I want an American Santa...ich will einen amerikanischen Santa!

We have some American friends here, Peggy and Steve who come from Montana. They live in a little village across the river from us. They have some German neighbors who once lived in the states with their little girl Isabelle, who I think is now age 7. She speaks a little English and understands even more. Santa Claus is not such an important guy here in Bavaria, or at least not as important as he is in the states. This little girl however, must have spent some Christmases in the states, as it is apparently a family tradition that Santa comes by their house at some point. Last year, the family enlisted a Bavarian neighbor to play Santa. The little girl’s mother this year said that Santa would not be by, apparently because the little girl actually no longer believes in Santa. Isabelle protested that it would not be Christmas without Santa, and she did NOT want a Bavarian Santa this year, but she wanted an American Santa (Bernd’s comment at this point is that there sometimes IS a need to have Americans here). So the mom walked two doors down and asked our friend Steve to put on the costume and be Santa this year. On the one hand, this really works for me conceptually, because Steve is a tall guy, always of good cheer, and I think would make a great Santa. On the other hand, he’s just not the Santa type! Being a good neighbor, he put on the suit, walked down and did the Santa thing for his little neighbor. They gave him some wine to drink, and he commented that usually children leave milk and cookies for Santa in America. They apparently did not have any, but like good Bavarians, offered alcohol, which I hear was kind of hard to drink with the white beard and moustache. Steve talked about the sleigh and reindeer being up on the roof, and how he needed to get to America to give the kids there gifts, but as it was still night time in America, he and his reindeer had plenty of time to get there. As Steve was leaving, little Isabelle indicated that she could not linger to say goodbye, because she had to get back into the house to listen for the reindeer taking off from the roof! And this from a little girl who no longer believes!

Nicholaus, Santa, and the torture of German children

On December 6th, there is something here called Nicholaus Day. I missed it this year with Bernd's grandchildren, but experienced it last year, and have had it on my mind as worthy of a post. When I've told the story to friends around here, all have been amazed and shocked, so here goes....

Nick comes to the houses of children on December 6th, along with his sidekick Krampus. Nick has a little gold book, and he tells the children that he has been watching them all year, and has been marking down all good and bad deeds in his book. The children stand in front of him and hold a staff while he elaborates. The really frightening thing, is that Krampus, Mr. Scary Guy incarnate, all dressed in black, rattles his chains and generally looks like he might to do something horrible to punish you when Nick reads the bad things you have been doing. I thought they were absolutely terrifying when I first saw them, because Nick was about 8 feet tall, and with his pope-like hat on, he seemed to reach the ceiling......so I can't imagine how giant he must look to a 2 or 3 year old. And then Krampus, well he's just generally terrifying. They function as a good cop/bad cop team and the pair I saw did it all in Bairish. As I still don't understand a word of Bairish, Bernd's daughter had generally filled me in on what he would discuss with the children.

What happened with Felix and Moritz (ages 2 and 4 at the time), was that each stood at attention with staff in hand (and dad real close by) and calmly listened to what Nick told them about all of their good deeds. No expression, no comment, just listened in a very attentive way. When Nick came to the bad deeds, which last year for both kids was saying bad words, both immediately acknowledged that he had been saying bad words by shaking their heads in agreement. This was so cute and funny that I had to plant my face in the wall so that they would not see my complete hysteria! This was also an improvement over the year before, when Felix had denied biting his brother to Nick when this issue came to light. After the discussion with these two scary guys, the kids get gifts (I personally think they have earned them in a big way) which have been discreetly provided by the parents.

I hear that this year, Felix, now age 5, had the very good sense to cry! He eventually calmed down, but my take on this is that I think Nick and Krampus are collectively so frightening, that I don't know how a child can avoid crying. As I've talked to girlfriends lately, it is amazing how many of us were afraid of Santa. I think as American children, we had it way easier with a guy in a red suit at the mall, than German kids do with a guy who watches everything all year, marks it in his book, and then brings along his scary friend to shake his chains at you! Felix and Moritz, you can't read this yet, but I think you are both very brave.