http://www.australianwomenonline.com/jolly-old-st-nick-who-is-he-really/ The hub of home-grown inspirational women Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:45:51 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.australianwomenonline.com/jolly-old-st-nick-who-is-he-really/comment-page-1/#comment-2723 Danielle Hutchinson Wed, 23 Dec 2009 08:25:15 +0000 http://www.australianwomenonline.com/?p=17554#comment-2723 My 16 year old daughter is currently on a student exchange in Austria and is staying with a family with small children. Interestingly, she tells me that the children in Austria do not believe in 'Santa Claus' but instead know that there is a tradition where a member of the community or family dresses up as 'Saint Nikolas' (looking a lot like a bishop)and visits the local children to give gifts of sweets. They do this on 6th December. They also have another character called a 'Krampus' who looks a lot like a devil, but I have been told quite emphatically that he is not. This nasty creature carries a birch and during the local celebrations, is likely to come and give you a good whack if you are not careful. His job is to punish you for the bad things you have done through the year. So when we received a gift of traditional sweets from the family, we received one depicting St Nikolaus and the other with the Krampus. The kids of course get Christmas presents, but it would seem that they have managed to avoid the tears and tantrums that often-time come as children 'find out' about Santa. My 16 year old daughter is currently on a student exchange in Austria and is staying with a family with small children. Interestingly, she tells me that the children in Austria do not believe in ‘Santa Claus’ but instead know that there is a tradition where a member of the community or family dresses up as ‘Saint Nikolas’ (looking a lot like a bishop)and visits the local children to give gifts of sweets. They do this on 6th December. They also have another character called a ‘Krampus’ who looks a lot like a devil, but I have been told quite emphatically that he is not. This nasty creature carries a birch and during the local celebrations, is likely to come and give you a good whack if you are not careful. His job is to punish you for the bad things you have done through the year. So when we received a gift of traditional sweets from the family, we received one depicting St Nikolaus and the other with the Krampus. The kids of course get Christmas presents, but it would seem that they have managed to avoid the tears and tantrums that often-time come as children ‘find out’ about Santa.

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