Where I live Saint Nicholas (Nikolaos Bishop of Myra) is known as Samichlaus. He is accompanied by the Schmutzli a frightening helper wearing a brown monk's habit and a donkey. If you behaved well over the last year, he brings you a bag with treats: like nuts, tangerines, apples, pears, or even chocolate. If not, then the Schmutzli puts you in his big bag and carries you in the deep, deep forest. But I got a bag.
Well, there are a lot of different traditions around Saint Nicolas.
Interesting for me and all traditions aside: this rarely noticed bearded head in the peanut, looking like our Samichlaus. Of course it has a biological meaning. It is the embryo of the plant. From the "beard" the first embryonic shoot with first leaves would arise and from the “cap" the embryonic root would be built.
“Would”,… because these nuts (actually a bean, means a vegetable, not a nut) will not germ.
