San Nicola, saint bishop protector of the children, is represented with a
long cape, the white beard, the hat and the mittens, and accompanied by two
moors and several devils.
In the morning there is a procession with the
statue of the Saint while the afternoon is entirely dedicated to the
children.
San Nicola will ask every child if he or she did behave during the past year
and will give them candies and presents.
The legend says that San Nicola, to feed the children of a town, loaded a
ship with grain, fruits and vegetables, and then sailed to the city.
Once he
arrived there he knocked to the doors of the houses where poor children were
living leaving the food as a present.
Since that time san Nicola returns every year on the Earth to leave a
present to the children.
In some of the Ruprecht traditions the children would be summoned to the
door to perform tricks, such as a dance or singing a song to impress upon
Santa and Ruprecht that they were indeed good children.
Those who performed
badly would be beaten soundly by Servant Ruprecht, and those who performed
well were given a gift or some treats.
Those who performed badly enough or
had committed other misdeeds throughout the year were put into Ruprecht's
sack and taken away, variously to Ruprecht’s home in the Black Forest, or to
be tossed into a river.
In other versions the children must be asleep, and would either awake to
find their shoes filled with sweets, coal, or in some cases a stick.
Over
time, other customs developed: parents giving kids who misbehaved a stick
instead of treats and saying that it was a warning from Nikolaus that
"unless you improve by Christmas day, Nikolaus' black servant Ruprecht will
come and beat you with the stick and you won't get any Christmas gifts."
Often there would be variations idiosyncratic to individual families.
