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

Been living here in Germany for about 15 years and still I forget the St. Nickolaus Day on the 6th of December. Okay, remembered a few days ago and got something interesting for my wife.

For those, not in the know, this is where the children polish their shoes the night before and put them out somewhere in the house. My children also put out some carrots for Max (the reindeer). They also wrote some excellent messages and pictures for him. (shhh ... keeping them all in four large metal tins for when they are older!!).

They got a little carried away last night with the cleaning of the shoes, they used a little too much water, meaning that most had no shoes to go to school this morning ... still, wearing Wellingtons fits pretty got into rural life, around here!!!

So, St. Nickolaus came last night and brought lots of nice stuff with him ... mandarins, chocolate, and some sort of small toy figures, audio cds and a few books (don't forget I've got 4 children).

I got a mug full of chocolate and some really nice sugary jellies! All fitted nicely in my riding boots!!

Does St. Nickolaus also have a big stick like the German Santa Claus? Isn't St. Nick another name for the devil in some parts of England?

No - Old Nick.

Oddly enough...St Nicholas church at the Liverpool Pier Head has a tradition that the devil arranged to meet the wind there. The devil didn't show up. The wind has been waiting ever since. sailors used to line up on it to catch the breeze.

Isn't Sant Nikolaus followed round by Schwarzpeter - as scary black man who beats the naughty children with his stick?

That would be Knecht Ruprecht.
Schwarzer Peter is a crad game for children.

Preview

Card game.

Thanks Edward for the wind story ...

Tell me, Bel, what did you get in your stockings? Do children still expect St. Nickolaus to come around even in their teens?

Could the black guy possibly have regional names? In Ruedesheim am Rhein, I was told he was Schwarz Peter, (But you live not so far away, no?)

I don't live that far from Rüdesheim, but it's a completely different region to where I grew up (near the Danish frontier), so it is possible they call him Schwarzer Peter. Personally, I've never heard him called that, though.
I didn't get any Nikolaus, but the boys were chuffed when they came back from school and found a small bag of on their desks. They said they hadn't expected to get anything anymore. I usually managed to really put something into ntheir shoes the night before, so they would find it in the morning, but hadn't got any chnace of buying sweets this week. Plus, they go to sleep later than I do nowadays.

If you were to put frightfully before the "chuffed" one might think that one is speaking to someone from the nobler classes, Bel! Your Vocab is brilliant ... wish I could speak such good German!

Aww, thank you.

That's because I've been writing and reading in English all day long ever since I joined hootoo. If you were to read all these conversations and guide entries and many books in German for four years, and 'talk' to your friends as much as I do, I bet your German would be just as good as you say my English is.

Not sure if the people on German forums are so tolerant! I remember my colleagues used to laugh (with me) when they read entries in the Dienstübergabebuch that I use to have to write.

Can you recommend a German forum?

No, sorry. I've never been in a German forum, I wouldn't even know where to find one.