What if I haven’t been good enough to receive gifts from St. Nicholas? Lena thought on Christmas Eve morning. She lit a candle on her bedside table while she greeted the day. She brushed her hair and put on her best red velvet dress with a large bow.
As she straightened the quilt on her bed, the 11-year-old girl in Bolków, Poland, wondered if she had fibbed too much or not worked hard enough in school.
Maybe I can put on a King Herod Play for St. Nicholas and his angel helper when they visit the house? she thought. She hoped that she still had time to contribute Christmas cheer to the special season. Lena knew that not everyone believed that St. Nicholas had an angel with him as a helper, only elves, but most people in Poland believed the legend was true.
So, all day, Lena worked to make hand puppets for the characters of the traditional King Herod Play, a Christmas folk play, which was a short, humorous skit where the Grim Reaper and the Devil argued over the soul of King Herod, who tried to kill the baby Jesus.
“Lena Nowak, what are you doing?” her mother asked. “Your grandmother is always in charge of the King Herod Play for the village. She puts it on every year during our Christmas Eve celebration.”
“I want to do it this year!” Lena explained to her mother. “In case St. Nicholas comes in person, I want to put on a King Herod Play for him with my puppets.”
“Well, I suppose your grandmother won’t mind,” Lena’s mother said. “It will be one less thing for her to do today.”
“I’ll be ready by dinner,” Lena said. “It’s going to be spectacular!”
Lena looked at her polished shoes sitting next to their Christmas tree. Yesterday, she had polished them for St. Nicholas, and she hoped they would be filled with gifts for Christmas. In many countries, St. Nicholas stuffed stocking by the fireplace with presents, but in Poland, most children left their empty shoes by the Christmas tree.
All day, Lena worked on painting and gluing puppets. She started with the wicked King Herod, who ordered the killing of boy infants in Bethlehem when he heard that a child would be born as Messiah. Other characters in the play included Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, an angel, a Roman soldier, a village man and his wife, a cavalryman with his horse, a Field Marshal, the Devil, Grim Reaper, and gravediggers.
“The Herods are coming tonight!” Lena said. She joked with her dad while he watched her make a small stage in the house. She used boards from the outdoor woodpile to construct the stage with a hammer and nails. She was careful not to hit her finger with the hammer.
“The play is going to be fancy!” her father said. “I will set up chairs for everyone in the family, so we can enjoy it after Wigilia.”
Wigilia, the Polish Christmas Eve dinner with twelve dishes to commemorate the Twelve Apostles, was Lena’s favorite night of the whole year. Her mother always placed hay underneath the tablecloth to commemorate Jesus’ birth in a manger. She always set an extra place for an unexpected guest, and her father broke the first Christmas wafer with her mother after he said grace. He always asked God for blessings for the new year. He also always gave the animals at their home a special wafer as a way to remember the animals in the manger with Jesus. Legend was that all animals were granted human speech on Christmas Eve!
As Lena worked on her puppets for the King Herod Play, she looked forward to their evening meal. Fish was the speciality for the evening along with cabbage and challah. Poppy seed cakes were favorite desserts.
“Oh, no! I’ve run out of glue,” Lena said, as the last drop of glue dripped from the bottle. “What will I do now? The stores will be closed since its Christmas Eve. St. Nicholas will never want to sit and listen to my play if things aren’t glued properly.”
“It’s just glue. Maybe you can use some food to stick things together?” her mother suggested. “What about honey or icing? I’m sure that St. Nicholas will love your puppets!”
“Thank you, mother,” Lena said, as her mother handed her a jar of honey and a plopped a dollop of icing into a dish. Honey always stuck to her fingers, so it must be sticky enough to glue her puppets. Icing might get hard enough over time to act like glue.
“Have some pierniki, apples, and oranges while you work!” her mother said. “Dinner is almost ready!”
Although the honey kept the eyes on her puppets for a few minutes as Lena rehearsed her play, they fell off and rolled across the floor. The icing seemed to work a little better, but the eyes did not want to stay stuck on her puppets.
During the evening, her grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, neighbors, and friends gathered for Christmas Eve dinner. Lena lit a candle in the window, which symbolized the Christmas Star in the night sky that lit the way for Jesus. She also hung sparklers on the family Christmas tree like “little stars.”
As she looked at her puppets, which sat next to the Christmas tree, she wished that she had enough glue to finish the project. Despite being nervous about her play, she broke her oplatek Christmas wafers at dinner, and then ate as much food as her tummy could hold. She enjoyed the beetroot soup, Polish Christmas carp, herrings, pierogi, sauerkraut, cabbage rolls, kutia, and Polish piernik gingerbread.
By the time dinner was finished, there was a sudden knock on the door, and the children cheered: “St. Nicholas has come!” Lena stood up and ran to get her King Herod Play hand puppets. She organized them behind her stage.
“Merry Christmas!” St. Nicholas said. He walked past everyone else in the home straight to Lena with his filled sack. His angel helper with large wings and a golden robe stood by the door with more gifts and waited for the perfect moment to give everyone their Christmas reward.
“I’ve heard that you need glue to finish your King Herod Play,” St. Nicholas said. He handed her a new jar of glue. “Now, while I hand out the rest of the gifts, why don’t you finish the puppets, and then we’ll enjoy your production?”
“Yes, sir,” Lena said. She threw her arms around him and felt his long white beard and soft red jacket against her skin. She was so relieved to have more than honey or icing to glue her puppets.
By the time everyone else had received their gifts, Lena had finished gluing the last touches of her puppets and stage. She beamed with pride as she was about to present her show.
“Time for the King Herod Play!” she said. “Everyone, take a seat! St. Nicholas, you may sit in the front with your angel helper.”
As the play began, the tenderness of the Christmas drama from Lena’s heart warmed everyone in the room, including St. Nicholas.
“I want Herod’s soul,” said the Grim Reaper puppet. He bopped the Devil’s puppet in the head. The audience giggled at the humor that Lena created.
“No, I want Herod’s soul,” the Devil puppet said. “I want his soul more than you do!”
“Well, then, you can have it!” the Grim Reaper puppet said. “Just leave me alone!”
Then, the angel puppet fought the Grim Reaper, the Devil, and the gravediggers until Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus escaped from the Roman solider, Field Marshal, and a cavalryman with his horse that tried to kill them at the evil King Herod’s orders. They were saved by the village man and his wife who hid them in their stable.
As the play finished, Lena watched the faces of her family and friends filled with Christmas cheer. They were amazed at her talents and abilities.
“Did you do all this by yourself?” St. Nicholas said. “I’ve never seen such a wonderful Christmas play by a child!”
Then, St. Nicholas handed her Christmas gifts: a large sewing kit and books about the ancient Greek theater, and he poured candies and coins into her shoes.
“Thank you so much!” Lena said. “I can use the sewing kit to make more puppets. I’ll put on an even better Christmas play next year. This is only the beginning!”
As St. Nicholas gathered his things, Lena hoped he would return to star in her play next year. She already started writing the script in her head. She would have all year to perfect it.
“Oh, my darling, I would love to have the central role,” he joked.
He handed hand-blown Christmas tree ornaments to Lena and her family before he walked out the door with his angel helper.
Lena ran to the tree to hang the new ornaments next to the apples, nuts, cookies, and sweets that already decorated it.
“Until next time,” St. Nick chuckled, as Lena watched him head to his sleigh with reindeer. “Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia! Merry Christmas!”
“Merry Christmas!” Lena called to St. Nicholas and his angel helper from her front door. She was certain that she had been good enough to receive blessings at Christmas and for that she was grateful.
Copyright 2016 Jennifer Waters
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