Dream of the Belsnickle

I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. —Isaiah 45:7 (KJV)

What is a Belsnickle you ask?

According to Pennsylvania Dutch tradition, a man dressed in furs and strode the village streets to celebrate the feast of St. Nicholas every December 6th. Children feared him but waited wild with excitement because they knew that he always brought them treats. He carried a sack or basket containing toys and fruit for good children, and a stout stick with which to discipline bad ones. He became known as Pelz-Nickel (Pelts Nicholas), or “St. Nicholas in fur”. In America he became known as Belsnickle.

Nowadays, the term Belsnickle generally refers to a bearded figurine, styled in the folk-art tradition, tall and thin like St. Nicholas, but dressed in fur like Santa Claus.

In a dream I once had, I was walking down a long corridor that was divided and decorated as if it were a succession of rooms. The last section, with its walls painted a deep green, contained a simple white fireplace. Dense on the mantle was a collection of Santas. In my dream journal I have written:

There were good santa clauses and evil santa clauses, representing darkness and light, punishment and reward, damnation and salvation. Of the santas there were swarthy wizards, French trappers and German hunters, Roman bishops and Greek gods, Bethlehem shepherds, medieval jesters and Elizabethan kings. Some had black skin, some were hairy and carried trees. Some were made from papier mâché, others were carved from wood. Every santa had its own numinous quality, as if each one were a representation of a hidden part of God. Above them all hung a great painting of Olde Father Christmas, dressed in white trimmed with gold.

Since the dream I have become interested in the great range of archetypes that can be contained within the figure of the Belsnickle. To the right is one I was given as a gift from my mother just this year.

Posted by Ned at décembre 06, 2003 10:03 PM