There is this santa before Santa Claus, who goes by the name of Santa Nicholas / Moș Nicolae in Romanian. We celebrate it in Romania on 6th of December.
I’ve grown up with two santas and with the tradition of preparing and waiting for their arrivals. But who is Santa Nicholas and how is he different from Santa Claus?
Santa Nicholas was a Greek Christian bishop known for his miracles and generosity. He would secretly leave gifts in people’s shoes. He is considered the patron saint of children and apparently he is also popular in Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Czech Republic and Serbia.
I’ve never got to see his face. Nobody has. At midnight he appears sneakily on the balcony/by the window, stuffs the gifts in children’s shoes and disappears in the blink of an eye.
What does the tradition of preparing for Santa Nicholas entail?
I remember my parents recurrently telling me with one week in advance to polish my shoes for Santa Nicholas. Back then I would polish my shoes several days before, then I grew up and realized nothing would change the course of actions if I had them ready two days or two hours before midnight.
On the evening of 5th of December I would leave the shoes on the windowsill and hope the next day to wake up with presents in my shoes. That of course if I had behaved well. If not, I would get a wooden stick (to be spanked for having been naughty) and an onion. Don’t ask me why the onion, but I assume as a kid I wouldn’t like to receive an onion instead of a goody.
This year, after quite some time, Santa Nicholas changed a bit his itinerary and for the first time made a stop in Portugal. I and Edgar wisely polished our shoes, decorated our Christmas tree and in return, we got two little presents to keep us warm for the winter and a toy for Asta to keep him entertained. Fortunately, no onion was left behind :).
