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Krampusnacht & Saint Nicholas Day (Contest)
Tuesday, December 5th, 2023

The winner is…Sillie!
*~*~*

I spent time in Germany when my kids were young, and we adopted some of the local traditions. A couple of my favorites involve the night of December 5th…

Krampusnacht

Krampusnacht (Krampus’s Night) occurs the night before the St. Nicholas Feast on December 6th. He arrives at night, carrying a bundle of twigs to swat misbehaving kids. Krampus comes to scare kids into being good—a kind of twisted Santa’s Little Helper. Our family will probably watch the Krampus movie sometime soon.

Nikolaustag (St. Nicholas Day)

This is what we actually celebrate! On the evening of December 5th, the kids leave their shoes by the door. Santa comes sometime during the night to leave gifts in the shoes. If the child has been good this year, they get something they like. If they’ve been bad, they get a lump of coal. The past couple of years, my daughter has insisted I leave my shoes out because I’m the biggest kid in the house. 🙂

St. Nicholas Day is the official start of the Christmas holiday season, and in some parts of the world, there’s a feast to celebrate St. Nicholas of Myra, a priest who gave to the poor.

So, a question. Were you aware of either of these holiday traditions? Would they be ones you’d want to integrate into your family’s holiday fun? Leave a comment for a chance to win a download of your choice from among my backlist of books!

15 comments to “Krampusnacht & Saint Nicholas Day (Contest)”

  1. Sillie
    Comment
    1
    · December 5th, 2023 at 5:49 am · Link

    Good morning good afternoon good evening heard of yes , done know , hoping shoes clean for public to view and “use” that’d be something maybe to do
    But always everyone , can’t leave mommies and daddies out 🙂 need them all good or bad , with or without coal
    They were kids too

    Thank u



  2. Debra Guyette
    Comment
    2
    · December 5th, 2023 at 7:23 am · Link

    I have heard of these before.



  3. Eileen McCall
    Comment
    3
    · December 5th, 2023 at 7:56 am · Link

    Heard of this tradition, but it’s not one we ever followed. We have enough traditions that I’m not starting something new now. 😁🎄🎄🎄



  4. Steph
    Comment
    4
    · December 5th, 2023 at 8:04 am · Link

    Good morning! I’ve heard the story if St. Nicholas but never added it to the fun. Maybe next year I can do that 😁



  5. Judith
    Comment
    5
    · December 5th, 2023 at 8:22 am · Link

    We do St Nicholas day with the shoes That’s when we get our Christmas PJs and maybe a new ornament.



  6. Beckie
    Comment
    6
    · December 5th, 2023 at 9:55 am · Link

    I know of many Christmas traditions in other countries from sets of books I have. St. Nicholas Day I’ve definitely heard of as I’m over half Dutch. We’ve never done it as we don’t have wooden shoes, even though I’ve wanted to. Maybe in the future. I’ve family and friends here and in the Netherlands who do.



  7. Jean Patton
    Comment
    7
    · December 5th, 2023 at 11:07 am · Link

    I have heard of Krampus, but not the other one



  8. Michelle Willms
    Comment
    8
    · December 5th, 2023 at 11:28 am · Link

    I think this is a wonderful tradition. Of course, my children are now 19 and 20. They’d still love the chance to get an early gift.



  9. Colleen C.
    Comment
    9
    · December 5th, 2023 at 12:17 pm · Link

    I vaguely knew about them…



  10. BN
    Comment
    10
    · December 5th, 2023 at 11:37 pm · Link

    no



  11. Trrri oconnelll
    Comment
    11
    · December 6th, 2023 at 8:52 am · Link

    We did December 6 as kids and I did it with my sisters five kids until the youngest got to be 8 and said it was to silly. December 5 I learned about in college and it was an excuse to watch the movie and horror films all day.



  12. Jennifer Beyer
    Comment
    12
    · December 6th, 2023 at 4:11 pm · Link

    I can only imagine explaining to my kids that we would put gifts in their actual shoes! Big nope.



  13. kerry jo pruett
    Comment
    13
    · December 10th, 2023 at 12:15 pm · Link

    I have never heard of these two traditions. I would love to start the tradition with the shoes by the door. I would do the Krampus also with my husband cause he is a Grinch at the first of Christmas



  14. Jeanette
    Comment
    14
    · December 10th, 2023 at 12:37 pm · Link

    I have heard of them and I think it would be fun to do that. I told my grand daughter about it and she said that sounds better that saying santa will pass them by it sounds like something can actually happen lol



  15. Delilah
    Comment
    15
    · December 17th, 2023 at 8:02 am · Link

    Thanks for commenting, everyone! I liked the comment about not leaving out the adults with the shoes on St. Niklaus eve.

    The winner of the download of her choice is…Sillie! Congrats, Sillie! Email me at delilah@delilahdevlin.com with the title of the book you’d like me to send you!



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