Christmas, which translates as Vánoce in Czech, begins with the Den Svatého Mikuláše, St. Nicholas’
day on December 6th. On this day Svatý Mikuláš, Saint Nicholas, who is our very own Father
Christmas or Santa Claus, walks around town accompanied by an andel, angel and a cert, devil.
Saint Nick walks around asking children if they have been good or bad. If they have been good, they
get a present, and if they have been bad the devil terrifies them. The devils are often extremely convincing,
and tend to scare the living daylights out of children.
The real-deal St. Nicholas was born in about 270 A.D. in Lycia (Roman providence of Asia, today Turkey) and died in 343 A.D. on December 6th in Bari, Italy. He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, he even gave away his inheritance when his rich parents died, hence our current Santa Claus. Nicholas was never officially canonized and for that reason Martin Luther decided to replace the festival of St. Nicholas Day which had become connected with Papacy witch “Christ child” celebration on Christmas Eve.
However,the St. Nicholas day still remained celebrated among most of the Protestant population. This feast is currently being celebrated by most of Europe as well as by countries such as Lebanon and Palestine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Nicholas_Day).
As Christmas approaches, it is time to buy a vánocní stromecek, Christmas tree, which is now the
tradition across Europe and North America. It is also time to get your vánocní ozdoby, Christmas
decorations ready. Now, the tradition is that on December 24th, which is when Vánoce, Christmas is
celebrated in the Czech Republic, and not the 25th as in English speaking countries, the tree and
decorations are put up by the parents. The children are taken out for a walk, or kept out of the room
while all of the decorations are put up, and the dárky, presents are put under the tree. A zvonek, bell
is then rung to signify that Ježíšek, the baby Jesus has arrived, and the children are let into the
room to see the tree and open their presents. The fact that it is Ježíšek, the baby Jesus, and not
Santa Claus, who brings the presents, is very interesting, and quite a big job for a child to manage,
even if he is Jesus. I am sure there are laws against child labor somewhere that should prevent this.
One of the reasons for the tradition of decorating the room without the children is apparently that for
many people without money, the Christmas tree was the main present for the children. Nowadays,
this tradition is still kept to by some people, but for most Czechs, the vánocní stromecek, Christmas
tree is put up in the days leading up to Christmas, with the children participating. The dárky,
presents are then put under the tree by the parents, and as with the older tradition, they ring a bell to
indicate that industrious little Ježíšek has arrived with the presents.
Source: Radio Praha article; http://www.radio.cz/en/
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I vividly remember crying as a little girl when I came face-to-face with the devil on the St. Nicholas Day. He was always so scary! Even if you were a “good girl” that year you couldn’t escape his evil faces…For some reason I can never remember the good folks, like the devil and the angel; they were always kind of “under the shoe”…Maybe they are more emancipated these days!
Tak veselou Mikulasovskou nadilku!!!