People celebrate Saint Nicholas in various ways.  I've been told that it's generally celebrated in the German-American cities of Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and St Louis.  But everyone I talk to does it in a different way on a different day.

 

In my family (in Milwaukee) we always lined our shoes up inside the front door before we went to bed on Dec 5th.  When we woke up on the 6th we'd fine small presents like candy, stuffed animals, and small toys in our shoes.  One of the necessary gifts though are chocolate coins.  Never understood why, but they're always there.

 

 

 

What about you? 

People celebrate Saint Nicholas in various ways. I've been told that it's generally celebrated in the German-American cities of Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and St Louis. But everyone I talk to does it in a different way on a different day.

 

In my family (in Milwaukee) we always lined our shoes up inside the front door before we went to bed on Dec 5th. When we woke up on the 6th we'd fine small presents like candy, stuffed animals, and small toys in our shoes. One of the necessary gifts though are chocolate coins. Never understood why, but they're always there.

 

What about you?

 

I've honestly never even heard of it.

December 6th is the actual feast day. It was a candy, pencils, pack of baseball cards kind of holiday.

I don't think Cleveland has a particularly large German influence.

There's a Saint Nicholas Day?  Isn't that Christmas or something!??!

December 6th is the actual feast day. It was a candy, pencils, pack of baseball cards kind of holiday.

 

You Cincinnati Germans are weird! I'm glad my ancestry is just plain old English and Welsh and that no one in my family takes holidays too seriously. There's too many stupid holidays in America to keep up with as it is.

 

 

There's a Saint Nicholas Day? Isn't that Christmas or something!??!

 

It used to be a separate holiday, and still is in some places.  The gold coins come from the original St. Nicholas, a Catholic Bishop, who gave small bags of gold coins to orphans.  In America, St. Nicholas merged into Santa Claus (from the Dutch Sinterklaas) and made his appearance on Christmas, instead of St. Nicholas day.  In the Netherlands, where St. Nicholas Day is still a big deal, St. Nick makes an appearance in towns throughout the country in a parade much like the winter parades that kick off the Christmas holiday in America.  He rides a white steed and is dressed as a Catholic Bishop (which, of course, he is).  He's quite regal, not a jolly elf.  Also, he comes on a steamboat from Spain, not the North Pole.

I don't think Cleveland has a particularly large German influence.

 

Well, not on the East Side :-P

 

Ohio City (and the rest of Brooklyn Township) were very German at one time.  I believe there was even an effort to authorize the public schools on the West Side to offer instruction in German.  There are still remnants, such as the German Central Farm in Parma, the Sachsenheim on Denison, and Oktoberfest, but it's true that the Germans in Cleveland largely assimilated and were overshadowed by Eastern European immigrants.

We celebrated St Nicolas on the 5th, but didn't get our gifts until the 6th.  The saint arrived from Spain in a boat, and is dressed as a bishop....wears a red cape, a high mitre and carries a crosier.  My dad was St Nicholas at the Lane Ave Shopping Center in the 70s.  The gifts were small and cute, like chocolate, books, or something handmade. Larger gifts were given at Christmas.  Somewhere my sister must still have his outfit in storage!  Unfortunately, I don't think I have any photos. 

 

I celebrate Christmas with friends, but still decorate the house a bit.  We also do not exchange gifts, and have not for many years.  None of us wants any more useless junk, and we don't buy each other birthday gifts either. Just spending time together is a treat enough.  I have no family here in San Francisco and have only been back to Columbus once in the last 25 years during the holidays.  That was a mistake and I won't repeat it.  It was cold, in more ways than just the weather.  I understood why I put nearly 3,000 miles between myself and my family. Extra cozy time......

Oh, and we have a Sinterklaas song too. I almost forgot!

^ Just don't try introducing Zwarte Pieten to the States.

I didn't know about this "tradition" but it sounds similar to Three Kings day.

I've never heard of this holiday either, very interesting!

 

My family's Christmas celebrations seem to have been formed by Coca-Cola/pop-culture.  If we ever had any non-standard or ethnic traditions, they've been lost over the years.

^ Just don't try introducing Zwarte Pieten to the States.

Somehow, I just don't think that would fly here....my friends in Ljouwert wrote me to say that "the Saint is on his way". 

 

In the meanwhile, I'm concerned with Thanksgiving and our suddenly ballooning dinner party.  Was six, then four, now is up to eight.  The more the merrier, I guess!

From what I've read, Zwarte Pieten are on the way out even in the Netherlands. 

Yep, we celebrated it in St. Louis.  We put our shoes out the night before, and got a very small gift in them.  We also did it at school (because I went to a Catholic school).  They'd make us put one shoe out in the hallway for like an hour, and some of the teachers went around and filled them with candy.

My family celebrates but we never did the shoe thing, we each hung stockings and it got filled with candy and an xmas ornament.  Two years ago, my dad woke up early and put stockings at the back doors of my siblings and I (he had to make 5 stops before we all woke up) which was a pretty cool thing for him to do.

We always put a shoe out, and got a little gift in it on Dec 6.  We still do it with our kids.

 

Saint Nicholas is where the name Santa Clause comes from.  Santa=Saint, and Clause=Niklaus.  I don't know if that has been said yet in this thread.

I remember putting out our stocking the night before and getting an orange, assorted in shell nuts (walnuts, almonds, those impossible to crack Brazil nuts, etc...) and a small toy.  We'd even read the story of St. Nicholas together as a family when we were younger.  Come to think of it, with the new baby, XUMelanie and I should start up doing these traditions for our little one.

I remember putting out our stocking the night before and getting an orange, assorted in shell nuts (walnuts, almonds, those impossible to crack Brazil nuts, etc...) and a small toy.  We'd even read the story of St. Nicholas together as a family when we were younger.  Come to think of it, with the new baby, XUMelanie and I should start up doing these traditions for our little one.

 

Yes you should!  If you speak a 2nd language, teach the child now.

 

Holiday traditions like these bring back so many great memories for me. 

We put our shoes out -- with our wish lists for Santa Claus.  St. Nick would leave small gifts (chocolate coins were the rule, but pencils or  a pack of baseball cards sometimes) and take our wish lists to Santa, who would bring the big gifts on Christmas Eve.