Today (December 6) is St. Nicholas' Day - Szent Mikulás Nap. Last night all across Hungary, children put their freshly clean boots on their window sills. This morning “good” kids found chocolate Szent Mikulás, nuts, fruit, and small gifts in their boots. “Bad” children received bunches of twigs (virgács). Mikulás, however, never finds entirely wicked children in Hungary. Most kids receive both candy and virgács.Interestingly, Mikulás phoned us last night and asked us to stop by our friend Andi’s place. He said he was very busy this year and needed some help. We tip-toed to Andi’s door at 7:30 this morning. Andi received both candy and virgács! Mikulás told us that even angyali Andi needed some virgács. :-)
virgács (golden twigs left in your boots to
remind you that you were not 100% good)
Mikulás' and his somewhat sinister elf-companion, Krampusz.
Krampusz is chasing the children with virgács.
Mikulás' and his somewhat sinister elf-companion, Krampusz.Krampusz is chasing the children with virgács.
4 comments:
I was telling Andrea about St. Nick's Day and she knew what it meant, of course being from Romania.
Hope you both are well.
-Peggy
We are doing really good. We spent the day at the Christmas market and eating yummy Hungarian food. Will talk to you soon!
Love,
Diane
Gotta love a holiday where children are chased by a crazy elf. Here's a good read about St. Nicholas day from David Sedaris:
http://people.cornell.edu/pages/bs16/Christmas/6_to_8_black_men.txt
Karri -
The David Sedaris story is a riot! My goodness! We hope you had a great birthday weekend.
- Steven & Diane
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