In parts of Europe St. Nicholas' Day is celebrated on December 6th. On the night of the 5th St. Nicholas - Mikulás in Hungary - comes around and leaves small gifts - mostly fruits, nuts, candy where I came from - to those who'd been nice. The interesting part is that he has a demonic sidekick, Krampus (Krampusz in Hungary). This guy is generally portrayed as an ugly, furry creature with horns, sometimes with one human foot and one cloven one, sometimes with two of the latter. His job is to take the naughty children away, not sure where.
Denmark has something similar, Sinterklaas, but there St. Nick arrives on a steamboat and his sidekick is Zwarte Piet, a politically incorrect black guy, who takes the bad children to...Spain! If that's not enough reason to be naughty in the middle of the Danish winter, I don't know what is.
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5 comments:
The name Black Peter always gets a rise.
I've heard of Zwarte Piet. Those imitating him wear blackface. Same folks who brought us the mo cartoons.
This is great. The kids in his bag look like they're packed kind of tight
How cool! Christmas is suddenly interesting.
I had no idea. Well, I'll be good.
I could use a trip to Spain.
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