Saint Nicholas Day blessed at church or at home. The host wafts incense over the table, then lifts and breaks the bread. Bulgarians also observe 6 December as the name day for those with the names Nikola, Nikolay, Kolyo, Nikolina, Neno, Nenka, Nikoleta and Nina. In the Netherlands the primary occasion for gift-giving is 5 December, when his feast day is celebrated. In Belgium they celebrate Sinterklaas on the morning of the 6 December. In the days leading up to 5 or 6 December (starting when Saint Nicholas has arrived by steamboat around mid-November), young children put their shoes in front of the
The Patron Saint of Eels the hagiography of a saint." The Patron Saint of Eels The Patron Saint of Eels (2005) is a novel by Australian author Gregory Day. It won the 2006 ALS Gold Medal. A moral tale, the novel tells the story of an Italian saint, Fra Ionio, who comes down from heaven to the small Australian town of Mangowak, to save some eels trapped in a ditch and to teach life lessons to some locals. Lisa Gorton in "The Age" noted that the novel "is gentle in spirit, reverent and celebratory", and "is as much a tribute to the life of a