Thanksgiving ended not even a week ago…so it’s appropriate for me to start talking about Christmas right?! Don’t worry, I won’t subject you to that (yet).
Every year around this time when people come to my house, a rather peculiar picture catches their eye, right there on the mantle between a picture of my grandparents and a faux-gingerbread house. It is a picture of 4 year old me, crying in the hands of someone who looks like a Dumbledore-Gandalf-Santa hybrid, standing next to a devil holding a sack.
This my friends, is called St. Nicholas Day, or better Mikuláš (St. Nick) and it’s celebrated on December 6th in multiple countries, but I’m going to recall the traumatic holiday from a Czech perspective.
Now before I go on to tell you that if you were ‘naughty’ the devil takes you into his sack into the far corners of hell, and before you automatically think of this as a sadistic and traumatizing holiday for little kids (which it is mind you) let me give you a brief run down about the devil, from now on I’ll refer to him as Cert, in Czech folklore.
The Cert does not have the same connotation in most of Europe as it does in the United States. In Czech folklore, the devil is usually a conniving bad guy, or sometimes even just comic relief, which is why this holiday isn’t controversial in Europe.
Anyway, what happens is very simple. On this night, Cert, Mikulas, and an angel walk around knocking on doors where they know little children are (usually it’s other family members who do this to their family but there are a lot of volunteers as well). The door is opened by the little child and usually horror ensues and the child runs off crying and hiding behind their mommy…. okay so that was just me, but I’m sure it happens a lot!
It begins with Mikulas announcing the child’s name, stating things such as “I see you have lied to your mom once”, or “I hear you are doing well in school.” Mikulas also has a long, golden staff that the child must hold on to (my oh my that sounds bad) and the child must say a little nursery rhyme. If Mikulas deems the child as a ‘good boy,’ he is presented with gifts and candy. If not, the devil can either give the child coal, or simply put him in his sack and take the child to hell.
This may sound traumatizing and horrible, and sometimes for really little children it is, but the older ones really enjoy having these three guys come to their home.
This holiday is a blast. I’ve had the luck of being able to be the devil once, and made a child cry. It was very rewarding. :)
If you’re ever in Europe during St. Nicholas Day, keep your eyes peeled for the most random trio since Aragorn, Legolas and Gimili–St. Nick, a devil, and an angel.
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