In Hungary, children have an extended Christmas celebration. Traditionally, Szent Mikulas visits on December 6th. Children polish their boots and leave them in the windowsill the evening before. Good children receive fruit, candy and small toys. Bad children receive a virgacs, or wooden switches.
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| Mikulas and his angel |
Larry's office hosted a Mikulas party last Saturday. We learned Mikulas is accompanied by an angel and a devil to decide who was good or bad. Yikes. Mikulas was a little thinner than Santa...no cookies for him, I guess. He was bilingual, so that was a plus. My kids started blankly at him as he spoke to them in Hungarian. Chelsea spoke up and said, "Nem beszelek magyarul." He then switched to English.
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| Chelsea wanted a hug. Cade just wanted the candy. |
Mikulas also visited Chelsea's class at school. There, they each got candy and a virgacs. Chelsea was excited about the virgacs.
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| Chelsea and her virgacs |
On Christmas Eve, there is no Santa visit. Instead, it is said that baby Jesus delivers the presents. Interesting, huh? I guess no crazier than saying Santa delivers them... and at least keeps the focus on Christ. When our kids realize that we're providing the gifts, it will be easier to tell them that Santa isn't real versus explaining that Jesus
is real, but baby Jesus bringing gifts isn't...to each their own. While we're here, we'll enjoy the celebrations of both our American and Hungarian cultures.
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