Saint Nicholas and the Solstice Fairy
Dec. 6th, 2004 10:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kukla_tkoI've teased you long enough. Here's the first installment of the Santa Series.
I should start by explaining that I believe in Santa. I believe in the man, the myth, the legend. I recognize his symbolic value, and I perform his rituals every year. Santa has magic for me still. The next installment will be about the Secret of Santa Claus.
This one is about an obscure tradition that I still keep alive.
While I was growing up, my mom went to great lengths to give us kids a lot of things to do to "get ready for Christmas." Advent rituals and games. One of my favorites was where we covered a shoe box in wood grain-printed contact paper. Next to the box was a Christmas mug filled with pieces of straw (or occasionally paper strips, yarn pieces, etc. to symbolize hay.) Every time we did something "good", we got to put a piece of hay in the box. See, the box was a Manger, and we were making a soft bed for Baby Jesus (played by one of my baby dolls on Christmas Eve.) I can remember competing with my brothers to get those pieces of straw. Finding chores that needed doing, trying to be the first one to complete a task, playing nicely together, etc.
I think that some of the Advent Ideas came from a little Advent book that my mother acquired. It included prayers to be said at the lighting of the Advent Candles, and little stories and games. One of the traditions was related to St. Nick's Day. On the eve of the Feast of St. Nicholas, if a child leaves her shoe (or boot) by the back door, St. Nick will cruise by and leave a treat inside. Mom explained to us that the things we got in our boot were "to help get ready for Christmas" so they were frequently things like books about Christmas, decorations, or festive jewelry. We also got a small handful of candy, and usually a smallish toy. My brothers would get matchbox cars or miniature figures, I would get a tiny doll, or action figure. Here's the part that makes it work really well; We got into the habit of making up our Christmas Wish List the weekend before St. Nick's, and putting the list into our boots on the night of the 5th. This way, Santa gets our letter, and we get a taste of Christmas.
Sometimes St. Nick had a sense of humor. (He had to, we were imaginative kids with lots of energy. And our family was pretty poor, too.) Once he left us hints about what we would get for Christmas. Batteries, for example. No battery operated toys, just some batteries. That year we got a lot of electronic equipment.
Another time I left a bunch of letters and questions for Santa. I was just old enough to start questioning the myth, but not old enough to be let in on the secret yet. I asked Santa a bunch of questions, mostly things that everyone couldn't agree on. How old was he? Did he really live at the north pole? How many reindeer did he have, was it 8, 9, or more? And of course, I left a big sheet of blank drawing paper, with a note at the top:
Santa,
Please draw a picture of yourself.
I was an incorrigible little thing. So was Santa. The next morning, there were answers to all of my questions written in a totally unfamiliar hand. And at the bottom of the blank sheet of paper was the following message:
Me, in a snowstorm.
Dang! I thought I had him!
We share this tradition with my SO's kids now. There's a place in the condo where Santa keeps their letters. (We're clever enough to have the kids do their lists on the computer, so my SO can email them to the kids' mom, too.) For the last two years the kids were at our house for St. Nick's, but this year they were not. They left footwear behind, and St. Nick has left them some goodies. It's not the quantity that was in there last year, but I think it's a pretty good haul. Last year Santa showed his sense of humor again. Allura left a boot out. (It was cool: she left out her white patent leather, platform heeled, knee high boot. Hee hee hee.) In her letter to Santa, she said that she wanted a new body because hers was all broken. (She had recently come from the doctor with draconian restrictions to her diet and lots of prescriptions, poor dear.) So, Santa left her a Barbie Body in her boot. Just a body, no head, no clothes. The kids were really confused. I burst out laughing, and said "See, I TOLD you that Santa has a sense of humor!"
See, Santa comes to my house. If you leave out a boot or a shoe on St. Nicks' Eve (or even the evening of St. Nick's Day) you will find gifts in it in the morning.
IF you hang a stocking at my house, and you are a pagan, The Solstice Fairy will leave you presents in your stocking. If you are a celebrator of Christmas, then on Christmas Eve there will be gifts in your stocking.
(The first year that the Solstice Fairy was the first time that Alienne had a stocking at my house. She came over on the solstice, and I pointed out that her stocking was full.
"But Santa comes on the 24th!" she said, somewhat puzzled.
"Yeah, I know. But the Solstice Fairy comes during Yule."
"Ah." She said, and started to go through her goodies.
"Actually," I said, "It was Santa in a tu-tu and gossomer wings. He told me he was the Solsice Fairy and that was his story and he was sticking to it."
This legend has grown, and when Alienne told my father about it he fell out of his chair laughing.
I should start by explaining that I believe in Santa. I believe in the man, the myth, the legend. I recognize his symbolic value, and I perform his rituals every year. Santa has magic for me still. The next installment will be about the Secret of Santa Claus.
This one is about an obscure tradition that I still keep alive.
While I was growing up, my mom went to great lengths to give us kids a lot of things to do to "get ready for Christmas." Advent rituals and games. One of my favorites was where we covered a shoe box in wood grain-printed contact paper. Next to the box was a Christmas mug filled with pieces of straw (or occasionally paper strips, yarn pieces, etc. to symbolize hay.) Every time we did something "good", we got to put a piece of hay in the box. See, the box was a Manger, and we were making a soft bed for Baby Jesus (played by one of my baby dolls on Christmas Eve.) I can remember competing with my brothers to get those pieces of straw. Finding chores that needed doing, trying to be the first one to complete a task, playing nicely together, etc.
I think that some of the Advent Ideas came from a little Advent book that my mother acquired. It included prayers to be said at the lighting of the Advent Candles, and little stories and games. One of the traditions was related to St. Nick's Day. On the eve of the Feast of St. Nicholas, if a child leaves her shoe (or boot) by the back door, St. Nick will cruise by and leave a treat inside. Mom explained to us that the things we got in our boot were "to help get ready for Christmas" so they were frequently things like books about Christmas, decorations, or festive jewelry. We also got a small handful of candy, and usually a smallish toy. My brothers would get matchbox cars or miniature figures, I would get a tiny doll, or action figure. Here's the part that makes it work really well; We got into the habit of making up our Christmas Wish List the weekend before St. Nick's, and putting the list into our boots on the night of the 5th. This way, Santa gets our letter, and we get a taste of Christmas.
Sometimes St. Nick had a sense of humor. (He had to, we were imaginative kids with lots of energy. And our family was pretty poor, too.) Once he left us hints about what we would get for Christmas. Batteries, for example. No battery operated toys, just some batteries. That year we got a lot of electronic equipment.
Another time I left a bunch of letters and questions for Santa. I was just old enough to start questioning the myth, but not old enough to be let in on the secret yet. I asked Santa a bunch of questions, mostly things that everyone couldn't agree on. How old was he? Did he really live at the north pole? How many reindeer did he have, was it 8, 9, or more? And of course, I left a big sheet of blank drawing paper, with a note at the top:
Santa,
Please draw a picture of yourself.
I was an incorrigible little thing. So was Santa. The next morning, there were answers to all of my questions written in a totally unfamiliar hand. And at the bottom of the blank sheet of paper was the following message:
Me, in a snowstorm.
Dang! I thought I had him!
We share this tradition with my SO's kids now. There's a place in the condo where Santa keeps their letters. (We're clever enough to have the kids do their lists on the computer, so my SO can email them to the kids' mom, too.) For the last two years the kids were at our house for St. Nick's, but this year they were not. They left footwear behind, and St. Nick has left them some goodies. It's not the quantity that was in there last year, but I think it's a pretty good haul. Last year Santa showed his sense of humor again. Allura left a boot out. (It was cool: she left out her white patent leather, platform heeled, knee high boot. Hee hee hee.) In her letter to Santa, she said that she wanted a new body because hers was all broken. (She had recently come from the doctor with draconian restrictions to her diet and lots of prescriptions, poor dear.) So, Santa left her a Barbie Body in her boot. Just a body, no head, no clothes. The kids were really confused. I burst out laughing, and said "See, I TOLD you that Santa has a sense of humor!"
See, Santa comes to my house. If you leave out a boot or a shoe on St. Nicks' Eve (or even the evening of St. Nick's Day) you will find gifts in it in the morning.
IF you hang a stocking at my house, and you are a pagan, The Solstice Fairy will leave you presents in your stocking. If you are a celebrator of Christmas, then on Christmas Eve there will be gifts in your stocking.
(The first year that the Solstice Fairy was the first time that Alienne had a stocking at my house. She came over on the solstice, and I pointed out that her stocking was full.
"But Santa comes on the 24th!" she said, somewhat puzzled.
"Yeah, I know. But the Solstice Fairy comes during Yule."
"Ah." She said, and started to go through her goodies.
"Actually," I said, "It was Santa in a tu-tu and gossomer wings. He told me he was the Solsice Fairy and that was his story and he was sticking to it."
This legend has grown, and when Alienne told my father about it he fell out of his chair laughing.
