Blog Categories

Twas The Night Before Christmas & Where Is The Pennsylvania Dutch der Belsnickle?

H olding a small tree or a branch the hooded belsnickle looks stern and judgmental as he travels from home to home for Christmas visitations. The symbolic Saint Nicholas figure known as a Belsnickle was known to leave a naughty child a whipping switch, very unlike the Santa Claus we have come to know and love. The figure of Santa Claus first made its appearance among the Pennsylvania Dutch in the mid 1820s. The early form was known as Kris Kringle, or his older name, Belsnickle. From the German, Belsnickle is a derivative of “Pelz-nickle”, or “Nicholas in Furs “.

The tradition of Der Belsnickel was brought to America when German immigrants arrived and was soon adopted by other early settlers. Traveling the 19th century Pennsylvania countryside, the Belsnickle rang his bell, seeking out good children to give gifts of cakes and nuts to. For the not so well behaved German-American boy or girl he would warn the child to be good or else they may be getting smacked with his dreadful rod.

Until about World War II, if a family was a member of the Lutheran or Reformed church, a child might expect a Christmas Eve visit from the Belsnickle. Sometimes the visits were not regulated to just Christmas Eve but would run for nearly two weeks, starting the week before Christmas and then continuing until the New Year.

Quite often the Belsnickle figure was played out by a family member wearing heavy fur, disguising his true identity. Belsnicklers often blackened their faces with charcoal to disguise themselves. The Belsnickle would then travel from house to house waving his switches in the air. The Belsnickle’s gifts of cakes or candy were thrown on the floor, but beware! If a child were lucky enough to be tossed a treat, deeming them a good child, they could not retrieve it in the presence of the Belsnickler or be “whacked” with a branch. The Belsnickle would ask to see each child, asking them if they had been good. If the parents had tattled beforehand he would admonish the child as a liar. The child could try to redeem themselves by reciting a Christmas poem or singing a song.

Just like the tradition of milk and cookies for Santa, it was customary to feed the Belsnickle. While not always a welcome guest in all homes, in most houses they were invited in. They would then unmask and identify themselves and receive doughnuts, molasses cakes and coffee, lemonade, or cider.

By the early 20^th century Belsnicklers began traveling in bands, like trick-or-treaters. Going quite boisterously from farm to farm shortly after dark, the visits would end before midnight. Over the years the Belsnickle transformed from a raucous and traveling punisher of small urchins into a much kinder figure. His bundle of switches became a soft miniature Germanic feather tree, or even better a bag of toys and gifts.

So as you nestle in to your cozy Amish built bed for a long winter’s Christmas Eve nap consider this - If the Belsnickle came to visit you would it be a cake or a switch he might leave?

Tags: belsnickle, christmas pennsylvania dutch, collectible belsnickle, german christmas, pennsylvania dutch, saint nicholas

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 24th, 2008 at 12:59 am and is filed under Entertaining, Holidays, The Amish, The Pennsylvania Dutch & The Mennonites. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.