St. Nick's Day is a holiday tradition on Dec. 6 for many Wisconsin families. Here's what you should know.

Every year, about 2½ weeks before Christmas, children in the Milwaukee area look forward to a holiday that quells their excitement for the big day, that tides them over with a mini-Christmas morning. That holiday is St. Nick's Day.

What is St. Nicholas Day?

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, St. Nick's Day is the feast day of St. Nicholas, a 4th century bishop who is also the patron saint of Russia, Greece and children.

Who was St. Nicholas?

St. Nicholas was noted for his generosity, and his legend was kept alive in Holland, where he was referred to as Sinterklaas, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. He was thought to bring gifts to good children and lumps of coal to bad children. His legend would eventually be merged with many other nationalities' traditions to become Santa Claus, but in parts of Europe, including Germany, St. Nick's Day remains separate from Christmas. 

When does St. Nicholas come?

St. Nick's feast day is Dec. 6. Traditionally, he leaves gifts in stockings or shoes the night of Dec. 5 for children to find in the morning.

Why is St. Nicholas Day popular in Wisconsin?

According to the St. Nicholas Center, in areas with pronounced Dutch or German ethnic history — such as Milwaukee — St. Nick's Day is celebrated.

A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article from the archives offers some history: "Like the fish fry and frozen custard, the celebration of St. Nick's Day, though not exclusively a Milwaukee tradition, is especially strong here."

Milwaukee-area residents have also discovered to their surprise that St. Nick's Day is not celebrated everywhere. Kathie Devlin, who grew up in West Allis, learned about the legend of St. Nick in grade school at St. Aloysius, including that St. Nick's is celebrated in cities where large populations of German or Dutch people settled.

And as a child growing up in southeast Wisconsin, Heather Grams thought St. Nick's Day was a holiday every child celebrated. Then she grew up and moved away. She's lived in Colorado, North Carolina and Virginia, and the only people she came across who celebrated the mini-holiday were other people who came from the Midwest.

"It's definitely a Midwest thing," Grams said. "When we lived in other states, my daughter would come home confused because she'd ask other kids what they got in their stockings and they didn't know what she was talking about."

Is St. Nicholas Day a Catholic tradition?

According to the St. Nicholas Center, St. Nick's Day is celebrated in many Catholic churches, as well as Orthodox and Episcopal churches. However, the holiday is not exclusive to those religions.

What other states celebrate St. Nicholas Day?

Places with Dutch traditions, including Holland, Michigan, and areas of Illinois and Iowa celebrate St. Nick's Day, according to the St. Nicholas Center. As for the German variation of the tradition, St. Nick's is celebrated in Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Cleveland and St. Louis.

How are St. Nicholas and Santa different?

While St. Nick is based on the legend of St. Nicholas, Santa Claus is an amalgamation of several ethnic holiday traditions and became popular in the United States in the 19th century.

Also, in most places, Santa brings gifts on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24. In some places, children stay up late to open their gifts on Christmas Eve, whereas in other areas, children wake up Christmas morning to find the gifts Santa has left either in stockings or under the Christmas tree, or both.

What does St. Nicholas bring?

In Europe, where the St. Nick traditions originated, it's customary to leave shoes or stockings for St. Nick to fill with treats such as oranges, chocolate coins and candy canes.

Many families, though, have made the holiday their own, and children look forward to their own traditional gifts on St. Nick's Day — including handmade ornaments, old-fashioned toys, Christmas-themed candy and the family's Elf on the Shelf.

Contact Amy Schwabe at amy.schwabe@jrn.com.