Well Santa is starting his rounds - tomorrow is St Nicholas’ Day AKA Sinterklaas and all the children in Northern Europe will be leaving their boots out for him to fill

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Picture: The Second Light of Advent & St. Nicholas Day by Frontier Dreams, on Flickr

Don’t forget to leave your boots out tonight for St Nicolas to fill…

Traditional celebrations of Saint Nicholas’ Day in Germany and other parts of Northern Europe include gifts left in children’s boots left outside the front door on the eve of St Nicholas’ day (the origin of Christmas stockings in other countries). Good children receive good things – sweets, gifts, oranges and nuts, while naughty children receive lumps of coal. Sometimes coins are left in the boots, representing the dowries that the saint provided to save young girls from prostitution.

 More on  St Nicholas’ Day (Sinterklaas) by Somewhere in the world today…

Picture: The Second Light of Advent & St. Nicholas Day by Frontier Dreams, on Flickr