Belsnickel (also known as Belschnickel, Belznickle, Belznickel, Pelznikel, Pelznickel, Bell Sniggle[1]) is a crotchety, fur-clad Christmas gift-bringer figure in the folklore of the Palatinate region of southwestern Germany along the Rhine, the Saarland, and the Odenwald area of Baden-Württemberg. The figure is also preserved in Pennsylvania Dutch communities[2] and Brazilian-German communities.[3]

Cultural perspective

Belsnickel is related to other companions of Saint Nicholas in the folklore of German-speaking Europe. He may have been based on an older German myth, Knecht Ruprecht, a servant of Saint Nicholas and a character from northern Germany.[4] Unlike those figures, Belsnickel does not accompany Saint Nicholas but instead visits alone[4] and combines both the threatening and the benign aspects which in other traditions are divided between the Saint Nicholas and the companion figure.

Belsnickel is a man wearing fur. He is typically very ragged and disheveled. He wears torn, tattered, and dirty clothes, and he carries a switch in his hand with which to beat naughty children, but also pockets full of cakes, candies, and nuts for good children.

A first-hand 19th-century account of the "Beltznickle" tradition in Allegany County, Maryland, can be found in Brown's Miscellaneous Writings, a collection of essays by Jacob Brown (born 1824). Writing of a period around 1830, Brown says, "we did not hear of" Santa Claus. Instead, the tradition called for a visit by a different character altogether:

A writer to the letters column of The Times refers to an illustration of "Pelz-Nickel" in a book by English author Harriet Myrtle, The Little Sister (1851). German illustrator H.J. Schneider depicts him "in a long cloak, pointed hood, a fur round his neck, with a long white beard, and a big bag."[12]

Stoudt's Brewing Company of Adamstown, Pennsylvania, brews a seasonal dark lager called "Belsnickle".[13] Otto's Pub and Brewery of State College, Pennsylvania, brews a "Belsnickle" ale.[14]

The antagonist of the 1941 John R. Neill book The Scalawagons of Oz, the thirty-fifth entry in the Oz series created by L. Frank Baum, is a mysterious monstrosity called Bell-snickle. It first appears as "a large bluish-green object, flat as a buckwheat cake, and rolling along on its edge like a cartwheel." The creature does have arms and legs, as well as facial features; it wears bells on its ears, explaining at least one portion of its name. The creature has the egotism and petulance of a spoiled child.[citation needed]

In 2000, author Chet Williamson published Pennsylvania Dutch Night Before Christmas, a children's picture book that includes Belsnickel in a Pennsylvania Dutch version of "The Night Before Christmas".[15]

In "Dwight Christmas", season nine episode ten of The Office, Dwight Schrute dresses as Belsnickel and spends a significant portion of the episode deciding if his co-workers were "impish or admirable" at the company Christmas party.[16]

The 2020 Netflix film The Christmas Chronicles 2 features Belsnickel, played by actor Julian Dennison, as the movie's main antagonist. His goal in the movie is to destroy Christmas.[17][18]

Etymology

See Belsnickel § Etymology

See also

References

  1. ↑ Adams, Thomas (21 December 1854). "Hurrah, Hurrah, Hurrah, War - War". Daily Illinois State Journal. p. 2. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  2. ↑ "Belsnickel Christmas Tradition - Story, Legends". www.indobase.com. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  3. ↑ Castro, Álisson (January 2015). "Percursos de personagens natalinos da Europa para a América: entre familiaridade e estranhamento [Routes of christmas Characters from Europe to America: between familiarity and strangeness]". Métis.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Toland, Bill (25 November 2012). "The Next Page: Meet Belsnickel, the Counter Claus". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Archived from the original on 19 October 2014. Rupert was from Northern Germany, while Belsnickel was a Rhine province tradition
  5. ↑ Jacob Brown, Brown's Miscellaneous Writings, Printed by J.J. Miller (Cumberland, Maryland 1896), page 41.
  6. ↑ Lauer-Williams, Kathy (29 November 2013). "The history of Belsnickel: Santa's cranky cousin". The Morning Call. Allentown, Pennsylvania.
  7. ↑ Kline, Dave (19 December 2012). "Yes, Helen, there is a Belsnickel". Berks Country. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013.
  8. ↑ 'Notes and Queries', volume 8 (217), 24 December 1853, p.615 The article is signed 'Uneda', one of the pen-names used by contributor William Duane (1808-1882) of Philadelphia.
  9. ↑ "BELSNICKEL IN INDIANA". www.mrshea.com.
  10. ↑ "Nova Scotia Belsnickling is real — and here's a photo to prove it - CBC Radio". Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  11. ↑ "Sociedade do Pelznickel". pelznickel.blogspot.com. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  12. ↑ Barron, Hilda. "Father Christmas." The Times [London, England] 23 December 1942: p. 5.
  13. ↑ ""Belsnickel Lager", Stoudt's Brewing Company, Adamstown, Pennsylvania". Archived from the original on 23 March 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  14. ↑ "Craft Beer in State College, PA - Drafts On Tap At Otto's Pub & Brewery". Otto's Pub & Brewery. Archived from the original on 28 November 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  15. ↑ Jurgelski, Susan. "Elizabethtown writer offers Pennsylvania Dutch version of famous children's story Vas Night Before Christmas", Lancaster New Era, 12 December 2000: p. B1.
  16. ↑ Ehrlich, Helen (29 December 2018). "Yes, Belsnickel is a Real Thing, and No, it's Not Just from 'The Office'".
  17. ↑ Han, Karen (19 October 2020). "Hot Santa returns in the trailer for The Christmas Chronicles 2". Polygon. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  18. ↑ "The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two". 25 November 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2020 – via IMDb. [unreliable source?]
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belsnickel