Santa Nicolas, A Romanian Tradition

By Adina Dosan (adinamiti)
December 12, 2007

Don’t you just love Christmas morning, when you wake up so early in the morning and run to the Christmas tree, to see what Santa brought you? In Romania, we have two Santas who bring us presents : one is Santa Claus, which everyone in the world knows, and the other one is Santa Nicholas, who leaves the presents in our boots…but only if we were good !

On December 6^th , Romanians are celebrating Saint Nicholas and, besides celebrating everyone who’s name is Nicholas, we are also celebrating a beautiful tradition, of Santa Nicholas, who brings sweets to all the kids. The children have to be good, otherwise they’d receive a stick, instead of sweets.

Tradition says they all have to clean their boots and put it at the door, so Santa will come and drop the sweets in their boots !

I have such beautiful memories of my grannie, who was playing Santa Nicholas role ! I always found chocolates, marshmallows and mandarins in my boots and I was so happy…yes, I was good, never found a stick!

Since I became a mom, I’ve been playing Santa Nicholas for all the family, including my hubby! Tradition has been changed a little bit…now we, adults, want to be children for a day and receive sweets from Santa Nicholas too!

It was such fun to get ready ! The children were so thrilled while cleaning their boots with their little hands and making it shine… and so were we ! After they were going to bed, me and hubby were having lots of fun when droping the sweets in their boots .In the morning, we were reliving the excitement through our kids’ sparkling eyes, when seeing the presents !

One year, we decided they weren’t so good and had to be taught a lesson, so each got a long, silver stick in their boots…how disappointed they were, poor kids…no need to say we felt miserable!

Today, as I’m writing this article, is Santa Nicholas’ Eve and I’m about to go and drop the presents …oh, I forgot to mention about my dog ! He doesn’t get any sweets because he has no boots… but still, he is a part of our celebration, somehow …he now plays the role of Santa Nicholas for me, so funny !

You might check this out for more information:

http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=38

About Adina Dosan   I'm a Romanian plants and pets addicted, always happy to share my experience.

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Subject Topic Starter Replies Views Last Post in Holland too! Dutchlady1 21 92 Dec 18, 2007 3:32 PM

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