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St. Nick: He is Shorter Than Santa Claus
So LJ. Today is St. Nicholas Day, and I must brag because I am in one of the few parts of the world, and even fewer parts of the US, which celebrates this confusing younger sibling of Christmas. It wasn't until I became a part of the internets that I came to realize that not everyone celebrates this -- and I think there would definitely be people who have lived their whole lives here (this being around Milwaukee) who would be surprised to hear that. It's sort of like Valentine's day in its celebration -- you wake up and St. Nick has filled your stocking, or I guess shoes more traditionally, with candy and sometimes littler gifts like a movie or a little toy or something.
The thing that gets me, though, is like... back when I was really little and assumedly believed in Santa Claus, and just for kids that grow up with this tradition in general, how on Earth did I process the existence of St. Nick? I mean, Santa Claus is based on St. Nicholas (growing up I think I, like most kids here, was told that St. Nick is a helper of Santa), and with JOLLY OLD ST. NICHOLAAAAS and all, usually when people say St. Nick they mean Santa Claus, so... how did we deal with the idea that St. Nick is a different person when movies, songs, etc. say otherwise? I guess we just never really thought about the fact that unlike Santa, St. Nick doesn't get any cool movies or anything. And how on Earth did we somehow end up with St. Nick's Day and Christmas being two separate things as an extension of the mistaken belief that they are different people -- or rather, from wherever the tradition comes from (for us here it was probably from Germany), how did they end up with that madness? I assume they do both in Germany like we do. idk I don't know anyone in Germany. Wikipedia is vague.
Wikipedia offers me this nice image, though, so I can better hypothesize:
Santa Claus and St. Nick. They're not the same person. Yes, I mean... it'd be easy to mistake them, maybe... but obviously they're not, I mean... as you can tell by the chocolate representations... Santa's like... a little bit taller... so. I think. He could just be standing a little further away. Also Santa has presents and St. Nick just has... like... a staff. So. idk. I mean, even though Santa has the presents I would argue that St. Nick is less frightening.
So anyway, LJ, here's a Christmas song in honor of St. Nick.
So, LJ, anyone else celebrate this holiday?
The thing that gets me, though, is like... back when I was really little and assumedly believed in Santa Claus, and just for kids that grow up with this tradition in general, how on Earth did I process the existence of St. Nick? I mean, Santa Claus is based on St. Nicholas (growing up I think I, like most kids here, was told that St. Nick is a helper of Santa), and with JOLLY OLD ST. NICHOLAAAAS and all, usually when people say St. Nick they mean Santa Claus, so... how did we deal with the idea that St. Nick is a different person when movies, songs, etc. say otherwise? I guess we just never really thought about the fact that unlike Santa, St. Nick doesn't get any cool movies or anything. And how on Earth did we somehow end up with St. Nick's Day and Christmas being two separate things as an extension of the mistaken belief that they are different people -- or rather, from wherever the tradition comes from (for us here it was probably from Germany), how did they end up with that madness? I assume they do both in Germany like we do. idk I don't know anyone in Germany. Wikipedia is vague.
Wikipedia offers me this nice image, though, so I can better hypothesize:
Santa Claus and St. Nick. They're not the same person. Yes, I mean... it'd be easy to mistake them, maybe... but obviously they're not, I mean... as you can tell by the chocolate representations... Santa's like... a little bit taller... so. I think. He could just be standing a little further away. Also Santa has presents and St. Nick just has... like... a staff. So. idk. I mean, even though Santa has the presents I would argue that St. Nick is less frightening.
So anyway, LJ, here's a Christmas song in honor of St. Nick.
So, LJ, anyone else celebrate this holiday?
no subject
I can support any holiday which is an extension of Christmas, I think.
More than I am willing to support manufactured holidays which are an extension of Valentine's Day (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweetest_day).