St. Nicholas Day

Growing up, Santa Claus was surely one of the most curious characters of the US holiday brigade, certainly more bizarre than the seemingly benevolent Leprechauns of St. Patty’s Day but perhaps just short of the grossly uncanny Easter Bunny. After all, how on earth did the idea of a portly, heavily-bearded old man flying around the globe to deliver presents to well-behaved children arise from the Christianity of antiquity?

Interestingly enough, Santa Claus’ character was inspired by a 4th-century Greek saint named St. Nicholas, who had a reputation for secretive gift-giving, such as putting coins in the shoes of people who left them out for him, awaiting his generosity. St. Nicholas was the historical figure who provided the basis for the Dutch holiday figure Sinterklaas, who in turn provided the basis for the North American figure of Santa Claus. How does this have anything to do with Prague or the Czech Republic, you might ask?

Well, every year on the evening of December the 5th, the Prague streets are flooded with costumed trios consisting of St. Nicholas, the Devil, and the Angel, all looking to find out if kids have been naughty or nice, and treat them accordingly. That is, sweets and goodies for well-behaved kids and coal or potatoes for naughty ones. This tradition is popular throughout much of Central Europe, and it clearly doesn’t take much of an imagination to see the link between it and the North American variant.

Old Town Square was home to the premiere Christmas market to view the evening’s happenings, so I grabbed my camera and made a little video to share this undeniably cute and reminiscent evening.

Enjoy!