Le Saint Nicolas

This past Friday I participated in the Festival of Saint Nicholas. It is a traditional carnival celebration mainly found in Belgium and small parts of the surrounding countries of Germany and France. For all of the students in their final year of high school (rhétos) we wear a shirt for the day as well as a lab coat that classmates write messages on. On the back of these lab coats, kids have different cartoon characters or figures from well known pop culture and media. The purpose of the day is a reversal of roles it is a day when the Rhétos are the teacher and the teachers are the students. As a class we organized a show to perform for the underclassmen with a guest feature of Saint Nicholas himself. At different points throughout the show students were called up to the stage and forced to do embarrassing things or answer embarrassing questions. If they answered incorrectly, performed particularly well, or were just called up, they received a shaving cream pie to the face.

The actual day of Saint Nicolas is December 6th and is a celebration similar to that of the Christmas traditions found in the United States and Europe. Saint Nicholas comes to town and asks the children if they have done their best this past year. He then looks in his rather cumbersome book to verify whether or not they are telling the truth. Good children receive presents from him while the bad ones are beaten or given coal. The tradition is for children to receive foods and candies in their shoes (this can be seen in the American Stocking tradition) This is not to say that Christmas is not equally if not more so celebrated. Saint Nicholas is the celebration of a real saint, a man who lived and preformed good deeds, which is why he is celebrated. At the same time, Christmas is centered around a fictional fantasy fabricated in the light of the real man of Saint Nicholas. At the same time the inversion of power, which can be seen with the Saint Nicholas festivities is directly related to Christmas celebrations.

In the United States, Saint Nicholas was related to the festivities of carnival celebration. When this type of event originated in Europe it was intended to be a complete reversal of roles. The peasants would enter the homes of the rich and demand food and drink and would cause mayhem.  It was the one time a year where they had power over their superiors. This was largely accepted because it was known that the next day the norms would be restored. One of the reasons that this carnival festival was celebrated at this time a year was because it was a time of great plenty. The crops were being collected and stored and the animals were undergoing slaughter because they would not survive through the winter. Therefore there was plenty of resources to share and experience in excess.  However one of the reasons that Saint Nicholas came into play was because when the celebration moved to the United States, the church banned these activities from happening. There were many behaviors considered immoral by the church which took place on this day, which was why it was not allowed to be celebrated. By incorporating this saint, Saint Nicholas, it allowed for the celebration of carnival to continue because he was a good man who preformed good deeds and was not consumed by the mayhem that conducted the day.

It was super cool to be a part of this tradition in Belgium because for me it also created a great feeling of community. All of the rhétos in the area were all together sharing in the fun of the day wearing the same lab coats and having a great time causing mischief in Verviers. It is a holiday that I would love to have come to the United States!