Samichlaus (St.Nicholaus) was and is still used as heavy educational tool. The parents ring up the person to be Samichlaus and tell him everything that their child has done good and also what it did not do good during the year.
When all kids are gathered and the young ones shake slightly in awe, Samichlaus appears with Schmutzli. Samichlaus bangs on the floor with his bishop’s staff and Schmutzli rattles with chains to frighten the kids even more. Then Samichlaus sits on his famous chair and opens his big all-knowing book. He calls the first child close and starts to read. First he reads all the good deeds.
If the child was good, at this stage it gets to recite a poem for Samichlaus who then rewards the child with a bag of nuts, mandarins and a toy.
But if the child was naughty he looks at the child with angry eyes and demands that the child will perform better at (what ever the parents want the child to improve at) and while he raises his deep voice Schmutzli starts to dance eagerly, rattles his chains and shows the bag he would pack the child into, if the child happened to be that bad, that it needs an extraordinary lesson.
In that case Schmutzli packs the (usually screaming) kid into the sack, throughs him onto his ‘Leiterwaegeli’ (handy little wooden cart that conveniently holds one or two kid’s bodies). He then takes off with the poor little soul to dispose of it in the dark forest - sometimes not before trashing the bag with his ‘Ruete’ (a bundle of sharp twigs).
This hopefully repels the child from being bold during the year and some parents still remind their offspring all through the year: be good or I tell the Samichlaus !
Even during processions in city streets this habit is still practiced and you can see the odd occasion when the Schmutzli claims a certain person, kidnaps him, trashes him and lets him go at some other obscure place. I’m not sure how frequently this is still done, but I remember seeing it during my childhood.
Another stunning custom called ‘Chlaus jage’ (Klausjagen, Santa chasing) is practiced in the Swiss town of Kuesnacht.
The origine of this custom refers back to the fact that the old Germanen and Alemanen worshiped the god Wotan. And anybody in those times knew that bad spirits and demons feared one thing: noise, namely paganistic noise (‘heidenlaerm’).
Young followers of Wotan set out during the winter solstice to blow horns, beat drums and bells and to yell what their lungs could give so that winter may get lost and to be speedily replaced by summer’s rich harvest.
This pagan nonsense would have been long forgotten but for the fact that the bishop of Mira received a participating part in the process of converting pagans to christianity.
The procession now is made up of 1500 participants some wearing kind of illuminated mitras in the dark and others being responsible for the ‘kravall’ (noise).
www.klausjagen.ch...
en.wikipedia.org...
This video will show you what it takes to chase bad spirits away.
The Christmas Tree
While the season is growing and Christmas gains in momentum - the first snow might have fallen and the sweet fragrance of xmas cookies might be floating on the air - it is time to organize the Christmas Tree !
There is much debunkle about connections of Christmas Trees to pagan varieties of ritual trees.
The Christmas tree was getting popular with the spread of Christianity. Whether there is a connection to other trees of life might not be a proven fact but that is not to say that there are no connections to it. Evergreen trees were always a symbol of everlasting life and fertility and suited well to celebrate Christ’s birth. That is why we decorate pine trees but put palms around the manger.
Similar to the decoration of the Christmas tree we can find customs of decorating whole trees in medieval times such as the ‘Maibaum’ and the ‘Richtbaum’, all with strong shamanic references. And the church had the habit of decorating a tree of knowledge on Dec 24th to commemorate Adam and Eve and the ‘Paradiesspiel’ the play of paradise.
‚Adam und Eva’ already known to ancient Sumerians of course still have their Names Day on Dec. 24th on the Namesday Calendar.
Orthodox calendar of saints
