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But there are variations on this holiday since it is a holiday that is practiced among so many different cultures. The holiday is celebrated anywhere between the end of November to the middle of December, something I learned when a Polish friend reminisced about the Polish version occurring on December 6 whereas the German holiday is the following day. St. Nicholas is popularly depicted as a tall, slender man with a white beard and red coat who walks door to door to patronize children, but cultures with strong ties to Christian faiths associate St. Nicholas as a Saint. In these depictions, he wears either a red or white robe, carries a staff, and rides a donkey or mule. I recall during on celebration in southern Germany seeing St. Nicholas depicted in this same manner, much to the disdain of the donkey he rode who had to deal with about a hundred screaming children who were excited to see St. Nicholas in the flesh.
While the holiday is not regularly celebrated in the United States, it remains a popular holiday in Europe and the Middle East, and it remains a cherished holiday memory from my childhood. However it is that you celebrate the holiday season, many you have a safe and happy holiday season!
43 comments:
My favorite thing about differing Christmas and St. Nick cultural perceptions is how these are akin to the social and cultural expectations of the countries they originate from or captivate today. Seeing the differentiation between cultural conceptions of St. Nick is a really cool glimpse into the culture's value and belief system.
Im glad that our Santa's at the mall don't have a donkey with them. That could get really stinky.
And then it became westernized and commercialized and took what seems to be a sweet holiday and turned it into a merchandizing mega monster
Nikki, St. Nicholas Day in Germany is not Christmas.
I find it interesting to see the difference between the two holidays and the two figures. Each holiday and accompanying figure represents the values of the culture it originates from. Both figures also have similarities which represents aspects of culture that the regions share.
Courteney Hedicke, Anth 101
All around the world is has a different name but we all represent his as a caring giver for the children who were good that year. No matter how old we are we still celebrate this day. Depending where you live they celebrate the day differently or it may take several days.
briana banuelos
anthro 102 1001
The different depictions of Santa or St. Nic in various cultrues is interesting. Most people in North America know him as the jolly big man who climbs down the fireplace. It would be fun to see a skinny Santa walk door to door, that would be a lot of exercise!
Zachary Forrester
anthro 101 3001 summer
Very interesting. I prefer to stick with Santa. I like the idea of flying reindeer.
I do believe that St. Nicholas was a real person who cared for the well being of children. Santa Claus however might have been a linguistic translation error. But how early did Santa clause show up in modern folklore?
I'm not completely sure when Santa Clause shows up in the cultural literature. You should look that up. :)
Although I never much cared for Christmas a child, I love seeing the joy it brings to other people. I wonder how the depiction of St. Nic changed from a slender man in a white robe who rides a donkey to a rather chubby man in a red coat with reindeer. Also, the changing of putting presents in shoes to putting them in stockings is also different, maybe some children's shoes smelled too bad so the tradition had to change.
Could it be possible that trade routes might have affected the dates in which the celebration of St. Nicholas took place? It seems like a pragmatic approach. Market merchants with Chritmas good should be at least given a day to make the journey across the border.
my picture of Santa Claus is much different than yours.Im use to a big old fat white guy with a whitish brown beard and a red suit and he has 12 reindeer leading his sleigh full of presents for children. Its also interesting that you all celebrate it on a totally different day than us. Almost 2 weeks earlier than us. Ive also never known to leave my shoes outside. we usually get a stocking over the fire and its filled with different things.
Leaving your shoes out to be filled with candy sounds similar to hanging up a stocking for the same purpose. Maybe the two traditions are related.
Santa Clause seems to be an all time favorite. No matter where you go or how old you are people still love Santa Clause.
In my opinion this is the only holiday that actually brings everyone together regardless of race, sex, and beliefs.
Shila Williams
I didn't realize that this holiday had different dates depending on the culture you are in.
The similarity I like the most is the riding of the donkey. The faith based St. Nick rides a donkey, just like Mary rode a donkey while she was pregnant with baby Jesus. I also like how the kids leave out their shoes while we leave out stockings. The St. Nicks wear a red coat, but one is slender while the other version has a large round belly.
Logan Taylor
It's funny how these to very different cultures have so much in common with these "holidays". In the article above I read that the author grew up in Germany as a child & the authors friend is Polish. This goes to show that celebrating holidays are pointless because they only thing everybody cares about is receiving a gift.
-Monique McAllister
Akwila Cooks
Even though cultures are different in many ways a lot of holidays are similar and are around the same time. Christmas is a popular holiday but it has never been one of my favorites. I never really believed in the term "Santa Claus" but I think its cool for the little kids.
Kayla Johnson
I'm so glad I read this because I faintly remember this tradition of leaving yours shoes on the porch and receiving cool trinkets the next morning. I'll be sure to remind my mom of this. everyone has different names and customs for the holidays , wish you do it all in one right?
Why isn't it a popular holiday in the USA? Is there any particular reason or is it just something that has never been popularized?
I'm not sure. It could be in part because it's not a formal religious holiday and there was not enough push within the German community to make this an important American holiday. But these are personal opinions. You are welcome to look into it, though. :)
Amber Barnes
I really like how St.Nick was actually celebrated in his own holiday. I remember that someone mentioned that Santa Claus was also used in advertisement in Coca Cola ads bring a more jolly and red suited man. I do not know if it is true that his popularity increased sales and continued to be used as a major holiday sale mascot but I think it is cool.
Betsy made an interesting connection between stockings by the fireplace and Boots outside. Being a child if three distinct cultures (German, E.Indian , and American) I grew up with the best of both holiday. On Saint Nicholas day (we celebrated ours at night ) my brother and I would hide behind the front door and sing the "Saint Niklaus" song.
Niklaus komm in unser Haus,
Pack die großen Taschen aus.
Lustig, lustig, trallerallala!
Heut ist Niklaus abend da,
Heut ist Niklaus abend da.
As we sang one of our relatives dressed in all red would fling open the front door and though in ginger bread men, candy , fruits and nuts. After collecting our goodies we went outside to look in our boots for more goodies. Much to my bothers dismay, one year received rocks in his boots for fighting at school.
B.Nicole Clements
Citation:
https://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=3275
I didn't know how to spell the German lyrics . This link will direct where I found them and a English translations
St. Nicholas played a big role within my family. My grandma never approved of us referring to Santa Clause because, she believed it was just a made up character name and she wanted us to know the true meaning behind Christmas not just expecting presents.
apreshana page
I found this blog really interesting because it brought back so many memories. I remember in preschool our teacher would have us take a shoe off and place it in the hallway by our lockers and she would say when we came back for our shoe we would have something nice and we always did and it came from Saint Nick. But in my household at home my mother did not believe in saint nick and she always let us know that this holiday is not about the gifts . - Mykia Chaney
I've always heard about St. Nicholas when I was younger and it kind of confused me at the time, because I didn't know if I waiting on Santa or St. Nicholas. I really enjoyed reading the article though, because it was nice to know about other ways things are celebrated and how they make people feel. - Alexis Buford
I like this article a lot its two different traditions and how I always heard st. nickolas when I was younger but I never knew what it really meant because I mostly just cared about the gifts and food when I was younger and then my brothers bday in December . but I like to see how its two different customs for others and how they choose to do their holiday .
I enjoyed this blog post because it reminded me of what Christmas was originally supposed to represent before it became more of a business holiday. I remember back in the day when I used to believe in Santa clause and me and my brothers would stay up late at night trying to catch a glimpse of him delivering presents.
It's great to see how customs adjust to the type of society we live in.
Interesting read, I did not realize how the other countries celebrated Christmas or St. Nicholas. I am not a fan of the Christmas holiday myself but admire how different cultures celebrate this holiday.
I find this article very interesting. It's interesting to see the difference and similar things between St. Nicholas Day and Christmas day. We may belief on different religions but somehow all the religions are tie together or have some familiarities.
-Aide Gonzalez
I find this passage real interesting. It seem like we are celebrating the same thing but we have belief on the holiday because of our religion. I did not know that St.Nicholas Day Santa rode an donkey but Christmas he rode an rein deer
I find it interesting to see the difference between the two holidays. its good to learn the difference and similarities between Christmas Day and St.Nicholas Day. My family celebrates Christmas and i think i will stick to that.
-Micah Seals
St. Nicholas was a name I heard growing up, but was not one that I was strongly familiarized with. It is neat to see the similarities and differences between the two traditions. Santa is the name that I grew up knowing. He was a jolly, plump man with rosy cheeks and a full white beard. What I always found interesting, especially as I got into the age of disbelief, was that he never actually took away gifts. So my perception of him was always positive, and yet he is used as a threat or some form of discipline for children.
Kahla Perry
I grew up hearing the name st nick but never really knew the origin of santa clause.st nicholas is skinny and tall while santa is portrayed as fat.
-Jasmine Busby
When I hear St. Nicholas name I thought of someone historic but not in the resemblance of Santa Clause. I am surprised but can see why they have a St. Nicholas (Clause) is skinny and is shown for protection and give switches to those who are bad and good gift to the good girls. Santa Clause was giving gifts to the good children or used to get the bad kids to act or be good to get gifts. I never knew other cultural did their "Christmas" November and December. Very interesting.
- Crystal Riley
All of this time I thought Santa Clause and Saint Nick were the same people. I wonder how did these two men came about and were "thought" of around the same time? i never knew people in Germany celebrated christmas
- Lavonza Marshall
sadly I thought St. nick was another reindeer. I only heard of that name in one of those Christmas rudolph songs. But he does resemble a smaller younger version of Santa Clause. Interesting how we learn so much similar but different information growing up in different countries. Plus im sure my mom wouldn't want me looking up to someone that whoops kids no offense.
-Christopher McFadden
I lived in Germany for 3 years and never knew or experienced the celebration of St. Nick or the holiday. I always believed the myth of St. Nick was the origin story of Santa Clause. I thought he was a normal guy who dressed up and gifted good children with presents on Christmas.
I love how St. Nicholas is so different from Santa Clause. When Santa wants leave snacks in treats in our socks, St. Nicholas put it in there shoes. Another thing is that we all know that Santa is on the bigger side, but St. Nickolas looks a little more in shape then Santa Clause. But to me I feel like there the same people and put joy in a lot of people heart.
-Jaden Clark
It's crazy how in different cultures have similarities to American cultures. Like I never knew there was a such thing called St. Nicholas Day instead of Christmas. Then in Germany it was celebrated by putting your shoe out that evening and getting gifts the next day. Not on the 7th instead of the 25th of December. I wonder if the bigger shoe you have will get you more gifts. Or did you get small or not a lot of gifts since a child's shoe is very small. I believe though that many variations of the Santa clause are very similar. Even if they are different in some ways.
It was interesting to learn more about the legend of st. Nicholas. I was not aware that you left your shoes out and found goodies in them the next morning.
Elaine christopher
Mauriah Taylor
My favorite season is Fall/Winter and I love Christmas. So to read about how different cultures have a different way of celebrating the holiday is cool. I enjoyed how it has some similarities but it’s also still different from one another depending on your culture. I love that children still get to celebrate and be filled with joy even if it’s a different name, different day, different meanings behind it. It is still worth all the smiles to me.
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