MY TUCSON
St. Nicholas Day a lovely prelude to Christmas
I painted snowflakes, but never saw any till I moved to Boston for law school.
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Marrying a native German and adopting German customs for my family didn't feel all that comfortable, having been raised on the other side of the world in Hawaii by Japanese-American parents who were Jodo Shu Buddhists.
As Buddhists in Hawaii, we celebrated Christmas oddly enough, but I never really knew much about Jesus Christ or Bethlehem.
We decorated Christmas trees with ornaments, and we even put tinsel on them.
Of course, we kids exchanged Christmas cards, and as a good artist, I was usually one of those chosen to sketch and paint the school classroom windows and glass doors for the winter.
Funnily enough, we painted snowmen. But we never knew how to make them, as we didn't have snow, except way up on the mountains, miles away.
I painted snowflakes, but never saw any till I moved to Boston for law school. I painted Santas and reindeer (never saw any of those animals either in Hawaii except in books) and lots of scenes of the Bethlehem manger.
Religious scenes weren't "politically incorrect" in those days.
Years later, I married a German native whose grandfather has been a Lutheran minister, and I began to learn about St. Nicholas and the importance of Dec. 6, St. Nicholas Day, which is very different from Christmas.
My husband tells me they had live candles on their Christmas tree, their tannenbaum.
They only opened gifts on Christmas Eve (never Christmas morning) and celebrated St. Nicholas Day long before then.
He and his mother and sisters baked lots of stollen and other German treats in preparation for the holidays.
St. Nicholas was a bishop in Myra, Turkey, in the third century. According to one source, medieval nuns used the night of Dec. 6 to anonymously leave baskets of food at the doorsteps of those who needed it.
Over time, St. Nicholas became associated with this gift-giving and later became the patron saint of Christmas in the New World.
In Germany, St. Nicholas allegedly arrives Dec. 6 with his servant Ruprecht to check out whether children have been good or bad, in preparation for the Christmas season.
The rewards for having been good were small gifts such as cookies, nuts and the like. Similarly as in the U.S., children put out shoes, boots or something similar (stockings) as containers for the expected gifts.
Coal was left if the children weren't good, as humorously portrayed in modern Charlie Brown cartoons.
The German Studies Department at the University of Arizona celebrates St. Nicholas Day as a cultural event by hosting a party on or about Dec. 6 for their students, staff and faculty, complete with German lebkuchen (ginger cookies), advent calendars and punch.
They also sing German Christmas carols, which many of us know, such as "Silent Night (Stille Nacht)", "Oh Christmas Tree (O Tannenbaum)", etc.
My husband, a distinguished professor in that department, usually leads the singing.
It's a wonderful way to maintain German traditions, share them with others in the community unfamiliar with these customs, and to have a great celebration.
Happy St. Nicholas Day on Dec. 6.
And Frohe Weihnachten (Happy Christmas) later this month.
Carolyn Classen, originally from Hawaii, was a legislative aide to U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye and if a former practicing attorney who now is a community volunteer and Small Claims Court hearing officer. E-mail: carolynclassen@yahoo.com
Carolyn, lovely article - brought back many memories of my experiences with St. Nicolas Day. I think it's great how your childhood celebrations intertwined with the traditional snowmen, Santas, and manger scenes!
Happy St. Nicholas Day and Merry Christmas!
Julieta