Saint Nicholas and Jelly Shots

As far as I can tell, German students breathe for the sake of parties. Practically every night, regardless of if there are classes the next day or no, you can find a party raging from 23:00 to 3:00, prime sleeping time in my mind. Then again, I did get up at 5 today for no reason...

Normally, I just don't go to parties. I dislike drunkenness, loud music, and trying to make small talk with strangers. However, our floor, in order to raise money for the building as a whole, is required to host one party per semester. We have decided to honor a tradition and put on a Niko-party this Thursday.

Niko refers to Saint Nicholas of Myra (or Nikolaus with the German spelling), a martyr who lived in present day Turkey around the beginning of the 4th century. A number of legends surrounded him, such as that he left small coins or treats in people's shoes in the middle of the night. Santa Claus and Father Christmas get a lot of their style from him.

The unofficial holiday takes place on the 6th of December. For the most part, only children and their parents take part. The children place their shoes and boots by their doorway the night before. In the morning, they find them filled with fruit and candy. Sometimes in schools or in families with the proper attire, someone dresses up in bishop clothes and a long beard and reads from a giant book whether the children have been good or bad. A man in a brown or black cowl sometimes accompanies him. He is known as Knecht Ruprecht (Servant Rupert). To the good kids, Saint Nicholas gives presents, and to the bad...did I mention Ruprecht carries a switch? In some traditions, he leaves a switch in bad children's shoes as a warning. In others, whoever dresses up as the saint interrogates the children about their behavior and give them a (nowadays fake) switching if they aren't up to snuff.

What's more, in parts of Bavaria and a number of alpine countries, instead of a single Knecht Ruprecht, Saint Nick is accompanies by hordes of devil-like monsters called Krampus. They roam the streets on October 5th and threaten to beat or even kidnap naughty children.
Nightmare before Christmas anyone?





Sadly, the party we are planning won't have anything to do with dressing up as demons and running around outside. Instead, we will sell glühwein and hot chocolate, give out green and red jelly shots to anyone with a Santa hat, and put out strategically salty pretzels. (A thirsty crowd is a lucrative crowd.) Everyone on the floor who can make it has to take a two hours shift at the bar. That means that from 9 to 11, I get to be a bar tender. That ought to go well...

to be continued.