El día del St. Thomas , celebrado de diciembre el 21, es también el día del solsticio del invierno, de la noche más larga del año y del día más corto. St. Conmemoran a Thomas en este día porque él era el pasado de los apostles convencerse de la resurrección de Jesús -- él era el quién por el tiempo más largo permanecía en la "noche del unbelief y de la duda." Éstos son algunas de las tradiciones practicadas en este día:
* Thomasfaulpelz o Domesel (lazybone o burro del St. El día de Thomas) era nombres dados a la persona pasada para salir de cama y para que el estudiante pasado aparezca en clase en esa mañana particular en Westfalia. (Tradition of der fulle Thommes in Cologne, with poems)
* The Rittburgische Hochzeit (Rittberg wedding), also in Westphalia, was an opulent meal served in the belief that if you ate well on St. Thomas day, you could expect to do so all of the next year.
* The Segensfrüchte (blessed fruit) represent basically the same idea. In southern Germany, it is hoped that when a bowl of fruit, vegetables and nuts is placed on the table, a lack of them in the year to come will be prevented. Exchanging gifts of apples and nuts extended this wish to neighbors and friends.
* Blutiger Damerl (Bavarian dialect for bloody Thomas) and Schweinethomas (St. Thomas pig) may seem odd terms in connection with a saint. They refer to the tradition that demanded that on Bavarian farms, and also elsewhere, the whole family and the farmhands sat down to an opulent meal of roasted pork on Christmas day. The pig especially raised and fattened for this occasion was called the "Weihnachter" (Christmas pig). It was usually slaughtered on this day to have the meat and sausages ready by Christmas.
Trying to steal a farmer's "Weihnachter," either alive or when it was butchered, worked about the same way as stealing the Maypole, only stealth and cunning were allowed, not bodily force. Very cautious owners slept in the piggery, so that they could better guard their "Weihnachter."
