Saint Nicholas Day.
This is an article I found in an old newspaper, and I am posting it because Saint Nicholas Day is December 6, I believe. This newspaper was given to my mom from a Polish friend. And Mom then gave it to me. This is a Polish newspaper printed in mostly Polish, and a couple of pages in English.
There are some very good recipes in here too! But they're written in Polish! I don't know how to read Polish. You ask how do I know the recipes are very good? Because ALL Polish food is very good!
A Recipe for Christmas Joy
Use one crisp-cold December eve topped by sparkling stars.
Add a pinch of frost and a layer of crunchy snow.
Prepare a crackling hot fireplace.
Sprinkle in some holly and a dash of fir.
Mix gently with a preparation of family and friends.
Top this mixture with the joy of a get-together.
Let simmer in the warmth and good will of each one's heart.
Season with a few smiles and a bushel of love.
Set before an evergreen tree tinseling with silver and topped by the star of hope.
Serve to the strains of a Christmas Carol.
Feel the goodness of living.
And the yield is one VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS.
There was no name of the author, maybe it was A nony mous.
And now I'll add this small description and little story that was in the newspaper along with the 'recipe', about Saint Nicholas, who will be coming around very soon to all the houses of those who know and like him, to leave some candy in the shoes of the children. I believe they must set their shoes out by the fireplace, or inside the front door, or wherever they usually leave them for Saint Nicholas.
He was the patron saint of European schoolboys during the Middle Ages, a saint who was thin, very tall, quite strict, and extremely serious. Early Dutch settlers brought this to the New World, and American writers and artists changed him. Washington Irving wrote of him as the guardian of New York City in his "Knickerbocker's History of New York". The Saint was described as a jolly fellow with huge breeches and broad hat, and he was smoking a long pipe. Additionally, he rode a wagon over trees and houses and dropped gifts from his huge pockets down chimneys.
In 1822, Clement C. Moore pictured him in his famous "A Visit From St. Nicholas" as a rounded, jolly person with twinkling eyes, a red snub nose, and a white beard. The saint's long pipe was reduced in size; the wagon was changed to a sleigh; and his Dutch clothing altered to a suit that was trimmed with fur. The sleigh, of course, came complete with reindeer, probably borrowed from the Scandinavian settlers in America. Oddly enough, the name Santa Claus was not mentioned.
Then, Thomas Nast, the cartoonist, changed the saint even more in his famous picture, "Santa Claus and His Works", which appeared in the Christmas, 1866 issue of Harper's Weekly. That picture is exactly what Santa Claus looks like today, together with sleigh, reindeer, toys, and stockings hung by the fireplace.
Isn't it interesting what American ingenuity can do to a solemn, middle-aged saint from Europe…
The newspaper is ORGAN ZWIAZKU POLEK W AMERYCE
-- THE POLISH WOMEN'S VOICE. Dated Thursday, December 19, 1974.
To all those who know and love Saint Nicholas, Happy Saint Nicholas Day!
I'll see at the Corner Post...
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