This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Companions of Saint Nicholas" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR(May 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
The companions of Saint Nicholas are a group of closely related figures who accompany Saint Nicholas throughout the territories formerly in the Holy Roman Empire or the countries that it influenced culturally. These characters act as a foil to the benevolent Christmas gift-bringer, threatening to thrash or abduct disobedient children. Jacob Grimm (Deutsche Mythologie) associated this character with the pre-Christian house spirit (kobold, elf) which could be benevolent or malicious, but whose mischievous side was emphasized after Christianization. The association of the Christmas gift-bringer with elves has parallels in English and Scandinavian folklore, and is ultimately and remotely connected to the Christmas elf in modern American folklore.
Names for the "dark" or threatening companion figure include: Knecht Ruprecht in Germany, Krampus in Austria, Bavaria, Parkelj in Slovenia, Friuli, Croatia, Hungary (spelled Krampusz);
Klaubauf in Bavaria, Austria;
Bartel in Styria;
Pelzebock;
Befana;
Pelznickel;
Belzeniggl;
Belsnickel in the Palatinate (and also Pennsylvania, due to Pennsylvania Dutch influence);
Schmutzli in Switzerland;
Rumpelklas;
Bellzebub;
Hans Muff;
Drapp; and
Buzebergt in Augsburg.
The corresponding figure in the Netherlands and Flanders is called Zwarte Piet or Black Pete, and in Swiss folklore Schmutzli, (schmutz meaning dirt).[1] In the Czech Republic, Saint Nicholas or svatý Mikuláš is accompanied by the čert (Devil) and anděl (Angel). In France, Saint Nicholas' companion is called Rubbels in German-speaking Lorraine and Hanstrapp in Alsace, East of France[2] and the Père Fouettard (Wallonia, Northern and Eastern France).
^Jacob Grimm, Teutonic Mythology (trans. Stallybrass): "Their pranks, their roughness, act as a foil to the gracious higher being from whom the gifts proceed ... how to explain the Swiss Schmutzli I do not rightly know, perhaps simply from his smutty sooty aspect? Instead of Grampus there is also in Styria a Bärthel (pointing to Bertha, or Bartholomew?) Schmutzbartel and Klaubauf, who rattles, rackets and throws nuts."
^"Christmas Eve Pre-Christian Traditions". Retrieved 15 Dec 2010.
and 22 Related for: Companions of Saint Nicholas information
The companionsofSaintNicholas are a group of closely related figures who accompany SaintNicholas throughout the territories formerly in the Holy Roman...
percussion. Saints portal SaintNicholas (European folklore) CompanionsofSaintNicholas A Visit from St. Nicholas, 1823 poem SaintNicholas, patron saint archive...
celebrates the name day ofSaintNicholas on 6 December. The feast is celebrated annually with the giving of gifts on St. Nicholas' Eve (5 December) in the...
been paired with St. Nicholas as a helper. Because Nicholas is a saint, it wasn’t logical or deemed a saintly behavior for Nicholas to deliver punishments...
Bartel may refer to: Bartel, one of the companionsofSaintNicholas Bartel J. Jonkman (1884–1955), U.S. politician Bartel Leendert van der Waerden (1903–1996)...
Cambridge companion to medieval English theatre. Cambridge companions to literature. Cambridge University Press. p. 187. ISBN 0-521-45916-8. The Language of Farting...
traditions, accompanied SaintNicholas. Guðmundur noted that sources for any kind of folklore in history were typically scarce, so the lack of written sources...
Christmas procession.: 155 The companionsofSaintNicholas are a group of closely related figures who accompany SaintNicholas in territories formerly in...
Depression era, by being one of the first to sell red food coloring and other flavor extracts with the use of point-of-sale posters and tear-off recipe...
well as SaintNicholas Day. It is traditionally white with red stripes and flavored with peppermint, but the canes also come in a variety of other flavors...
is part of a seasonal tradition in the UK dating to prehistoric celebrations of the winter solstice. Hollywood Reporter said it was part of an early...
The Feast of the Seven Fishes (Italian: Festa dei Sette Pesci) is an Italian American celebration of Christmas Eve with dishes of fish and other seafood...
the most chaste and pure heart ofSaint Joseph. Several venerated images ofSaint Joseph have been granted a decree of canonical coronation by a pontiff...
America and the United Kingdom, where it is traditionally consumed as part of culturally significant events such as Thanksgiving and Christmas respectively...
SaintNicholas was a 4th-century Greek Christian bishop of Myra (now Demre) in the region of Lycia in the Roman Empire, today in Turkey. Nicholas was...
and is married to Ev iyesi. Bies Chernobog and Belobog Krampus CompanionsofSaintNicholas Русские Народные Сказки»/Сост., вступ. ст. и прим. В. П. Аникина...
Nicholas Schmutzli is one of the CompanionsofSaintNicholas. He has a dark or sooty complexion and accompanies St. Nicholas on his gift-giving rounds. He...
sock-shaped bag that is hung on SaintNicholas Day or Christmas Eve so that SaintNicholas (or the related figures of Santa Claus and Father Christmas)...
as cider in other places, which is called "hard cider" in the US. Outside of the United States and Canada, it is commonly referred to as cloudy apple juice...