In honour of our German colleagues (one of whom is leaving us today, farewell sweet Max!), today we are celebrating St Nicholas Day.
We have only just learned about this since Michaela wished us a ‘Happy St Nicholas’ day, and we replied ‘wuuttt?’.
Instead of visiting children on the 24th December (Christmas Eve as is tradition in the UK, USA etc) he pops over a little earlier in Europe, to check whether the kids have been naughty or nice.
Children leave their empty shoes out overnight on December 5th, and if they had been good, they will be filled with sweets, oranges and chocolates in the morning. Like a German version of the stocking, or der Kniestrumpf as I will now be calling it.
The following day there’s traditionally parades through different towns and cities in Germany, where Saint Nicholas is joined by his mean friend Knecht Ruprecht (sometimes known as Krampus in Austria and some parts of Germany.)
The pair will then read out the names of local children, if they’ve been good, they get more swag from ole Saint Nick, but if they’ve been a little tinkers, you get a little punishment from his make Knecht Ruprecht. As you can see, looking at his face should be punishment enough.
