Photo of Sinterklaas in the Wikimedia Commons
In 2004, as our then 18-month-old started to notice the holiday lights and bustle, I learned something new about my wife: St. Nick and Santa Claus used to visit her family. And not just her family: She asserted that this practice is, while not universal, not uncommon in Wisconsin, where she grew up. According to Wikipedia (and other sources), this is true:
The tradition of St. Nick’s Day is firmly established in the Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Cleveland and St. Louis communities, with parents often continuing to observe the day with their adult children. Widespread adoption of observing the tradition has spread among the German, Polish, Belgian and Dutch communities throughout Wisconsin, and is carried out through modern times.
Since my Wisconsin-born wife’s last name ends in -ski, I suppose she came by this tradition honestly. At first I was a little skeptical. I knew that St. Nicholas’s Day was still observed in some European countries, and I thought that in those places, it’s the main gift-giving holiday. That is, I thought it was a choice between St. Nick and Santa Claus, and that observing both was a little piggy.
But this isn’t like hobbits and second breakfast. The way it works is that, on the night of December 5th, St. Nick leaves candy, fruit, and a couple of small presents in the child’s stocking (or, to be strictly traditional, shoe). It’s a pretty minor event–nice, to be sure, but not an orgy of consumerism like the 25th can be.
What’s nice about the tradition, now that our kid is old enough to get worked up about Christmas, is that it the holiday takes the edge off the holiday season a little bit. The home stretch is a little more palatable if you’ve already gotten a little something.
So, this weekend, have a happy St. Nicholas’s Day!
