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Santa Claus doesn’t come to Germany.
Children here get their presents from the angel-like Christkind rather than the jolly man in red.
Still, there is a man with a long white beard and a sack of presents walking from house to house in Germany. He visits on Dec. 6, St. Nick’s Day, bringing candy and fruit to well-behaved children and a tree branch to those who need some admonishment.
His name is Nikolaus, and he is Santa Claus’ role model. Based on a Christian saint, the Nikolaus has retained more of a church aura than the commercialized Santa.
Nikolaus is known to be a friend of all children. The night before Dec. 6, kids across Germany put a boot outside their front door so that the Nikolaus can fill it. The next morning, they awake to find things such as tangerines, walnuts, chocolate and maybe small gifts in their shoes.
The German Federal Administration Office credits his origins to two bishops who lived in what is now Turkey during the fourth and sixth centuries: Bishop Nikolaus of Myra and Abbot Nikolaus of Sion, who was also bishop of Pinora. After the sixth century, legends combined these two church men into one fictitious, charitable character who developed into the Nikolaus that is known in many European countries today.
Some legends also mention a helper of St. Nikolaus, known as Knecht Ruprecht or Krampus. He is usually described as a dark, sinister man who has gained a reputation for taking bad children away from their homes. Thus, both Nikolaus and Knecht Ruprecht are sometimes being used to scare children into behaving. Sayings such as “The Nikolaus sees everything” or “Knecht Ruprecht will put you in his sack and take you away” are still common in some German families.
The Nikolaus’ religious roots are still obvious in the German communities he visits.
The Haus der Jugend (Youth Center) in Bitburg organizes Nikolaus visits to about 100 families on St. Nick’s Day every year. Dressed in liturgical vestment and a bishop’s hat, carrying a bishop’s crook, and not necessarily wearing red, this Nikolaus looks much more like a man of the church than Santa Claus.
The youth center focuses on the friendly side of the saint, said Torsten Hauer, who organizes the Nikolaus event. When one of the center’s 12 Nikolaus volunteers visits a family, he brings presents and tells stories, paired with maybe some gentle admonishment to “be tidier” or “practice the piano more,” he said. “We want to say Nikolaus is a good man.”
In communities that don’t have a Nikolaus home-visit program, relatives often fill the part. Otherwise, a visit to one of the area Christmas markets on St. Nick’s Day could turn into an encounter with the bearded gift giver.
Some children are afraid when they meet the Nikolaus for the first time, but most show respectful astonishment, Mr. Hauer said. For him, it is a tradition worth continuing, if only for one simple fact:
“It is just great to see the children’s eyes light up.”
