"Schmutzliis are nearly all brown: dressed in brown, with brown hair and beard, and a face darkened with lard and soot. He is St. Nicholas' helper in Switzerland. He carries a switch and sack, but no longer uses them. Children used to be told that Schmutzli would beat naughty children with the switch and carry them off in the sack to gobble them up in the woods. Today there is no more talk of beatings and such kidnappings."
My dear friend Suzy, who lives in Switzerland, passed along this information as well as the picture. Maybe there is something to the idea of rearranging the letters of SANTA to spell something more sinister. Whatever the case, I think even Andrew would prefer Alvin & the Chipmunks to these guys.
I would even be afraid of those guys!
ReplyDeleteThis tradition sounds similar to one in Holland...there they believe in Sinter Claus and his helper Black Peter who is painted all black and puts coal in children's stockings if they are naughty. The good part? He also throws cookies at the good children:)
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