December 6 is St. Nicholas Day and is celebrated in Europe but not the US. It's not a public holiday, but it is celebrated in the schools and kindergartens. Alex's kindergarten had a party, and St. Nikolaus (German spelling) visited and passed out socks full of candy, nuts and fruits. On Nikolausabend (the eve of St. Nikolaus Day), Philip's school had a Laternenumzug (lantern parade), and then each class sang songs or read a poem. Being Ukrainian, we always celebrated St. Nick's day, but since we followed the Julian calendar, we received gifts on December 19.
The best thing about this holiday in Erlangen, which is near the Fränkische Schweiz (Franconian Switzerland), is riding the Nikolauszug, a steam engine train that travels through the Fränkische Schweiz and St. Nick comes on board to pass out bags of treats to the kids. We rode the Nikolauszug twice before while living in Erlangen, so I was very excited when I found out that I could still get tickets. And since my kids still believe in Santa Claus/St. Nicholas (to them, he's the same person), they were excited about meeting him again. He looked a little younger and thinner than they expected--I told them he diets in the summer and fattens up before Christmas--but they knew it was him when he spoke to them in both German and English, because Santa speaks all language. Although, Santa almost blew it when he asked Philip where he was from. I told Phil that Santa has a lot on his mind and just temporarily forgot that we're from Chicago. As for the St. Nick that visited Al's kindergarten, Alex decided that he must have been Santa's brother.
No comments:
Post a Comment