Happy St. Nicholas Day!

Today is St. Nicholas (Sv. Mikulas) Day! If you're in the US, you may not have even noticed, but it is hard not to notice this day here. Last night on the way back from a full day of meetings and dissertation work at the seminary, I was treated with the Czech-eve-before-St.-Nicholas-Day sight: trios of children and youth dressed up as St. Nick, a devil, and an angel (see the photo). [You can even buy chocolate St. Nicks and devils in the stores; I haven't seen angels.] This is what they do:

St. Nicholas walks around finding children, then gives them either some candy or a lump of coal. The angel and devil lobby with St. Nick regarding which the child deserves based on this past year's conduct. Some of the trios really get creative with the costumes. I really like this tradition, although many of the youth particularly get into the devil character. Last year I saw one group with extra devils, just for fun.

On the dissertation front (since that is my life these days), I should be sending it to the committee either Wednesday or Thursday. I'll let you know.