Virginia Theological Seminary

Decoration for Saint Nicholas Day

Arrangement in wooden shoe

By Adelma Greinier Simmons

Our symbol for the day is a simple wooden shoe, a sabot brought long ago from Holland. Instead of straw for the Bishop's horse, we place in it an arrangement of broom for Black Peter's switches; mugwort, the herb for foot-sore travelers who trudged behind the Saint; teasel for the cloth merchants whose goods Saint Nicholas protected on long sea voyages, and yellow tansy and yarrow to represent the bags of gold.

From A Merry Christmas Herbal by Adelma Grenier Simmons, William Morrow, 1968, p. 74

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