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05 December 2009

san nicolò

alice got her first christmas gift this morning: mamy penby, a living pink penguin who talks, walks, feeds its baby and interacts. i had to change the paper to wrap the box because the other day the princess one i kept in the closet was accidentally seen by her -yuck! and since she already looks very sceptical about this santa's legend, i didn't want to instill doubts in her smart mind. anyway, she was happy and we loved her excitment. she played with penby all day, she even took it with her when we went out.

mamy penby was brought by st. nicholas (san nicolò), which we were not used to celebrate. in the rest of italy there's la befana, a witch who brings gifts on january 6 and who kept her role until the american globalisation of santa. but being trieste a city on the sea and one of the main ports of the austro-hungarian empire, it was influenced mainly by german, greek and serbian cultures, where the celebration of the saint is strong (december 6). and also, st nicholas is the patron of sailors, so they do have a fair in his honour here, too. depending on the cultural background, in some families this celebration is more important than christmas.

anyway, we've a long weeken ahead.on tuesday it's a national day off (immaculate conception) but since al must work on monday, we couldn't go places. well, it's cool enough just to stay home and relax at times. i've stocked in enough food to prepare my culinary delights and i've got 2 old copies of vanity fair plus my millennium trilogy to read. it won't be boring!

3 comments:

  1. Hi ! In Belgium too, at least when I was a child, St Nicolas was far more important than Christmas, at least for children.

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  2. Well, the comment above is from me (Hélène from Belgium)...didn't remember that my google account had that nickname (connected to the blog I made for my Spanish classes...)
    Love,
    Hélène

    ReplyDelete
  3. it's okay, helene. i'm glad you follow me in this adventure. all i need is the link to your blg now, if you still keep one ...

    ReplyDelete

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