Catholic Saint Nicholas Day

I wasn't raised catholic and never heard of this day until 2 years ago. My SO converted to catholicism to marry his 1st wife. He is decidedly not catholic anymore. Two years ago, the ex made a big deal about making sure the 2 kids celebrate St. Nick day by receiving fruit and gifts in stockings on Dec. 6.

SO couldn't explain St. Nick day to me and his mother, so the 9 year old had to explain it to us. She seemed confused to be explaining it to us because she had been taught in PSR that everyone knew about it and she seemed astonished that we hadn't ever even heard of it.

Anyways, I researched it a little bit after that and found out it is supposed to be celebrated on Dec. 6 every year. This year their mother made a big deal about St. Nick is supposed to come tonight, Dec. 8. I think it's because she has custody of the children this week beginning tonight and their dad didn't do St. Nick night on Saturday.

The children are now 8 & 11 and I don't understand why their mother is making a big deal out of this. Apparently she didn't celebrate St. Nick with them before the divorce. I think it is just to push the PSR more because the younger child is balking at being catholic already.

i WAS raised catholic and i've never heard of this! sounds like a cute tradition and all...but doesn't this woman realize that 11 is a bit old to still believe in Santa or St. Nick?

and sorry, it's probably obvious, but what is PSR? 

This is how they do things in Europe. It's a way to separate Jesus' Birthday (Christmas) from getting presents (Santa Clause/St. Nicholas).

That is... Europe Evades what America Embraces, turning Christmas into a huge financial "holiday".

PSR is basically propaganda school. I can't remember what it stands for. It is indoctrination of children into the catholic church. If the kids attend public school instead of catholic school they must attend these classes before they can take their first communion.

The P is parochial I think. Any other catholics want to help out with what it stands for.

Here the kids put their shoes out the night before (12/5) and then find small gifts in their shoes in the morning.  Why? I don't know.  More than anything they celebrate it at school, catholic school of course.

I wasn't raised catholic either, but over here (Belgium, and also The Netherlands), Saint Nick is a big deal. Kids get presents, tangerines and oranges, chocolate and marzipan. Basically, Saint Nicholas is Santa Claus, but as you said, Saint Nick's day is on Dec. 6th. It gets celebrated by just about everyone (including non-catholics), and it was my favourite day of the year when I was a kid - for obvious reasons ;).

It's pretty petty of the mother to have them celebrate St. Nick's...if you barely understand what it's about, and you have a perfectly good tradition such as christmas in place already, why confuse the children by adding a second Santa Claus? I get that you want to celebrate a saint's day if you're catholic, but hey, you could celebrate just about every day of the year then...It's sad to be using St. Nick's to push faith when it has become a holiday for everyone to enjoy, be they catholic or atheist (at least, that's the situation over here).
Plus, it's awfully confusing for the kids to be changing around the date; it's like saying Santa won't come before the 27th :/

That's my feeling as well. She shouldn't be pushing a catholic belief now when she didn't celebrate it with them before. Especially since the kids are now 8 & 11.

I was caught by surprise yesterday evening when the kids told me that St. Nick was supposed to come tonight (Dec. 8). I told them that he probably will come to them because they'll be sleeping in a catholic household that night. I also explained that almost everyone else celebrate St. Nick as Santa Claus and do it on Christmas eve.

Original Post by trhawley:

Here the kids put their shoes out the night before (12/5) and then find small gifts in their shoes in the morning.  Why? I don't know.  More than anything they celebrate it at school, catholic school of course.

One of the ladies I work with was raised catholic and she told me the shoe story as well. She said she was raised with that tradition. Quite a few of the other catholics I've met had never heard of St. Nick day. Those catholics I talked to weren't raised in big catholic communities. I now live in a predominantly catholic community and it is different in many ways from how I grew up. Until moving up here I didn't realize how very different the catholics were.

I guess it's a case of tradition, and in the US it would make sense to celebrate christmas and Santa Claus, and not St. Nick's - I didn't believe in Santa Claus when I was 5, and I'm not going to start now even though christmas has become such a huge (commercial) success over here, and same goes for those kids, I suppose.

I was raised Catholic and don't know what PSR means.  We had CCD (Catholic Catochism D....) not even sure what it means.  You had to take it before you could make your first commuion or confirmation.

We left out little boots, but that was in January when the wise men came.  I maybe adding more confusion, but......

I guess propaganda school covers it pretty well in both cases.

I agree

I'm not catholic, but when I was a kid we started celebrating St. Nick's day, mainly because I saw it as another opportunity to get candy in December! So I asked my mom if we could do it, and we did for several years.

But on another note, it sounds like these kids are being put in the middle of a conflict between their parents about religion. It's totally fine for your SO to not be catholic anymore, but he also needs to be respectful of his ex's faith. I don't see the big deal about the ex introducing a new tradition when the kids are with her.

I wouldn't see a big deal if she had been celebrating this all along while they were married and had asked SO to maintain it as she wants them raised catholic. If it was a tradition and she was explaining it as a tradition that would be one thing. She's basically introducing another mythical character at the ages of 8 & 11.

As a side bar, I'm not catholic but my ex-wife is.  Our local catholic school is k-5 and my youngest is a second grader there.  So far religion has not been an issue.

I married a "cradle catholic" and converted 2 years ago, I was Baptist.  He's talked about celebrating St. Nick's Day from when he was a child.  He seems to have found memories of it.  We have a 2 year old and will probably begin the tradition next year with her.  But, they would leave a sock out and receive fruit and nuts, sometimes candy in it.  Can't wait to start the tradition! 

Are you going to do St. Nick and Santa Claus as separate entities?

Original Post by theresa5656:

I was raised Catholic and don't know what PSR means.  We had CCD (Catholic Catochism D....) not even sure what it means. 

haaha we had CCD too. my friends and i referred to it as Central City Dump. the only thing that got me through that was the snack. mmmm jello squares. when i was old enough to rebel, i would "accidentally" come home on the bus instead of going to CCD and tell my mom i forgot :p

i'm so glad my kids will never be subjected to that!

To my kids Saints and Santa Claus aren't the same.

I think it's Parish School of Religion.

Original Post by moonikins:

I wouldn't see a big deal if she had been celebrating this all along while they were married and had asked SO to maintain it as she wants them raised catholic. If it was a tradition and she was explaining it as a tradition that would be one thing. She's basically introducing another mythical character at the ages of 8 & 11.

I get what you're saying, but do the kids necessarily see St. Nick as another mythical character? By 11, the older one doesn't still think Santa is real, right? So this is just another celebration. Maybe the ex introduced it after the divorce because she wanted new traditions that she shared with her kids, as a way to feel closer to them?