December 17, 2012 - Saint Nick and Black Pete

Here we have good old St. Nick (an actor, not the real dude), the real life inspiration for our now ubiquitous Santa Claus.

With him is Black Peter, St. Nick's evil servant. He was perpetually lurking over St. Nick's shoulder, ready to snatch the bad children and send them straight to hell.

One version of this interesting tale can be found here.

Enjoy!

Thanks to Ibby for keeping us going last week!

Apologies for my absence. It was a very, very difficult week taking care of my bipolar hubby. He is very unstable at the moment and riding the wave has been a real challenge. If anyone knows of what I speak, send me a private note, will you?

Hi CaliMama,
good to see you back, and I hope things are improving for you.


The evil servant is an interesting tradition. I think he's just disgruntled.

Black Peter is certainly... umm... black.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LurEuv7LjMU

They look a lot happier like this, don't they?

The story "Six to Eight Black Men" by David Sedaris captures the Nikolaus story so very nicely.