Today I want to talk about lovely Czech tradition of St. Nicholas which falls on the eve of December 6th – St. Nicholas Day. On the evening you can see groups of three (or more) people in costumes – St. Nicholas, Angel and Devil – walking the streets, stopping children and asking them if they were good or naughty in the past year. Almost all children say they were good (obviously), some of them recite a poem or sing a song. Angel and St. Nicholas have some sweet treats for them and naughty children would get only coal and potatoes from Devil or in the worst case scenario Devil will put them in his sack and take them to hell (it’s just a threat, it has to scare them a bit and force good behavior). Some parents hire these groups to come to their home, but the process is almost always the same and sweets are usually provided by parents. In some families put parents or other relatives sweet treats into a stocking and hide it somwhere at home (behind the window).
I remebmer that I usually had chocolate Advent calendar and exotic fruits behind my window. My mom was traditionalist in this thing. (In early times was common to give exotic fruits as St. Nicholas gifts because they were rare.)
This tradition is probably based on legend of St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas was Bishop of Myra in 4th century and later became one of the most venerated saints in the whole Christianity. Interesting fact about him is that he was never oficially declared a saint, he just became venerated by the broad masses of Christians. When he was alive, he was very popular and he had a reputation as a generous man who helped poor people.
(via yourhappyplaceblog.com)
xoxo
CzechPrep
