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Archive for the 'St. Nicolas' Category
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
Saint Nicolas Day – December 6th – The Legend and a Song
Wednesday, December 6th, 2006Today is St. Nicolas Day. St. Nicholas was a bishop who lived in Myra, Turkey, from around 280 A.D. to December 6th, 342 or 343. His greatest legend is that he gave gifts to poor children.
There’s one specific legend surrounding St. Nick about an impoverished man who had three daughters. He was so poor that he couldn’t feed them and he decided that he had no alternative but to sell them into slavery.
The legend has it that St. Nicholas heard about these children. He sneaked over to their house at night and quietly left three bags of gold. One for each girl. He tried to sneak away, but the father saw him and praised his generosity to everyone.
In the 1100’s AD, in France, some nuns started giving gifts to children on St. Nicholas Day. That’s when the custom of gift-giving in December was established. Now some people celebrate the gift giving custom on St. Nicholas Day and others on Christmas Day.
Even though in France people generally give gifts for Christmas, there is a St. Nicholas Song they sing called La légende de Saint Nicolas. This one is about another legend of St. Nick. It’s a sadder one about a butcher who slaughtered three little kids and salted them like pork. Later St. Nicholas brought them back to life.
Here’s the song in French with an English translation by Monique Palomares of Mama Lisa’s World en français, plus the midi tune and a link to the sheet music…
Listen to the tune of La légende de Saint Nicolas
La légende de Saint Nicolas
(French)Refrain:
Ils étaient trois petits enfants
Qui s’en allaient glaner aux champs.1. Tant sont allés tant sont venus,
Que sur le soir se sont perdus.
S’en sont allés chez le boucher:
“Boucher voudrais-tu nous loger ?”Refrain
2. “Entrez, entrez, petits enfants
Il y a d’ la place assurément.”
Ils n’étaient pas sitôt entrés,
Que le boucher les a tués.
Autre version
Ils n’étaient pas sitôt entrés
Que le boucher les a tués
Les a coupés en p’tits morceaux,
Mis au saloir comme pourceauxRefrain
3. Saint Nicolas au bout d’ sept ans
Vint à passer dedans ce champ,
Alla frapper chez le boucher:
“Boucher voudrais-tu me loger ?”Refrain
4. Entrez, entrez, Saint Nicolas,
Il y a d’ la place, il n’en manqu’ pas.”
Il n’était pas sitôt entré
Qu’il a demandé à souper.Refrain
5. “Du p’tit salé je veux avoir,
Qu’il y a sept ans qu’est au saloir”.
Quand le boucher entendit ça,
Hors de sa porte il s’enfuya*Refrain
6.”Boucher, boucher, ne t’enfuis pas !
Repens-toi, Dieu te pardonnera”.
Saint Nicolas alla s’asseoir
Dessus le bord de ce saloirRefrain:
7.”Petits enfants qui dormez là,
Je suis le grand Saint Nicolas.”
Le grand saint étendit trois doigts,
Les p’tits se levèrent tous les trois.Refrain
8. Le premier dit: “J’ai bien dormi”.
Le second dit:” Et moi aussi”.
A ajouté le plus petit:
“Je me croyais au paradis !”Refrain
The Legend of Saint Nicholas
(English)Chorus
They were three little children
Who went a-gleaning in the fields.1. They went so much to, so much fro
That by the evening, they got lost.
They went to the butcher’s house.
“Butcher, would you accommodate us?”Chorus
2. “Come in, come in, little children
There’s room, for sure.”
No sooner had they come in,
Then the butcher killed them.
Other version
No sooner had they come in,
Then the butcher killed them.
He cut them into small pieces,
Put them in the salting-tub as piglets.Chorus
3. Saint Nicholas, after seven years,
Happened to pass in this field.
He went to knock at the butcher’s door,
“Butcher, would you accommodate me?”Chorus
4. “Come in, come in, Saint Nicholas.
There’s room, no shortage of it”.
No sooner had he come in,
Then he requested to supper.Chorus
5. “I want some of the salted meat,
That’s been for seven years in the salting-tub.”
When the butcher heard that
He ran away from his house.Chorus
6. “Butcher, butcher, don’t run away!
Repent, God will forgive you”.
Saint Nicholas went to sit down
On the edge of this salting-tub.Chorus
7.”Little children who’re sleeping there
I am the great Saint Nicholas.”
The great saint stretched out three fingers.
The little ones got up, the three of them.Chorus
8. The first one said “I slept well.”
The second one said “And I did too.”
The youngest one added:
“I thought I was in paradise!”Chorus
Many thanks to Monique for bringing this song to my attention!
Come visit the St. Nicolas Page for more St. Nicholas Songs from Around the World.
Please feel free to comment below or email me if you’d like to share any other St. Nick songs or traditions.
-Lisa
P.S. Notice in the picture below that St. Nicolas is on the roof, putting toys down the chimney. It shows his roots in going down the chimney to deliver gifts to children. Click on the picture to get to a site all about St. Nicholas.
St. Nicolas is Celebrated in the French-speaking part of Belgium
Sunday, December 4th, 2005Rudy Welvaert wrote to me,
“…in the French speaking part of Belgium, La Wallonie (Wallonia), the children are waiting for Saint Nicolas to bring them sweets and presents in the night of the 5th to the 6th of December. Here is a traditional Saint-Nicolas song in French, with its English translation.”
Saint Nicolas, Patron des écoliers
Saint Nicolas, patron des écoliers,
Apporte-moi du sucre dans mon petit panier.
Je serai toujours sage comme un petit mouton,
Je dirai mes prières pour avoir des bonbons.
Venez, venez Saint Nicolas!
Venez, venez Saint Nicolas!
Venez!
Venez!
Venez Saint Nicolas!
Tralala!Saint Nicolas, Patron Saint of School Kids
Saint Nicolas, patron saint of school kids,
Bring me some sugar for my basket.
I’ll will always be good like a little lamb,
I always say my prayers, to get sweets.
Come, come Saint Nicolas!
Come, come Saint Nicolas!
Come!
Come!
Come Saint Nicolas!
Tralala!Many thanks to Rudy Welvaert for sending me this song.
Come visit the Mama Lisa’s World Belgium Page for more children’s songs from Belgium and…
The Belgium page at Mama Lisa’s World en français for Belgian children’s songs with their French translations.
Happy St. Nicolas!
Lisa
St. Nicholas Arrives in Holland on a Steamboat with his White Horse
Sunday, December 4th, 2005Kirsten Kerkhof wrote me the following about St. Nicolas Day in Holland…
“In the Netherlands, Christmas is not as important for children as Sint Nicolaas (Saint Nicholas) on December 5th. It’s on this day that children get their presents, instead of on Christmas Day. Sint Nicolaas is the patron saint of children. He is said to come from Spain, although the real Sint Nicolaas came from what is now Turkey.”
In November St. Nicholas arrives on a steamboat from Spain, with his helpers and his white horse. Children go to watch his arrival.
Here’s a song they sing in Dutch, with an English translation…
Zie Ginds Komt de Stoomboot
(Dutch)Zie ginds komt de stoomboot,
Uit Spanje weer aan.
Hij brengt on Sint Nicolaas,
Ik zie hem al staan.
Hoe huppelt zijn paardje,
Het dek op en neer,
Hoe waaien de wimpels,
Al heen en al weer.Zijn knecht staat de lachen,
Hij roept ons reeds toe.
Wie zoet is krijgt lekkers,
Wie stout is, de roe.
Oh, lieve Sint Nicolaas,
Kom ook toch bij mij,
En rijd toch niet stilletjes,
Ons huisje voorbij.Look, There is the Steamboat
(English)Look there is the steamboat
From far-away Spain.
It brings us Saint Nicholas,
I can see him, waving.
His horse is a-prancing
On deck up and down,
The banners are waving,
In village and town.His servant is laughing
And tells everyone,
The good kids get candy,
The bad ones get none.
Oh, dearest Saint Nicholas,
If Pete and you would,
Just visit our house,
For we all have been good.Here’s a version of Look, There is the Steamboat from Belgium…
Zie Ginds Komt de Stoomboot
(Dutch)Zie ginds komt de stoomboot,
uit Spanje weer aan.
Hij brengt ons Sint-Nikolaas,
ik zie hem al staan.
Hoe waaien de wimpels,
al heen en al weer.
Hoe huppelt zijn paardje,
het dek op en neer.
Zijn knecht staat te lachen,
en roept ons reeds toe:
“Wie braaf is krijgt lekkers,
wie stout is de roe.”See There Arrives the Steamboat
(English)See there arrives the steamboat,
From Spain again.
It brings us Saint Nicolas,
I see him standing there already.
Look how the flags,
Flutter back and forth.
Look how his little horse,
Hops up and down the deck.
His servant stands there, laughing
And he shouts at us:
“Who’s good, gets sweets,
Who’s bad, gets the whip.”Here’s another St. Nicholas song from Belgium…
Hoor de Wind Waait
(Dutch)Hoor de wind waait door de bomen,
hier in huis zelfs waait de wind.
Zou de goede Sint wel komen,
nu hij ‘t weer zo lelijk vindt?
nu hij ‘t weer zo lelijk vindt?Hoor wie stapt daar kinderen?
Hoor klopt daar kinderen?
Hoor wie tikt daar zachtjes tegen ‘t raam?‘t Is een vreemdling zeker?
Die verdwaald is zeker?
Ga maar vlug eens vragen naar zijn naam!Sint Nikolaas! Sint Nikolaas!
Breng mij vanavond ook een bezoek!
en strooi dan wat lekkers in een of d’andere hoek!Hear How the Wind Blows
(English)Hear how the wind blows through the trees,
Even here inside the house the wind blows.
Will the good Saint come,
When the weather is that bad?
When the weather is that bad?Listen, who’s stepping there children?
Listen, who’s knocking there children?
Listen, who’s tapping, softly at the window?Must be a stranger, I’m sure?
Who lost his way, I’m sure?
Quickly, go and ask his name!Saint Nicolas! Saint Nicolas!
Please visit me too, tonight!
And throw some sweets in this or that corner!Many thanks to Kirsten Kerkhof for contributing the version of Zie Ginds Komt de Stoomboot from Holland and for her helpful comments, and to Rudy Welvaert for the Belgian songs. Dank u wel!
Come visit the Mama Lisa’s World Netherlands Page for more Children’s Songs from the Holland and…
The Mama Lisa’s World Belgium Page for more Belgian Children’s Songs.
Happy Sint Nicolaas!
Lisa
The Tradition of Saint Nicolas in Belgium, plus the Dutch Song “St. Nicolas Little Rascal”
Saturday, December 3rd, 2005Rudy Welvaert wrote to me about how the St. Nicolas holiday is celebrated in parts of Belgium and Holland…
Dear Mama Lisa,
Every year, in the night of the 5th to the 6th of December, Saint Nicolas brings presents to all the children who have been good. That evening children put out a shoe in front of the fireplace and put a carrot or a turnip in it for the horse of Saint Nicolas. Saint Nicolas also has a servant, he’s pictured as a black man (not very politically correct in our days, but that’s the tradition). His name in Dutch is “Zwarte Piet” (Black Peter). The tradition of Saint-Nicolas is in both the Dutch speaking part of Belgium, Vlaanderen (Flanders) and Holland very similar. And many songs are sung by the children.
Below you’ll find the words to one of the St. Nicolas songs Rudy sent me, with the English translation below it…
Sinterklaas Kapoentje
Sinterklaas Kapoentje,
Leg wat in mijn schoentje,
Leg wat in mijn laarsje,
Dank je Sinterklaasje!Saint-Nicolas Little Rascal
Saint-Nicolas Little Rascal,
Put something in my little shoe,
Put something in my little boot,
Thank you little Saint-Nicolas!Here’s a longer version…
Sinterklaas Kapoentje
Sinterklaas Kapoentje,
leg wat in mijn schoentje.
Een appeltje of een citroentje.
Een nootje om te kraken,
dat zal wel beter smaken.
Dankje Sinterklaasje!
Dankje Sinterklaasje!Saint-Nicolas Little Rascal
Saint-Nicolas Little Rascal,
Put something in my little shoe,
A little apple or a little lemon,
A little nut to crack,
That will taste much better
Thank you little Saint-Nicolas!
Thank you little Saint-Nicolas!Many thanks to Randy Welvaert for information about St. Nicolas in Belgium and for sending me St. Nicolas Little Rascal.
Come visit the Mama Lisa’s World Belgium Page for more children’s songs from Belgium and…
The Belgium page at Mama Lisa’s World en français for Belgian children’s songs with their French translations.
Happy St. Nicolas!
Lisa
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