When Santa Claus comes. Why do children get sweets or dumplings in boxes. The traditions of the evening of December 5

The evening of December 5 is an occasion of excitement for children – they clean their boots and wait for Santa Claus. According to tradition, Santa brings sweets to the good children, and the disobedient ones get a stick. Saint Nicholas – celebrated on December 6 – is among the most beloved saints in Romania, and tradition says that he appears on a white horse, guards the Sun and protects sailors and soldiers.

It is said about Saint Nicholas that, when he became archbishop, he took care of the souls, but also of the physical needs of the inhabitants of Mira. He walked unknowingly through the city and secretly gave them what they needed. To a man he gave, in turn, three bags of gold so that his daughters would have dowries so they could get married. To connect the life of Saint Nicholas with the habit of putting gifts in stockings or boots, in a popular legend it is said that he threw one of the bags of money out the window, and it fell into a stocking left to dry by the fire. Others say it was ice.

That is why the day of Saint Nicholas is also called, in some countries, Children's Christmas.

In the evening, on the eve, the children clean their boots, in which they will receive small gifts: chocolate, candies, winter fruits (oranges, tangerines, dates and figs), clothes and toys. The much-dreamed-of, more expensive gifts will be given to them at Christmas, under the tree. Those who were not good receive a stick (a sign of the punishment they deserve).

Saint Nicholas in the Romanian tradition

“The dates and traditions of the 6th of December are not very numerous: they are celebrated for help with illnesses and especially blows (allusion, probably, to the bishop's staff), holidays are held for festive deaths (in accidents, especially drownings), and girls say prayers for luck in marriage (…) Being a day placed at the beginning of the calendar winter, it is natural that it is considered a harbinger for the course of the weather (…) For the areas that keep the tradition caroling, especially Transylvania, St. Nicholas is, in a way, the patron saint of the group of young people, on this date they meet to elect the leader!”, writes Narcisa Știucă in the book Spiral of Holidays – Articulations, Interpretations and Insights.

How is it depicted in popular lore? He sometimes appears on a white horse, alluding to the first snow of December, he guards the Sun that tries to flee past him to the northern lands to leave the world without light and warmth. He is the patron saint of sailors, whom he saves from drowning, but he also defends soldiers in wars, and that is why many invoked him during battles. He was also invoked by widows, orphans and girls who wanted to get married, but he is best known for bringing gifts on the night of December 5-6 and punishing lazy or disobedient children.

St. Nicholas and the Nutcracker

“Among the Romanians, Santa Nicolae settled first in the urban environment and very late in the rural environment and in any case he did not overlap with the other two Santas: Santa Eve and Santa Claus. Moreover, he distinguished himself from the beginning (thanks to the stories of adults) not so much as a generous and lenient Santa, but as a vigilante, rather a divine support of teachers and parents in their educational endeavors, than a character nazdravan ready to melt at any request or childish dream. His emblem, the club or the stick, was also an indispensable pedagogical prop of the past, being legitimized by the very divine touch of the patron of those in need,” writes Narcisa Știucă.

A brief European history

Saint Nicholas was widely revered in medieval Europe for his generosity, but also because he was a patron saint of so many people. It is said that in the 11th century, some Italian sailors stole his relics from what is now Turkey and took them to Bari, Italy.

The saint was widely celebrated between 1200 and 1500 in Europe. Nicholas was the saint who brought gifts and was celebrated on December 6. Traditions from other European deities were added to the somewhat stricter saint, such as the Nordic Odin and Saturn from the Romans, so he “acquired” a white beard and the power to fly.

But after the advent of the Protestant Reformation – which did not encourage the celebration of saints – traditions related to St. Nicholas disappeared in many parts of Northern Europe. The fact that the image of Saint Nicholas faded led to the appearance of a problem: who should be the magical character who brings children gifts. In some cases the place was taken by the baby Jesus and the date was moved from the 6th to the 25th of December, but a problem remained: the story did not connect, a baby does not have the power to carry many gifts, nor can it scare the children who have been good.

From this need, figures such as Ru-klaus, Aschenklas and Pelznickel appeared in Germanic mythology who were large and demonic, to get children to be good, otherwise punishments would come, not gifts.

The presence of St. Nicholas remained alive in the Netherlands, where the tradition of “Sinterklaas” was maintained. On the saint's day there are parades and celebrations, and Sinterklaas comes on horseback, dressed in a red episcopal robe and holding a miter. The children prepared their shoes in the evening, and in the morning they found small symbolic gifts.

And nowadays in Northern Europe, in the Netherlands and in Germany, children receive special cookies, candies or small gifts, whether in little hats, socks, on plates or even under the pillow. In some areas, children write letters to Santa and leave carrots or apples in the grass for Santa's donkeys or horses. Among the small gifts given to children in northern countries are oranges, chocolate pennies and lollipops.

Very controversial is the character who accompanies Santa at the Dutch holidays, Peter the Black (Zwarte Piet), who is a man who paints his face black and has red lips, helping Santa Nicolae to distribute sweets to good children, but also pieces of coal, potatoes and dumplings to those who were not good. Zwarte Piet was presented either as a freed black slave or as a Moor (Arab).

Zwarte Piet has in the last decade been an increasingly controversial tradition in the Netherlands, being considered by many to be a racist tradition. Last year the controversy also reached Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte who changed his mind, saying that the tradition would disappear with time, after previously saying that there was no problem with Black Peter.

The Dutch brought the tradition of celebrating “Sinterklaas” in the 17th century to the North American colonies – New Amsterdam was the first name of the city of New York. And in America the tradition underwent transformations and became Santa Claus by combining the legend of St. Nicholas as a good and generous man and Viking legends in which a magician rewarded good children and punished naughty ones.

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