{"id":382,"date":"2008-12-05T12:56:18","date_gmt":"2008-12-05T16:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/?p=382"},"modified":"2014-06-10T15:21:35","modified_gmt":"2014-06-10T15:21:35","slug":"mikolajki","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/mikolajki\/","title":{"rendered":"Miko\u0142ajki – Polish Mini-Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Until last week, when Pinolona<\/a> kindly reminded me about it, I had totally forgotten about Miko\u0142ajki<\/a><\/strong>. Maybe because it wasn\u2019t really a big occasion at our house when I was little. Or rather, it was a non-occasion. I vaguely recall getting chocolates from my grandma, or maybe a new toy, or a book, and I vaguely recall that this could have happened sometime around December 6th. But then again, I always got candies from my grandma, or books, or other cute little things, because that\u2019s what grandmas are for, right? They come to visit and they bring you gifts. No \u015awi\u0119ty Miko\u0142aj<\/a><\/strong> needed.<\/p>\n

Ah yes, \u015awi\u0119ty Miko\u0142aj<\/strong>! Let\u2019s get back on track here, shall we?<\/p>\n

So, according to the catholic calendar, December 6th is the day of Saint Nicholas, which would be English for \u015awi\u0119ty Miko\u0142aj<\/strong>. And somehow, in the Polish tradition, December 6th is a day (well, one of the days, really) when little kids are supposed to get little gifts. Little gifts, because the heavy-duty gifts are saved for Christmas, naturally.<\/p>\n

Hence, December 6th is called Miko\u0142ajki<\/strong>. You\u2019re supposed to clean and shine your shoes the night before, and if you\u2019ve been a good kid, you will find something nice in them the next morning. And that means I better start shining my shoes if I want to get any gifts tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Then of course, Miko\u0142aj<\/strong> does another round of gift deliveries at Christmas, or rather, on Christmas Eve as is traditional in Poland. Poor guy, he really gets a workout.<\/p>\n

Visually, he resembles Santa Claus, except for some areas of Kaszuby<\/a><\/strong> and Wielkopolska<\/a><\/strong>, where he morphs into another persona known as Gwiazdor<\/a><\/strong> and carries a stick to beat naughty kids. For the good ones he brings gifts, of course.<\/p>\n

Here is an interesting article about this \u015awi\u0119ty Miko\u0142aj<\/strong> vs Gwiazdor<\/strong><\/a> issue, unfortunately only in Polish.<\/p>\n

And as for me, I don’t care that much who brings my gifts. Miko\u0142aj, <\/strong>Santa Claus, Gwiazdor <\/strong>or Hogfather, it’s all good, as long as my presents get here safely and on time.<\/p>\n

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\n<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Until last week, when Pinolona kindly reminded me about it, I had totally forgotten about Miko\u0142ajki. Maybe because it wasn\u2019t really a big occasion at our house when I was little. Or rather, it was a non-occasion. I vaguely recall getting chocolates from my grandma, or maybe a new toy, or a book, and I…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[43,306823,1086,7476,3651,7580],"class_list":["post-382","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-christmas","tag-culture","tag-gifts","tag-mikolajki","tag-santa-claus","tag-swiety-mikolaj"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t