St Nicholas Day in Greece

St Nicholas ,Nikolaos, is the patron saint of sailors and seamen in Greece.According to the greek tradition , his clothes are soaked with brine , his beard is always dripping with seawater.He fights storms to reach sinking ships and save men from drowning.
Greek ships carry an icon of st Nicholas.Sailors light a candle in front of his icon praying to have a safe passage. When a ship is on a storm and is in danger the sailors make a “ tama”, something like a promise to the saint.When they arrive at the harbor safe, they usually bring a small ship of gold, silver or wood to the church and put it on st Nicholas icon.

St. Nicholas´ Day

St. Nicholas' Day is on 6th December but we celebrate it during the night of 5th December. In this evening St. Nicholas together with Angels and Devils come to our houses. St. Nicholas has got a beautiful yellow coat, yellow boots and a white hat with a yellow cross. Angels have beautiful wings and dresses. They usually have beautiful hair too. Devils have horns and a very long red tongue. They are black and sometimes they have a tail and a chain. They have a sack. If children were bad, the devil puts them inside the sack. But only for a small moment. Then the children can come back. The children are afraid of the Devils but they like St. Nicholas and Angels who usually carry a basket with sweets for good children and coal for bad children. Let's go to one of the flats now... Today is 5th December. Now it is the evening. We are in a flat with three children. We are waiting for St. Nicholas' parade. Somebody is ringing. I am looking who it is. I hope, it is St. Nicholas. Yes, it is. I am opening the door. There is St. Nicholas, two angels and five devils. Children are begging not to let them in. But I am letting them in. The Angels are carrying a basket with some sweets. Children are looking at the basket. Now one of the devils is going to the children. He is asking them if they were good. They say yes. The Angels are giving them some goodies. The Devils give them some coal too. They are frightening the kids. Now they are finally leaving while St. Nicholas is smiling. They are waving their hands. The next St. Nicholas' visit will be next year. The children are happy and they will remember this evening for a long time. / written by Karolina Buresova /