I was in Brussels, Belgium yesterday (Sunday December 6) and I learned that it was a big day in Belgium: St. Nicholas’ Day, when “St. Nicholas” brings presents to all the children in the morning. I heard about this from several people, including an old friend of mine (where I had dinner that night) who has two children who absolutely received St. Nicholas presents that morning.
That sounds a lot like what Americans know as Christmas, on December 25, so I asked: and yes, in Brussels they also celebrate December 25 and presents are given that morning, too. St. Nicholas’ Day is only for children to receive presents, but adults too receive presents on Christmas. But historically in this culture, the bigger event is St. Nicholas’ Day. Wikipedia says that Christmas and Santa Claus are primarily being pushed by merchants as another gift-giving event, and sometimes December 25 is thought of as an American commercial holiday.
I took the Eurostar train from London to Brussels; that’s the train that passes through the Chunnel, the famous tunnel that goes under the English channel. Famous for being an awesome technical accomplishment, and also famous for losing billions of dollars. I recently read that this year, for the first time, it might make a profit. Hard to make money when Ryan Air is offering flights for 2 pounds. By the way, in England there are a lot of global warming activists who think that these discount airline tickets are contributing to global warming, and the prices should be higher to save the planet. My American friends: if you haven’t heard of Copenhagen yet, it’s front page news here and it hasn’t even started yet. In London there have already been organized marches in advance of the climate change summit (the friend I met for dinner in London Saturday night had blue paint on her face, the symbol of the marchers around Parliament, and she came all the way in from Brighton to take part in the march).
Eurostar takes only two hours and I have to say, going by train is far superior than air travel: larger seats, less noise, better air, and quicker security and passport control. Yes, even though it’s a train, and in Europe, you still have to go through a metal detector and a passport check with a customs official. But it’s a lot quicker; laptops stay in your briefcase, shoes and belts stay on. I don’t know why there’s a passport control; when I took the train from Zurich, Switzerland into Konstanz, Germany, no one asked to see my passport. Perhaps because the English don’t think they are part of Europe. You hear a lot of jokes about English Euroskepticism; but this is definitional, they really think that “Europe” refers only to the continent thus excluding the British Isles. I still refer to Britain as “Europe” thus marking me as not being British, I suppose.
Hi Keith!
When we were kids we celebrated St. Nicholas day. We’d hang our special Christmas stockings on the mantel and the next morning they’d be full of fruit and candy. I remember that we were one of only a few familys in our little Catholic grade school that celebrated this holiday. I loved it. I did catch my mom one morning filling the stockings. She told me if I said anything to my brother or sisters that St. Nicholas would never come back again.
That’s pretty cool! Yes, I heard that parents do make a big performance “don’t go in the room yet, St. Nick isn’t finished yet” and that sort of thing. Marilyn, did Santa also come on the 25th? Were they the same person, or two separate entities?