Saint Nicholas Day
On December 6th, Saint Nicholas brings gifts of chocolate and biscuits
It’s been freezing cold here in Chicago, and already dark outside by 5pm. Last night I fell asleep very early, woke up wide-awake at 3am, put on the tree lights and made tea — I still needed to finish writing little bits of this post.
The Saint Nicholas Day treats I’d photographed earlier were still on the kitchen counter. The scent of the spices in the large Speculaas biscuit, molded in the shape of Saint Nicholas, smelled like Christmas and in the quiet, early-morning dark of my apartment, I felt like I’d stepped into my own Hallmark movie.
After I snapped back to reality, I got to work on the post, part of which was remembering to attach a link to a very good article about the historical St. Nicholas, who died on December 6th, 343 AD.
The world knows Santa Claus as the symbol of Christmas, who brings kids toys, but he is actually a modernized version of Saint Nicholas, the devoted Greek bishop who lived in the fourth century in the Lycian town of Myra in Asia Minor.
— Nick Kampouris, The Historical Origins of Santa Claus or St. Nicholas, link: Greek Reporter, December 6, 2021
The article speaks of the influence of the 1823 poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” by Clement Clark Moore in shaping the image of Santa Claus, along with the role of political cartoonist Thomas Nast’s depictions of Santa during the US Civil War. For more on this history, click here: Smithsonian
Saint Nicholas day is celebrated in several countries in Europe, including Greece, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and France.
, a Belgian pastry chef and chocolatier living in the UK, shares the experience of Saint Nicholas Day in this excerpt from her book, The Festive Belgian Bakery: Holiday Edition.From Sarah:
St. Nicholas is celebrated the evening of December 5th (the Nederlands) and the morning of December 6th (Belgium).
If you’re a child you get to put your shoe by the fire or the door and hope St. Nicholas will have left a little present when you wake up the next morning. Leaving a carrot for his horse or a drawing by your shoe or singing a song has been known to help. This is also the way for St. Nicholas to get your wish list.
Chocolate figures and speculaas biscuits are a common find by your shoe, they’re often even shaped like St. Nicholas!
You can find Sarah on Substack at
and in a recent post she shares her recipe for Speculaas, a beautifully spiced biscuit. Thanks, Sarah!
Day Six of “The Little Town” Advent Calendar
Saint Nicholas, of course! I love the shoes left for him to fill with treats. 👞 👞 ✨
See you tomorrow and Happy Saint Nicholas Day!
Jolene PS — I didn’t make that gorgeous Saint Nicholas Speculaas Biscuit, it’s from Hudson Grace and I’ve been nibbling on it with my tea all morning while finishing this post, delicious!
You had me at Hallmark movie…and the 3 am witching/writing hour 🤶🏻
It looks like a children’s story book.
It’s incredible.