Children in Banja Luka were visited by as many as two good men: Father Christmas and Santa Claus. They arrived together, one in red clothes and the other one in grey.
Pupils of supply teaching lessons of Slovenian prepared plays for them and received presents in return.
On Wednesday, 14 December, the Christmas tree on the premises of the National Minorities' Club has already been decorated and children were impatient to see who left presents under the tree. Before we called for Santa Claus, we watched a puppet play “Sapramiška” and plays The Slipper Cat and Grateful Statues. The puppet play about a mouse who broke her tooth was performed by pupils of supply teaching lessons from Slatina. The mouse became brave and went to a dentist and that is why we, at the end of the play, all sang a song “My white teeth”. New generations of children grow along the Sapramiška fairytale and as favourite as the brave mouse is the one about a cat which takes children’s slippers if they do not tidy them up. The Slipper Cat play was performed by our youngest pupils while elder pupils performed Grateful Statues.
Following the programme we called for Santa Claus. This year we were rather surprised. Santa Claus did not come alone, he was accompanied by Father Christmas. They brought a basket full of presents which contained not only candies but also books. Children bravely collected their presents, and photographs with both good men will be a nice memory of new year’s expectations.
Barbara Hanuš
