So there hasn’t been a whole lot around here to get into the Christmas spirit. No crazy shopping deals, decorations on every street corner, or festive songs on every radio station. For those of you who have been living under a rock or have just tuned in, Turkey is a Muslim country so Christmas isn’t exactly something that is celebrated here… at least outside of the marina.
December 6th is St. Nicholas’ birthday. We don’t tend to celebrate it in America, but apparently in Switzerland and Germany it’s a huge deal. Because about 40% of the marina population is either Swiss or German, we sure did celebrate it here! Santa Clause day is what they refer to it as and it’s a chance for Santa Clause to make an appearance, meet the kids, and bring a donkey.
We always wondered how the man made it around the world in one night, and I think that mystery was solved for me at least Monday night. He makes his rounds and stops in the Netherland region first and then takes a little time off and works on the rest of the world. The truth is finally coming out!
I can really only speak for the Swiss because that is the type of celebration we had and I asked Corrine about the holiday and she is Swiss. Apparently it’s the celebration of St. Nicholas’ birth and because he was associated with Santa Clause at one point it’s called Santa Clause day. Parents go out and hire a Santa Clause to come to their house or to a party of some sort and actually talk to the children about what they have done right or wrong that year. Some parents keep a going list throughout the year just for this occasion and use it as almost a punishment type of tool, while others see it as a fun thing and look for the nicer Santas out there. The people who play the Santa Clause either rent or own a donkey for the night and show up with a live donkey. I’m not real sure what the purpose of the donkey is, but it made for a fun party. Sweets were given out and I was told that presents don’t happen yet. It’s mostly sweets and things of that sort for this night and then they do a gift exchange on Christmas Eve. I wasn’t real clear if Santa then delivered the gifts too (in which case the mystery remains) or I heard Mike, Corrine’s husband, say that the gifts are from Christ or more associated with that and that Santa never comes down the chimney. They keep the holiday separate.
All I know is I had a great time at the marina celebration and had some fun photos to show why.
Boaters in America tend to hang lights or have little Christmas trees in the cockpit. Here there aren’t very many decorations, but Harry, from Switzerland, has a Santa climbing up his boat.
This is a closer look at the Santa who has a light attached to his arm so at night he is visibly climbing up the boat.
I made this candle holder! Corrine had a craft time the Friday before the celebration and we learned to make these paper candle holders. I think I still remember how… lots of paper folding. They made great centerpieces though didn’t they?
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire… and Corrine breaking a hammer. They were trying to get the fire to continue burning and it took about 4 people to get it going and she finally did but had to sacrifice a hammer in the effort.
There were three tables of people. When I was walking around taking photos of them I started here and out of habit offered to taken them with their cameras… I ended up with about 6 cameras in my hand and started getting flash backs.
Left-Right: ??; Doug and Shania from Seattle; Ben and Eliza from Canada; ?? and Ellen from Norway; Stuart from England; ??; ?? waiter at the Navigator.
This was the table I was sitting at. Someone else offered to take the photo so I could be in it too which was really nice and awesome.
Left – Right: John from England who used to be at Kemer but now has his boat in Fethiye and was visiting; Stuart from England; LORD Ian from England who is also a veteran who is visiting from Fethiye; ?? John from Fethiye’s wife; Jennie from England; Chris and John from England; Katie and Dad from America.
This is the “German” table. Mostly Swiss actually but they all speak Swiss German so we refer to them as the Germans. They put on the celebration and it was amazing how much work went into it and how generous everyone was. Prost!
Left –Right (I’m going to struggle with this one) Mike and Corrine from Switzerland; Wolfgang and Bridget from Switzerland; ?? and ?? from Germany (they don’t really speak English and I don’t speak a lick of German so we’ve never really talked… just waved and smiled politely); ?? and Rosetta? from Germany ( again really nice people just a huge language barrier); Ursula and Harry from Switzerland.
Santa Clause arrived! And he brought a live donkey… but had some trouble getting it into the Navigator.
With some help and carrots he managed to get the donkey inside the bar/restaurant. We were all repeating a little poem… in Swiss German… that people recite in order to get sweets and goodies from Santa.
And it worked! Out came Santa with a bag full of little bread men that Corrine made and that were delicious. There were also plates and plates piled high with all different types of Christmas cookies that were wonderful and all hand made by the women on their boats which is unbelievable. The men were put to work grinding nuts and essentially making things that couldn’t be store bought here and the woman baked all of these cookies in the tiny ovens on their boats. It was amazing.
Everyone wanted to feed the donkey. I know I did… and I got to which was fun. The question on my mind was where do you rent a donkey? Apparently around here it’s quite common and there was a choice of two local farms that delivered the donkey for use.
Ahh the true Swiss Santa! Harry, the man playing Santa, apparently used to have a real gig doing it back home, he even owned his own donkey. He has two ducks and a crow on board his boat now, but I don’t quite think a donkey would fit.
Winco or super sailor, from Holland/Berlin, came out for happy hour and ended up staying for the festivities. Dad was showing off his bread man.
The donkey was trying to eat my bread man. We had heard it he-hawing all day and I wanted my picture with it.
Once the chestnuts were ready, Mike went around serving them up hot. I had never had one before so this was a first for me… interesting.
John, the visitor from England, used to live on a farm with horses and donkeys. This doesn’t look like it would end well, but he just got a little nip on the nose, no real injury.
I love this photo.
Again they were so generous and also provided a traditional holiday drink. I had never had it before and honestly can’t remember what they called it, but it’s a hot wine mixed with an assortment of other alcohol. Can’t go wrong there.
No Santa Clause party would be complete without an accordion performance by the man himself. What better way to bring in the holidays than a little old fashioned polka?
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