St. Nick's Day brings history, traditions

Sunday night, families will hang their stockings – or, in some cultural traditions, put out shows – in time for the annual visit from St. Nicholas.

Monday morning, the kids will wake to find those stockings or shoes filled with small gifts or candy. The tradition is not celebrated everywhere, and in the United States, it’s often found in areas with high Catholic populations or areas with high amounts of Dutch and German ancestry – like right here in Northeast Wisconsin.

“Dec. 6 is St. Nicholas Day, and that is a day to remember the patron saint of children and sailors,” said Tim Brumm, manager of the education department at Heritage Hill State Historical Park.

“St. Nicholas was the bishop of Myrna – which is located in present-day Turkey – back in the 300s A.D. As the patron saint of sailors and children, there’s a couple stories that go along with that. As the patron saint of children, the legend is that Nicholas wanted to provide a dowry for the daughters of some of the poorer people of the community. He would drop gold coins down the chimney. People weren’t sure that was coming from a certain individual, then stayed up one night and watched him drop those coins down and identified him. So anytime anybody would come into wealth, they might attribute that to St. Nicholas.

“Also, for sailors, it’s reported that one time off the coast of Turkey, there was a storm and some sailors prayed to St. Nicholas. He appeared on the ship and calmed the sea; hence, he became known as the patron saint for sailors also.

“Today, of course, people put out their stockings or wooden shoes on the night before Dec. 6, hoping that St. Nicholas will come and reward them.”

We asked on Facebook about your St. Nick traditions. Click here to read the responses.

“Our tradition growing up was candy, an ornament and an orange in our stockings,” wrote Sarah from Oconto Falls.

“We love St. Nick night!” wrote Phyllis from Green Bay. “Our kids write letters to Santa and we put them inside the stockings. St. Nick picks them up when he delivers the goodies.”