Celebrating St. Nicholas Day in
the convent (pre-1945)
by
Magdalena Stefan of
Alexanderhausen
Translated by
Diana Lambing
Published at DVHH.org, 2004 by Jody McKim Pharr
The best time at the convent was
celebrating St. Nicholas Day,
then every child received a
present. ‘Nikolo’ was dressed
like a bishop. He wore a
chasuble, a bishop’s mitre and
he held a crosier in his hand.
‘Krampus’ (St. Nicholas’s
companion) wore a track-suit
with a long tail, a mask with
horns, a red tongue and held a
cane in his hand. As they
entered, we sang ‘Lieber
heiliger Nikolaus, oh kehre bei
uns ein’ (Dear St. Nicholas,
please come into our house).
‘Nikolo’ had a big book in which
there was something written
about every single child.
‘Krampus’ carried a sack full of
presents on his back. Every
child received a present and
‘Nikolo’ made a speech in which
he gave every child a warning.
We received the presents with a
bending of the knee and returned
to our places. When they left,
we prayed and then queued up
ready to go to bed. Then someone
opened the door from behind and
‘Krampus’ ran towards us and
tormented us with his cane, but
we quickly ran away from him. I
can still remember the rhyme
that ‘Nikolo’ recited.
[Published
at DVHH.org, 2003 by Jody McKim Pharr]
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