A traditional winter procession with loud noise and lanterns to find Samiclaus…

On the 6th of December Samiclaus (or St Nikolaus) comes to visit kids in Switzerland. At school we made lanterns and learnt a song for Samiclaus.

Bens with his lantern and bag of treats from Samiclaus

Then, last night we met at my school at 6pm. The whole village came, probably 200 people including lots of kids. There was a bonfire and they were cooking hot punsch over the fire. We heard a really loud noise and we went to see what it was. It was a lot of dudes dressed in white with big as cow bells and whips (to make that sonic boom sound with).

They led the way, and we all followed them up the hill to the forest with our lanterns. We went to call Samiclaus out from the forest. He soon appeared with his helpers, a donkey and two schmutzlis. They looked scary all dressed black with faces painted black, with bells around them. Can you spot the donkey and two schmutzlis in the video?

Then we followed Samiclaus back down the hill to the school. He read us a story and we sang a song to him. He gave out bags filled with peanuts, lebkuchen, mandarins and chocolate to all the children.

We had cervelas and bratwurst to eat and played with my friends. It was great fun.

Here’s a bit more information about the Swiss Father Christmas origins and traditions

The Swiss Father Christmas was based on Saint Nicholas, whose feast day was celebrated on Saturday – his Swiss German name, Samichlaus, alludes to that. But the origins of his sinister companion are less easy to make out.Known as Schmutzli in the German part – Samichlaus’s alter ego usually carries a broom of twigs for administering punishment to children whose behaviour throughout the year has not been up to scratch.