Posted on 12/06/2023 10:56:05 AM PST by DallasBiff
Every year, on Dec. 6, children all over Milwaukee wake up to find their stockings filled with goodies from St. Nicholas. The holiday is perfect timing for impatient kids excited for Santa, and, although it's not celebrated everywhere, St. Nicholas Day is especially popular in Wisconsin.
When is St. Nicholas Day? And who is St. Nicholas?
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, St. Nicholas Day is the feast day of St. Nicholas, a 4th-century bishop who is also the patron saint of Russia, Greece and children. His feast day is Dec. 6.
Interesting facts about St. Nicholas
St. Nicholas was noted for his generosity, and his legend was kept alive in Holland, where he was referred to as Sinterklaas, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. He was thought to bring gifts to good children and lumps of coal to bad children
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“why do so many in Wisconsin celebrate the holiday?”
cuz it’s so freakin’ cold there is nothing else to do?
I wished they’d gone into detail and talked about the real St. Nicholas being persecuted for being a Christian leader, even put in prison. He was released only after Constantine made Christianity legal. According to legend he was jailed again for, again according to legend, hitting a dude named Arius for saying that Jesus isn’t divine (Nicholas was Trinitarian).
It was the 1961 Christmas Paegant at Chippendale Elementary School in Roseville, Michigan. I was in First Grade and played Saint Nicholas himself.
My line was, “I’m Saint Nicholas. I visit the children of Holland on December 6th.”
I was magnificent.
Today....................
A continuing tradition in our family, hopefully to be passed on to future generations. As kids we’d look for the largest socks we could find (I’d generally use gym socks) to hang up outside our room on the evening of the 5th.
The nice thing about St. Nicholas Day is that it was never commercialized as was Christmas itself - it was a quiet combination of a day with religious implications as well as material treats to wake up to.
That lump of coal can keep you warm.
BRAVO!!!
It was the high point of my nascent, burgeoning acting career. Like so many child actors, it all went downhill from there.
Now, 60+ years later, I’ve been reduced to working as an electrical engineer who keeps trains from running into each other.
Lo, how the mighty have fallen...
An engineer! Woe is you, one with so much creativity! It’s obvious you could also have been the next Hemingway!
Well, at least you can say “I played Santa once.”
Not too shabby.
p
I remember my sister and I leaving our sneakers at the top of the stairs! No one else I knew had ever heard of this tradition. Today I texted my sister, and last living maternal aunt, Happy St Nicholas Day!
Different world, for sure.
I like getting lots of coal for Christmas.
For cooking a brisket.
“I was magnificent.”
Sounded like it came from Trumps mouth. LOL.
As kids we left a shoe outside the bedroom door and got presents on December 6 from St. Nick. At least when we lived in St. Paul. Not so much in Kansas City.
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