1. St. Nicholas Sveti Nikola in Croatia

2. Books and websites I used Books I used: – Twas the night before Christmas Website I used: – http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/who-is-st- nicholas/

3. Why is St. Nicholas Day an important celebration? Saint Nicholas Day is important because it celebrates his life and ideas. -He was very generous -He loved children -He helped people in need -He believed in sharing with others He was so beloved he is known as the people’s saint

4. When and where does this happen? St. Nicholas is celebrated all around on the 6 th of December because he died on that day in the year 343. The countries that celebrate St. Nicholas include Albania, Argentina, Aruba, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech (republic), England (UK), France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Lebanon, Liechtenstien, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Republic of Macedonia, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and United States

5. What are some of the things do they do at this celebration? St. Nicholas is celebrated in different ways in different countries. For example, the fishing village of Komiža on the island Vis (Croatia) honours St. Nicholas as the patron saint of sailors and fishermen. When the sea is in line with the church of St. Nicholas, the sailors doff their hats to greet the saint and pray to St. Nicholas. As part of St. Nicholas’ feast day, a statue of the saint is taken out in a parade and an old boat is burned. When the boat is burnt, the villagers ask St. Nicholas to give his blessing for the coming year.

6. Do they wear special clothes? In Croatia, They don’t wear special clothes. But they celebrate by putting the children’s shoe out on their window sill on the 5 th of December and Sveti Nikola will come over night and brings you lollies or little gifts for being good but if you are bad you get twigs My grandpa told me that he always use to get twigs.