Czech Christmas: St. Nicholas Day

Written by Brittany

This past Friday, December 5, was St. Nicholas Day here in the Czech Republic.

As my colleagues explained it to me, there are three "people" who are the main part of the day:
1. The Devil: his main job is to scare the children, making them think they've been naughty and that they will be taken away. He can also give lumps of coal (or potatoes) to the "bad" children.
2. The Angel: her main job is to reassure the children that the devil is lying, and that the children were good & they will be safe. She also asks the children to sing a song for St. Nicholas to help change his mind about the children being naughty.
3. St. Nicholas: once he has been swayed by the singing, he gives the children candy or presents and reminds them that they will come again next year. (My colleagues also wanted to be very clear that St. Nicholas is not Santa.)

St. Nicholas Day chocolates you can get at the grocery store

 You can see these three walking around together on December 5th each year, though where we were we only saw a couple little kids dressed like devils, and all the workers at our grocery store had devil horn headbands on.

I was also told that parents can hire the devil, angel, & St. Nicholas to stop by their house (as the man in the video below describes). That way their children definitely have the St. Nicholas experience.

This link is to a great video where a Czech man describes the holiday. There is also some pretty funny animation to go with it:
http://hello-unknown.com/special-editions/christmas/josefs-terror/

We'll try to keep updating with other Czech cultural traditions we learn this holiday season!