Comments | yeti_of_doom: Happy Holidays!

yeti_of_doom

Happy Holidays!

Dec 04, 2004 16:24

So tomorrow is St. Nicholas's Day Eve. Sinter Klaas (as the nederlandse say) shall be coming to the certain Eastern European and their descendants (Dutch, German, Belgians, Swiss, more?) households, and delivering presents to all the good children, and Black Peter shall be leaving other non-cheerful things for the bad children. I wish all of you ( Read more... )

Comments 8

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yeti_of_doom December 5 2004, 01:42:38 UTC

So what is that like.. Swedish Christmas?
Sorry for your loses, but glad you had a good year besides it!

alpha_nemesis December 5 2004, 21:40:22 UTC

In Austria "Krampus" and "Nikolaus" come around on the 5. and 6. of december. The "Krampus" is a devil like figure. Big guy, black fur all over, red horse feet (with the obligatory hooves) and a long (20cm maybe?) red tongue that hangs out of his mouth. He most certainly has some kind of horns on his head too but the style of those horns varies from picture to picture. He's carrying a heavy chain and brings twigs and coal to the bad kids. He's also known for giving bad kids a good beating. (You can try a google picture search for Krampus and you'll get the general idea ( ... )

alpha_nemesis December 5 2004, 21:47:23 UTC

This site http://stnicholas.kids.us/Brix?pageID=100 says the Krampus is actually chained himself, to show that he's under control. Never saw it like that. Well, he's still cooler than Nikolaus.

yeti_of_doom December 5 2004, 22:08:27 UTC

This is similiar to the Dutch Holiday then, yes? Except for the whole Krampus/black Peter thing.

Does St. Nicholas come from Spain in Austria? I've never understood why he comes from Spain, and none of my relatives could ever tell me. Maybe you know since you are over there? And well, we are America living.

Also, thank for such an excellent page! And story about Austrian tradition!

Well, I'm not sure what to say in German but, Frohe Feiertage! I guess :D

yeti_of_doom December 5 2004, 22:09:33 UTC

Oh, I'm actually wondering now. Do the Germans up north do it the same way? And also do you do the poetry with gifts?

alpha_nemesis December 7 2004, 18:14:37 UTC

Oh man, I hated to say that little verse. No fan of the poetry part of the whole deal but it got me sweets... what was I to do? So yes, we do that.

The Germans... hard to say what they really do. It's such a big country and depending on the region the rituals vary.

In most cases it's safe to say that the south of Germany (Bavaria/Bayern) is the region most similar to Austria. That might be the reason why many Austrians feel so connected to the Bavarians. (I also once heard about a study that found out that women in the north of Germany had the smallest chests and the further south you go the more well endowed women you will find. That might have something to do with it as well.) Some Bavarians celebrate St. Nicholas day completey the same as we do (in Upper Bavaria) but the Krampus is mostly swapped for either Knecht Ruprecht, Klaubauf (just another name for the Krampus) or Pelzmaertel (who is St. Nicholas and Krampus in one but looks like Father Christmas... doesn't make much sense to me neither ( ... )

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