POLISH TRADITION: GIFTS FROM SANTA ON DECEMBER 6
Would you like to get gifts from Santa more than once a year? Each year in Poland kids cannot wait for December 6. It is cold and snowy by then, and Christmas is right around the corner. But, we don’t have to wait until Christmas to get gifts from Santa in Poland, because we also get them on December 6.
The History Behind Santa’s Gifts on December 6th
Since at least the XV century, every December 6, the feast of Saint Nicholas (called Mikolajki), Santa or Saint Nicholas (Swiety Mikolaj), dressed in his red bishop robe (he was a bishop in his day), visits people in their homes. He brings them gifts for being good, as the Three Kings brought gifts to baby Jesus.
The tradition was rooted in medieval legends about the life of Saint Nicholas from before his bishop days. One of the legends said that Saint Nicholas had a rich and greedy neighbor who made fun of Saint Nicholas’s piousness. God punished the neighbor with poverty, who in turn decided to sell his three daughters. In order to save his neighbor’s daughters, Saint Nicholas secretly at night threw dowry money for each daughter through the window. After two weddings, wondering the source of the secret dowry money, the neighbor hid at night to discover Saint Nicholas throwing the third sack of money through the window for the last daughter. Ashamed, the neighbor thanked Saint Nicholas, and decided to change his ways.
Gifts from Santa on December 6 Today
The gifting tradition still remains strong today, and so every December 6 children (and adults alike) in Poland receive gifts from Santa. Although the gifts consist mainly of smaller items, such as candy and small gifts, it is still a very exciting day, and the perfect prelude to Christmas. After all, any day for getting gifts is a great day. I am gifting candy and a hand-knitted scarf (pictured above). What will you get (of gift) this December 6? Some of old school Polish classics would include Santa’s chocolate advent calendar, any other chocolate advent calendar for that matter, or even Santa LEGOS. It’s all up to Santa!
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