h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've already told you that Santa Claus used to visit when we were little.

Last week I read something about Krampus. I had never heard of him before. The pictures on wiki look downright scary! We knew about Knecht Ruprecht http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knecht_Ruprecht

The interesting bit here is, that I don't remember Knecht Ruprecht in connection with Nikolaus Day (6th December), but with Christmas Eve.

This may well be a regional thing. I grew up in the north of Germany, and I learned poems which indicate that Santa and Knecht Ruprecht were indeed just one person. A little poem which we recited to Santa ran like this:

http://www.blinde-kuh.de/weihnachten/gedichte/lieber_guter.html

It translates as something like:

Dear, good Santa
Don't look at me so cross
Put away your birch
I'll always be well-behaved

A well known poem which was written by *the* writer from up there (I went to the Theodor Storm /(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_Storm) school in Husum, where he used to live) indicates that Knecht Ruprecht brings the gifts AND the birch:
http://www.kulturumsonst.com/weihnachtslieder/knecht_ruprecht.php

I won't translate the whole poem here, but to summarize: Chriskind is looking down from heaven and talks with Knecht Ruprecht who is on his way to town to either reward or punish children. Christkind deliberately asks Knecht Ruprecht whether he has his birch with him.
The whole conversation takes place on Christmas eve - the day before Christkind itself will descend to earth so it can be Christmas again.


Anyway, you can see that the folks up north were clever: they just mixed up the various Christmas customs and merged them all into one. We really were on the safe side there, as *somebody* would always be there and deliver the gifts on Christmas eve.

Btw, we weren't Americanised back then: Santa came by foot, and he had a donkey which bore all the gifts. And he didn't come form the North Pole, but from Wesel.

Here's the link to a song about Ruprecht/Santa with his donkey:

http://germanamericanpioneers.org/DerEselwokommtderEselher.htm

That's great! Can I ask what he used to wear? Did Ruprecht/ have a special outfit at all?

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This is fascinating stuff, Bel

Thank you for writing it.

Wot he said

Thanks all.

*sips *

The google translation of the poem came out as:

From outside, 'the forest I come here,
I must tell you, Christmas is it very much!
Everywhere on the spruce tips
I saw golden little light sit,
And up there in the heaven
Looked forth with big eyes the Christ child,
And as I strolled "through the dark Tann,
There's shouted at me in a clear voice:
"Knecht Ruprecht" it, "old fellow, cried
lifting the legs and Make haste quickly
burn catch the candles,
the heaven is opened,
Alt 'and boy are now
Of the ruhn hunting of life again,
and tomorrow I fly down to earth
for there shall again be Christmas, "
I said, "O dear Herre Christian,
My trip is almost over,
I shall only in this town,
Where's vainly good children has "
? - "Do as the little bag also with you"
I said, "This little bag, is this:
because apples, nut and almond core
eat pious children gladly "
? - "Do as the tail at you, too"
I said, "The tail, which is here,
but only for the children, the poor,
the she hits the part, right. "
Christ-child said, "That's right,
So go with God, my faithful servant! "
From outside, 'I come from the forest,
I must tell you, Christmas Vacation
! now speak, as I find in here
are good kid's are evil's child?

If only we had a babel

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Well, that's the problem with google translate: we have verbs which are split at times, like anfangen (to begin). We say something fängt an. Now the verb fangen means to catch. And so it comes that coogle catches burning candles, when we say that the candles start to burn.

We had Sinterklaas, the Nikolaus, *and* Santa

We had Daddy Christmas, also known as Santy Claus, and he came on Christmas Eve after we were asleep.

We used to put up the Christmas Tree up to a week before Christmas, but we'd only put up the crib (Nativity scene) on Christmas Eve itself. And we'd burn a candle in the window on Christmas Eve, as a sign that the Holy Family were welcome in our house.

I only knew nativity scenes from TV. My family wasn't religious, so there wasn't any in the house - and we never went to church.
My mum once made one from paper (a silhouette) which was lovely.

We have a Nativity scene at home, but it's in the roof so the children don't break the fragile figures.

And yes, when I was younger I did a Mr Bean and added Daleks, dinosaurs and King Kong.

A home made Nativity Scene would be so much better.

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I think Daleks add such a festive touch to a Nativity Scene.

And Father Christmas coming from Wesel, too.

When I was a kid, on Christmas Eve, the weatherman always announced that NORAD (the US defence system that was there to detect incoming nuclear missiles) had spotted Santa on his way. They promised not to send B-52s.

Have you been to Wesel when you lived in Germany? For us children it was just as exotic and far away as the north pole is away for children nowadays.

No, I've never been there. What's the most exotic thing about Wesel?

That it is mentioned in Christmas song, I guess. It's not too far away from Bonn, which is why I asked if you knew it.

http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&q=wesel&rlz=1V4IPYX_enDE459DE459&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x47b884d4fd0ca309:0x427f281315477b0,Wesel,+Deutschland&ei=7q_nToerM4nFswaF0aHGBw&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=2&ved=0CD0Q8gEwAQ

I don't know it at all.

It must be a magical place. It's near Gelsenkirchen.

The church looks beautiful:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wesel_willibrordi_dom_chor.jpg

And it's dedicated to Willibrord.

A87728999 Makes much more sense.

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