Christmas at sea, explained for children and grown-ups too

Saint Nicholas, the sailors’ saint

On 6 December, when Saint Nicholas visits children in Romania, sailors celebrate their patron saint. For hundreds of years, Saint Nicholas has been seen as the protector of those who go to sea.

On the Greek islands there is an old custom: instead of a tree, people decorate a little boat, called a karavaki. It is a reminder of the sailors away at sea and of the families waiting for them at home. Today you often see one right next to the Christmas tree.

Christmas on board

• Captain for a day. In the British and Canadian navies, the youngest sailor becomes captain on Christmas Day, and the captain takes their place.
• Officers serve dinner. At Christmas, the officers bring the food to the table or help out in the galley.
• A tree on the mast. On the ships of the past, if the captain allowed it, a small Christmas tree was tied to the mast.
• Sixteen bells. At midnight on New Year’s Eve, the youngest member of the crew rings the ship’s bell sixteen times: eight for the old year and eight for the new.

The North Star, the sailors’ star

Long before maps on phones, sailors looked at the sky. The North Star stays almost still above the North Pole, while all the other stars slowly turn around it. Find it, and you know which way is north.

How to find it

1. Look for the Big Dipper: seven stars shaped like a ladle.
2. Take the two stars on the outer edge of the “cup”.
3. Follow the line between them about five times further.
4. There is the North Star, at the end of the Little Dipper’s handle.

Lighthouse keepers and the Flying Santa

Lighthouse keepers spent Christmas far from everyone, keeping the light burning for ships. In 1929, in Maine, USA, the pilot Bill Wincapaw wanted to thank them. On Christmas Day he flew over the lighthouses and dropped parcels of newspapers, coffee, tea and sweets. In the first year he reached about a dozen lighthouses.

The custom became known as the Flying Santa and went on for decades. Today, volunteers bring presents to the children of US Coast Guard families.

Things children can do

• Find the North Star. On a clear evening, go out with a grown-up and find it together.
• Make a karavaki. Fold a little paper boat, decorate it and put it by the tree.
• Write a card. For someone who works at Christmas: a sailor, a doctor, a firefighter.
• Draw your own North Star. In the middle of the star, write the name of someone who shows you the way.