Two degrees at 8am and a stunningly sunny day.
Last night, AJ hung up the largest homemade woolly sock he could find (in the absence of anything as sophisticated as a stocking). This morning it bulged with packages of edible goodies wrapped in strange shapes - nuts and fruit, chocolate and sweets. Mama closed her eyes at breakfast time and said a quick prayer for the protection of his little belly.
Cognizant of the possibility that one day our children will feel themselves lost between three cultures, not to mention three languages, we thought it might be a good idea to introduce them to traditions from their three 'countries-of-reference' - England, Germany and Italy.
The Christmas period in our house thus becomes a particularly busy time, when the children are lavished with presents and good things to eat not once but three times - on St Nicholas' Day (that's today), on Christmas Day, and on Epiphany. Any ideas I may have involving the systematic bribery of my children using Winnie-the-Pooh jelly sweets as the currency of corruption fly out of the window for a whole month.
It seems the Italians don't celebrate the generosity of St Nicholas, the one-time Bishop of Myra, on his saint's day, even though he is buried and has his main shrine in Bari, southern Italy. (Had the Italians been quicker to jump on the Santa Claus bandwagon we might now perhaps be sending Christmas lists to the Med. rather than to the North Pole.) Instead, after the New Year, figures of old hags start appearing on rooftops and in shop windows, and on Epiphany, La Befana (named for a childish corruption of Epiphania) brings piles of gifts.
What I want to know is what happened to St. Nick's faithful assistant, Black Pete (the original golliwog?), who, I'm told, always figured in stories of the saint. Has he fallen victim to political correctness? Or do German, Dutch and Belgian children still remember him as well?
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Thursday 6 December 2007
The Feast of St Nicholas
Two degrees at 8am and a stunningly sunny day.
Last night, AJ hung up the largest homemade woolly sock he could find (in the absence of anything as sophisticated as a stocking). This morning it bulged with packages of edible goodies wrapped in strange shapes - nuts and fruit, chocolate and sweets. Mama closed her eyes at breakfast time and said a quick prayer for the protection of his little belly.
Cognizant of the possibility that one day our children will feel themselves lost between three cultures, not to mention three languages, we thought it might be a good idea to introduce them to traditions from their three 'countries-of-reference' - England, Germany and Italy.
The Christmas period in our house thus becomes a particularly busy time, when the children are lavished with presents and good things to eat not once but three times - on St Nicholas' Day (that's today), on Christmas Day, and on Epiphany. Any ideas I may have involving the systematic bribery of my children using Winnie-the-Pooh jelly sweets as the currency of corruption fly out of the window for a whole month.
It seems the Italians don't celebrate the generosity of St Nicholas, the one-time Bishop of Myra, on his saint's day, even though he is buried and has his main shrine in Bari, southern Italy. (Had the Italians been quicker to jump on the Santa Claus bandwagon we might now perhaps be sending Christmas lists to the Med. rather than to the North Pole.) Instead, after the New Year, figures of old hags start appearing on rooftops and in shop windows, and on Epiphany, La Befana (named for a childish corruption of Epiphania) brings piles of gifts.
What I want to know is what happened to St. Nick's faithful assistant, Black Pete (the original golliwog?), who, I'm told, always figured in stories of the saint. Has he fallen victim to political correctness? Or do German, Dutch and Belgian children still remember him as well?
Last night, AJ hung up the largest homemade woolly sock he could find (in the absence of anything as sophisticated as a stocking). This morning it bulged with packages of edible goodies wrapped in strange shapes - nuts and fruit, chocolate and sweets. Mama closed her eyes at breakfast time and said a quick prayer for the protection of his little belly.
Cognizant of the possibility that one day our children will feel themselves lost between three cultures, not to mention three languages, we thought it might be a good idea to introduce them to traditions from their three 'countries-of-reference' - England, Germany and Italy.
The Christmas period in our house thus becomes a particularly busy time, when the children are lavished with presents and good things to eat not once but three times - on St Nicholas' Day (that's today), on Christmas Day, and on Epiphany. Any ideas I may have involving the systematic bribery of my children using Winnie-the-Pooh jelly sweets as the currency of corruption fly out of the window for a whole month.
It seems the Italians don't celebrate the generosity of St Nicholas, the one-time Bishop of Myra, on his saint's day, even though he is buried and has his main shrine in Bari, southern Italy. (Had the Italians been quicker to jump on the Santa Claus bandwagon we might now perhaps be sending Christmas lists to the Med. rather than to the North Pole.) Instead, after the New Year, figures of old hags start appearing on rooftops and in shop windows, and on Epiphany, La Befana (named for a childish corruption of Epiphania) brings piles of gifts.
What I want to know is what happened to St. Nick's faithful assistant, Black Pete (the original golliwog?), who, I'm told, always figured in stories of the saint. Has he fallen victim to political correctness? Or do German, Dutch and Belgian children still remember him as well?
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