THE FEAST’S OF ST NICHOLAS

 

The feast of St Nicholas is widely celebrated though what they believe and the way it is celebrated varies from place to place for example in the Czech Republic they believe on the eve of St. Nicholas Day the Angels lower St. Nicholas, or Svaty Mikuláš, down to earth on a rope of gold and he carries a basket of apples, nuts, and candies for the children.

He is accompanied by a devil rattling his chains who comes to carry off the bad children and a sweet angel who pleads for them.

While in Slovenia the night before the Feast of St. Nicholas, children put a shoe outside the door in the hope it will be filled with various treats of fruit, sweets, or money.

Here the saint is accompanied by the devilish Parkel who might leave coal for the naughty children, more often than not, a mixture of the two are left as most children are good and bad.

On the night of December 5^th in Romania, boots are carefully polished to be put by the door or by the window to wait for the visit of Sfantul Nicolae.

In Bulgaria Nikulden is a great winter festival when Bulgarians celebrate St Nikolay, the protector of sailors and fishermen.

St. Nicholas or Svaty Mikul arrives in many Slovakian towns and villages, in a horse drawn coach, along with an angel and the devil who rattles a chain and on St. Nicholas Eve all the children polish their boots to leave on the windowsill or at the doorstep and in the morning, they hope to find nice surprises and not the dreaded coal.

Hungarian children must polish their best boot and put it on the windowsill to be filled by St. Nicholas, Szent Mikulás.

The good saint comes with a big sack full of presents and a large record book containing the children's good and bad deeds. He has his two helpers, the good angel who helps give out presents and the mischief making devil.

And In the morning the good children hope to find candies, tangerines, walnuts, apples, dates and chocolate Mikulás figures.

St. Nicholas, called in Poland Sw. Mikolaj, is a saintly, dignified figure in Poland; he descends from Heaven with an angel helper, and travels in a sleigh pulled by a white horse as he visits homes in the countryside.

In parts of the Caribbean like Aruba and Antilles where the Dutch settled the celebrations still involves SinterKlaas sailing into harbor from Spain with his white horse and a collection of helpers, one of these helpers is Zwarte Piet or black Peter who is ready to put the naughty children in his sack and carry them back to Spain.

But in Curaçao however and reflecting changing times, the "horse" is more symbolic and Sinterklaas rides in a white Ford Mustang!

So, from being lowered from heaven on a golden rope to riding in a Ford Mustang it can’t get much more diverse than that.