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Contents
Posts
The St. Nicholas Tradition in Poland and a Way to Teach Your Children about Holiday Customs Around the World
Wednesday, December 5th, 2007Ed Gawlinski wrote to me about his family’s holiday traditions. His letter shows how you can be creative and expose your children to many different customs around the world at this time of year…
Lisa,
The Polish Custom is for Saint Nicholas (świętego Mikołaja) to bring children presents on December 6th …. The traditions that go with this parallel those in Germany, Austria, and elsewhere in Europe. I found a short poem for Saint Nicholas that you might enjoy.
“On St. Nicholas Day,
The band of children waits;
For the good cookie he brings,
But for the naughty a switch that stings.”Na świętego Mikołaja,
czeka dzieci cała zgraja,
Da posłusznym ciasteczko,
Złe przekropi różeczką.I also have a story about Saint Nicholas. We would give our kids little gifts on Saint Nichols Day, Saint Lucia Day, Three Kings Day, etc. Our son-in-law referred to this as the 45 days of Gawlinski Christmas… One year as Saint Nichols day approached our second child, Allison was not being well behaved. She didn’t get a Saint Nicholas day present that morning. By noon, we had found where St. Nick hid the present. From then on, until well after Christmas, she was the best behaved little girl you ever saw.
Edward M. Gawlinski
Giving little gifts on the different international holidays gives you an opportunity to explain to kids how people do things differently around the world. You could also give a gift for a day of Chanukah and the Indian festival of Diwali (if you don’t celebrate these holidays already).
Feel free to comment below or email me to share your holiday customs with us!
-Lisa
But Give Me Holly, Bold and Jolly!
Saturday, December 16th, 2006
Holly is used to decorate houses at Christmas time and is a symbol of the season. Like many symbols, its roots can be traced to older celebrations.
Holly was used in the time of the Romans in the Saturnalia. This was a festival devoted to Saturn, the god of the harvest. It was a time of much merry making, taking place on December 17th. The Romans decorated their homes with holly and other evergreens. It was supposed to symbolize good luck.
For Christians, Holly also symbolizes Jesus Christ’s crown of thorns. That’s because its leaves are spiky and the berries symbolize his blood.
Here’s a poem by Christina Rossetti, about holly and other plants…
But Give Me Holly, Bold and Jolly
A ROSE has thorns as well as honey,
I’ll not have her for love or money;
An iris grows so straight and fine
That she shall be no friend of mine;
Snowdrops like the snow would chill me;
Nightshade would caress and kill me;
Crocus like a spear would fright me;
Dragon’s-mouth might bark or bite me;
Convolvulus but blooms to die;
A wind-flower suggests a sigh;
Love-lies-bleeding makes me sad;
And poppy-juice would drive me mad: –
But give me holly, bold and jolly,
Honest, prickly, shining holly;
Pluck me holly leaf and berry
For the day when I make merry.
A Little Christmas Poem
Sunday, December 18th, 2005CHRISTMAS DAY
Feathery flakes are falling, falling
From the skies in softest way,
And between are voices calling,
“Soon it will be Christmas day!”-by Mary B. Dodge.
“Kriss Kringle” a Poem about Santa Claus
Friday, December 16th, 2005Kriss Kringle is an American name for Santa Claus dating back over 150 years. Oddly enough the name derives from the German phrase Christ kindlein or Christ kind’l, meaning Christ child. However, Kriss Kringle is not used as a name for Santa in Germany.
Here’s Kriss Kringle, a Christmas poem by the American writer Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836-1907)…
Kriss Kringle
Just as the moon was fading
Amid her misty rings,
And every stocking was stuffed
With childhood’s precious things,Old Kriss Kringle looked around,
And saw on the elm-tree bough,
High-hung an oriole’s nest,
Silent and empty now.“Quite a stocking,” he laughed,
“Hung up there on the tree!
Little I thought the birds
Expected a present from me!”Then old Kriss Kringle, who loves
A joke as well as the best,
Dropped a handful of snowflakes
Into the oriole’s empty nest.
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas
Monday, December 12th, 2005A Visit from St. Nicholas, or The Night Before Christmas, is probably the best known and best loved poem in English about Christmas. It was written by a New Yorker, Clement Clark Moore, in 1822. It’s said that it was written as a Christmas gift for his numerous children.
A Visit from St. Nicholas
‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter’s nap-When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow,
Gave the lustre of midday to objects below;
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer;With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;“Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof-
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.His eyes – how they twinkled! His dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly.He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”For all of you with kids who celebrate Christmas… Snuggle up with your children. Read this poem tonight! It will be to their great delight!
Merry Christmas!
Lisa
“Jest ‘fore Christmas” a Poem by Eugene Field
Friday, December 2nd, 2005Eugene Field (1850-1895), has been one of America’s best-loved children’s poets for over 100 years,. His most famous works include “Little Boy Blue”, “Wynken, Blynken, and Nod” and “The Duel”.
At Christmas time, fans of Eugene Field particularly enjoy “Jest ‘fore Christmas”. Here it is…
Jest ‘fore Christmas
Father calls me William, sister calls me Will,
Mother calls me Willie, but the fellers call me Bill!
Mighty glad I ain’t a girl—ruther be a boy,
Without them sashes, curls, an’ things that’s worn by Fauntleroy!
Love to chawnk green apples an’ go swimmin’ in the lake—
Hate to take the castor-ile they give for bellyache!
‘Most all the time, the whole year round, there ain’t no flies on me,
But jest ‘fore Christmas I’m as good as I kin be!Got a yeller dog named Sport, sick him on the cat;
First thing she knows she doesn’t know where she is at!
Got a clipper sled, an’ when us kids goes out to slide,
‘Long comes the grocery cart, an’ we all hook a ride!
But sometimes when the grocery man is worrited an’ cross,
He reaches at us with his whip, an’ larrups up his hoss,
An’ then I laff an’ holler, “Oh, ye never teched me!”
But jest ‘fore Christmas I’m as good as I kin be!Gran’ma says she hopes that when I git to be a man,
I’ll be a missionarer like her oldest brother, Dan,
As was et up by the cannibuls that lives in Ceylon’s Isle,
Where every prospeck pleases, an’ only man is vile!
But gran’ma she has never been to see a Wild West show,
Nor read the Life of Daniel Boone, or else I guess she’d know
That Buff’lo Bill an’ cowboys is good enough for me!
Excep’ jest ‘fore Christmas, when I’m good as I kin be!And then old Sport he hangs around, so solemnlike an’ still,
His eyes they seem a-sayin’: “What’s the matter, little Bill?”
The old cat sneaks down off her perch an’ wonders what’s become
Of them two enemies of hern that used to make things hum!
But I am so perlite an’ tend so earnestly to biz,
That mother says to father: “How improved our Willie is!”
But father, havin’ been a boy hisself, suspicions me
When, jest ‘fore Christmas, I’m as good as I kin be!For Christmas, with its lots an’ lots of candies, cakes, an’ toys,
Was made, they say, for proper kids an’ not for naughty boys;
So wash yer face an’ bresh yer hair, an’ mind yer p’s and q’s,
An’ don’t bust out yer pantaloons, and don’t wear out yer shoes;
Say “Yessum” to the ladies, and “Yessur” to the men,
An’ when they’s company, don’t pass yer plate for pie again;
But, thinkin’ of the things yer’d like to see upon that tree,
Jest ‘fore Christmas be as good as yer kin be!So remember to be good boys and girls! Santa Claus is coming to town!
-Lisa
Come visit Mama Lisa’s Eugene Field Page for more Eugene Field poems.
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