Feast Day Fun: St Nicholas

December 6th  is the Feast Day of St Nicholas!

St Nicholas is well known for his love for children and for using his wealth to help the poor.  As a bishop, he established a poorhouse and a hospital.

Feast Day Crafts and Activities

Excerpts from A Treasure Chest of Traditions for Catholic Families , various posts at Equipping Catholic Families and our Saint Scripts Craft Kits (Series ONE and TWO)

Santa Claus is the secular evolution of this holy hero of our Faith! As Austrian tradition holds, the bishop is allowed by God to continue the kindness to children that he is known for, by returning on his Feast day and visiting them. St. Nicholas gives little treats to good children who can answer catechism questions and recite their prayers.

In many countries, on the eve of this Feast, children set their shoes out in hopes that St. Nicholas will fill them with treats during the night.  Some children leave hay and carrots for the horse traveling with St Nicholas.

Stores are already packed with chocolate Santa Claus treats and decorations.By simply adding a red paper Mitre (bishop’s hat) and a pipe cleaner Crosier (bishop’s staff), any cute little Santa Claus can be transformed into a St. Nicholas! I added some glittery ribbon to add the cross to the Mitre.

There is another curious part of the Feast of St Nick…at least as part of the Austrian tradition I grew up in! In addition to little treats and a handcrafted St Nicholas made by my Mom, the lights were covered with red tissue paper and there were plenty of little pipe cleaner devils hiding throughout the array of festive treats.

My Dad would tell me what the Feast Day had been like for him, growing up in Austria.

At dusk, St Nicholas would appear at his front door, ready to quiz the kids on their Catechism. Rattling heavy chains behind St. Nicholas was the Krampus. This (real-life-person) nasty devil would threaten to drag away misbehaving kids …and the threat was real enough to keep the kids a little nervous, practiced in their Catechism and ready to defend their behavior over the last year.

I think my Dad is still a little nervous this time of year.

Just in case this is ringing any bells for anyone else…I made up some quick little pipe cleaner Krampuses for old time’s sake.  And just to prove that it wasn’t just MY family terrorized by the Krampus in the last generation, I did some research online (and we know then that it MUST be true… =)

I even found a little tutorial to make your own little pipe cleaner Krampus!

You may want to stick to the homemade cookies, favorite family recipes, chocolate rewards for good Catechism answers … and leaving your shoes out for some happy treats.

I hope it goes well for you…say a little prayer for my Dad.

(sorry, Dad =)

Here’s another way to keep St Nicholas around on this special Feast Day.

Add to your collection of Wooden Painted Saints!

Here’s our Wooden Painted Saints Tutorial.

Do you have your own family activities, traditions, crafts or celebrations to share for this special Feast Day? Don’t forget to add it at the Celebrate the Saints Link-Up…or pick up an idea or two for your family to enjoy!

This is the another edition of Feast Day Fun…offering excerpts from

A Treasure Chest of Traditions for Catholic Families

and Saint Scripts Craft Kits (Series ONE and TWO)