RE: Sticks and Coal (Full Version)

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Toysinbabeland -> RE: Sticks and Coal (12/10/2012 7:04:35 AM)

Soul domain

Nice freudian slip.



FelineFae -> RE: Sticks and Coal (12/10/2012 7:14:45 AM)

Merry Christmas ?


Everytime i try to instal a spellcheck, my browser converts to Hongul.



Marc2b -> RE: Sticks and Coal (12/10/2012 7:27:10 AM)

I don't remember if I was told it or just assumed it but there was no doubt in my mind that it came from Santa.

The fact that Santa was real, by the way, was evident by the fact that on Christmas morning you could see a trail of ash boot prints coming from the fireplace, going around the tree, stopping off at the chair where the milk and cookies had been laid out (only crumbs and an empty glass remained!) and back to the fire place.

Also, in an entirely unrelated matter, one of our bizarre Christmas traditions was that dad always did the vacuuming on that day while mom glared at him.



AthenaSurrenders -> RE: Sticks and Coal (12/10/2012 7:32:15 AM)

Marc your family sound lovely. I love hearing about people's Christmas traditions.



FelineFae -> RE: Sticks and Coal (12/10/2012 7:37:20 AM)

i agree. Marc, you seem to really enjoy your memories.



Marc2b -> RE: Sticks and Coal (12/10/2012 11:30:54 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: AthenaSurrenders

Marc your family sound lovely. I love hearing about people's Christmas traditions.


And

quote:

ORIGINAL: FelineFae

i agree. Marc, you seem to really enjoy your memories.



Thanks. My childhood wasn't perfect (whose is?) but when it came to Christmas my parents got it right. It is but a brief time in our lives where we are innocent enough to truly believe in magic and experience such wondrous joy and my parents managed to make sure that my sisters and I stored up some good memories.




calamitysandra -> RE: Sticks and Coal (12/10/2012 11:38:35 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: FelineFae


my maternal grandfather remarried a woman of German ancestry, so maybe that is how we came by the legend of the switch.
e2a

Thank you, Rule. Your answer sounds like a most plausible explanation.



I am pretty sure that Rule has it right. The assistant of Nikolaus (Santa Claus) in Germany is Knecht Ruprecht, close to the Netherlands version of Zwarte Piet. They often look like this .
While Nikolaus brings sweets for the good kids, Knecht Ruprecht caries a burlap sack to stuff the bad kids into, and a bundle of birch rods (Rute) to switch them with.
In fact, there is a rather traditional sweets arrangement you can buy for Nikolaus day. It is a bundle of twigs decorated with small sweets. Looking something like this

As for disappearing Christmas traditions in Germany, there is the Christkindchen (translates to little Christ) getting lost.
Traditionally, Nikolaus (Santa Claus) and his companion Knecht Ruprecht appear in Germany on the 6th of December, either in the evening in person, handing out sweets, or the come during the night and fill the boots the children polished and left out, with sweets.
Christmas has always been the dominion of the Christkindchen, who brings the presents on that day.
Now, more and more, the Christkindchen is replaced by Santa Claus. Which means that in many families old Nick is actually making two appearances in December.



OsideGirl -> RE: Sticks and Coal (12/10/2012 11:47:31 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Aylee

We put carrots on the plate with the cookies for Santa, the reindeer must have gotten tme as they were chewed up the next morning.


I used to always pick out the biggest carrots I could. I'd come down Christmas morning to find just the stubs. A couple of years ago, my mother told me that she always felt like she was going to break her teeth biting into those carrots to leave teeth marks.



SylvereApLeanan -> RE: Sticks and Coal (12/10/2012 12:29:38 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: FelineFae

As a child, i was warned that if i was naughty, Santa would leave a stick in my stocking with which my adult guardians should employ to discipline my faulty behavior. But it seems no one else i've met is aware of this tradition. They correct me that if you're not nice, Santa leaves coal in your stocking.


My great-grandma on my mother's side always said it was a lump of coal and a bundle of switches (sticks). I thought it was a Southern thing since the Yankee relatives on my dad's didn't have the same tradition.

I haven't exactly lost my traditions as much as passed them down to my kids. One of ours is that the youngest person passes out gifts to everyone else. I'm no longer the youngest...my Kidlet is. But he shares the duty with his older brother and cousin. And my goofy uncle used to poke around with me under the tree and shake the wrapped packages to try to guess what was in them. I don't do that anymore, but my kids sure do. [:)]



searching4mysir -> RE: Sticks and Coal (12/10/2012 2:22:37 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: FelineFae

quote:

ORIGINAL: Rule

From wikipedia:

quote:

These songs and stories also warned that a child who has been only slightly naughty will not get a present, but a "roe", which is a bundle of birch twigs, (as a warning they could have gotten a birching instead) or will simply receive a lump of coal instead of gifts.


So there is your stick: de roe(de). (the roe)


There's certainly a theme of heat sources here. Perchance was Saint Nich' a Patron of Arsonists ?

e2a

Does anyone know the combustility of onions ?



He is the patron saint of children, sailors/ships, prisoners, and unmarried women seeking a marriage partner.

http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/patron-saint/



theRose4U -> RE: Sticks and Coal (12/10/2012 2:37:23 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: LadyPact

To the lovely fae,

I'm afraid I haven't heard of the stick, either. We heard the line about the coal growing up. Thinking about it though, I'm sure coal would have been a worse issue for the parents than the kids. Just imagine the mess we could have made with that.


I don't have to guess...one year I stole my brothers stocking after the parental units went to bed...left a bag of kingsford briquettes I found in the garage & took the cookies with a bite in them & santas note about being on a diet. Freaked my mom the hell out because she was santa & stockings. They had to come wake me so knew had been in bed. Took 2 days for them to find where I put the stocking & my brother cried for a week.

Huh guess do have a sadistic streak [:D][:D]



littlewonder -> RE: Sticks and Coal (12/10/2012 9:50:06 PM)

The story I always heard about an orange in the stocking was from a story told about the real St. Nicholas. As Nicholas was walking by two daughters in town, he overheard their conversation saying that they would not be able to afford the dowry to get married. That night the girls hung out their socks to dry and Nicholas filled them with coins.

The story is that the orange represents the shape and the gold color of the coins. It's also said the orange represents the sun and awaiting the renewal of Spring.

When I was a kid, we always got an orange on Christmas Eve after church services. For us it was for breakfast the next morning.

My grandma always made the oranges with cloves as a way to scent the house with Christmas fragrance. When it started to go bad she would slice it all up in a pan of water and boil it to get the rest of the smell from it for awhile.


As for what was in our stockings, we usually got what is called Barley candy.



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