In Britain, St Nicholas is one ingredient in the Santa Claus / Father Christmas / Coca Cola conglomerate figure, firmly associated with the 24th/25th December. In Austria, the saint leaves presents (typically nuts and oranges) in children's shoes on the 6th December. Here are some little chocolate-bearing Nikolos we found in our shoe drawer.
I was actually in Bratislava on the 6th, but nevertheless caught a glimpse of Nikolo himself, with his ever-present companion Krampus (the one with the chain and horns):
In some places you have to watch out as herds of Krampuses run around
hitting people with sticks or
throwing them into their sacks. This one was quite well-behaved.
A more palatable pre-Christmas tradition is mass biscuit baking. If you're not a great baker you might limit yourself to only four different types... P and friends have made two beautiful batches:
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| From bottom left, clockwise: Rumkugeln, Kokosbusserl, Zimtsterne, Vanillekipferl, Schokonuss-etwas?. And Linzeraugen in the middle. This was about one third of the overall output. |
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And of course there are the famous Christmas markets, which are lovely, (more or less) varied and absolutely everywhere.
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