speaking slavic languages, any idea how/when the N of Nikolaos changed to M?

No idea, but Mr Google claims it was probably affected by the name Michal/Michael. But since Polish has Mikolaj and Hungarian Miklos, I suspect there might be another explanation.

[Buckwheat]

8 hours ago, Jo498 said:

For the ones studying/speaking slavic languages, any idea how/when the N of Nikolaos changed to M?

No idea here either. Slovene has the usual names Nik, Nika and Nikolaj (Nika, a female name, seems to be the most common one to me, but maybe that is only true for my generation), and the saint can be called either Nikolaj or Miklavž. I have not heard of Miklavž being used as a first name - a statistic overview tells me it is used, but extremely rarely.

[baxus]

11 hours ago, Jo498 said:

For the ones studying/speaking slavic languages, any idea how/when the N of Nikolaos changed to M?

It didn't in all Slavic languages. In Serbian (and other South Slavic languages) it's Nikola.

Among Serbian Orthodox Christians, Saint Nikola is a completely different entity from both Santa Claus and the more traditional Brother Christmas. He is the most common patron saint in Serbia and is held in very high regard. A patron saint has a slightly different meaning among Serbian Christians than in the rest of the Christian world. Patron saint's day is celebrated with family and friends over a meal (I guess "feast" would be a more accurate term) and, as that usually goes, significant amounts of drink. Saint Nikola's day is on December 19th and somewhere between a third and a half of Serbian households celebrate it. Since it takes place during six weeks of Christmas lent (our Christmas is on January 7th, by the way), the celebration dinner is basically vegan - no meat, eggs or dairy. Serbian women pride themselves on making these meals unbelievably tasty.

I'm not sure how useful this info is to anyone, but I guess it's at least mildly interesting.  

[Buckwheat]

Wait ... the English "Colin" is a version of Nicholas? Or is Wikipedia lying to me?

16 hours ago, baxus said:

Among Serbian Orthodox Christians, Saint Nikola is a completely different entity from both Santa Claus and the more traditional Brother Christmas. He is the most common patron saint in Serbia and is held in very high regard. A patron saint has a slightly different meaning among Serbian Christians than in the rest of the Christian world. Patron saint's day is celebrated with family and friends over a meal (I guess "feast" would be a more accurate term) and, as that usually goes, significant amounts of drink. Saint Nikola's day is on December 19th and somewhere between a third and a half of Serbian households celebrate it. Since it takes place during six weeks of Christmas lent (our Christmas is on January 7th, by the way), the celebration dinner is basically vegan - no meat, eggs or dairy. Serbian women pride themselves on making these meals unbelievably tasty.

It makes sense that it is later though - it appears to me that it follows the same calendar as your Christmas. I would guess it is the same saint, only his name day is celebrated on another date because the Orthodox follow the Gregorian calender.

[Jo498]

Because the Orthodox DON'T follow the Gregorian (Roman catholic) calendar there is the almost 2-week shift... Of course it is the same Saint in all cases, St. Nicholas of Myra:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicholas

Right, in Russian it is Nikolaj, so the M only appears in Czech and Polish, I guess (and non-slavic Hungarian but this is probably a slavic influence). Still, this name change puzzled me since I first encountered it at some Prague Church 25 years ago...

In Germany it depends on the region and/or catholic vs. protestant if he appears mostly in white as a Bishop or more like Santa Claus in red/white. The modern Santa Claus style Nikolaus seems almost like a fusion of the Bishop and the rough companion (Knecht Ruprecht, Krampus...)

 

[Ygrain]

3 hours ago, Jo498 said:

Right, in Russian it is Nikolaj, so the M only appears in Czech and Polish, I guess (and non-slavic Hungarian but this is probably a slavic influence). Still, this name change puzzled me since I first encountered it at some Prague Church 25 years ago...

I'm no expert on Polish history, but as I refreshed some school stuff, it seems that Christianity came to Poland from Bohemia, so the change of N into M may have Czech roots, after all. If Elizabeth can be Eliška, Kunigund Kunhuta and Richeza Rejčka, Nicholas to Mikuláš seems rather tame

[Buckwheat]

20 hours ago, Jo498 said:

Because the Orthodox DON'T follow the Gregorian (Roman catholic) calendar there is the almost 2-week shift... Of course it is the same Saint in all cases, St. Nicholas of Myra:

Oh right, of course. My mistake.

16 hours ago, Ygrain said:

I'm no expert on Polish history, but as I refreshed some school stuff, it seems that Christianity came to Poland from Bohemia, so the change of N into M may have Czech roots, after all. If Elizabeth can be Eliška, Kunigund Kunhuta and Richeza Rejčka, Nicholas to Mikuláš seems rather tame

Elizabeth - Eliška is reasonable. We have a version of Elizabeth that is Špela. Don't ask me how that is possible. Nikolaj/Miklavž makes sense compared to that.

[David Selig]

20 hours ago, Jo498 said:

Because the Orthodox DON'T follow the Gregorian (Roman catholic) calendar there is the almost 2-week shift... Of course it is the same Saint in all cases, St. Nicholas of Myra:)

Some of the Orthodox churches (in Greece, Bulgaria, etc) follow the Gregorian calendar (they call it the Revised Julian calendar, but it's virtually the same as the Gregorian).

Anyway, here in Bulgaria the saint is known as St. Nikolay and is one of the most popular and venerated ones. His name day is a pretty major event since a lot of people are named after him and celebrate it. He is also known as the patron saint of fishermen, sailors (he is supposed to be the master of the sea who controls the storms) and funnily enough bankers. The tradition states that you got to eat fish (preferably carp) on this day.

[Ygrain]

So, how did your presentation go? :-)