Now is a busy time for the Swiss Ladies Dubai group that is working frantically to ensure the success of its most important community event of the year — the Samichlaus children’s party.
In Switzerland, the legendary Santa Claus is called Samichlaus and, unlike in other countries, he does not traditionally arrive on December 25 (Christmas Day), but rather on December 6 (St Nicholas’ Day).
Here in Dubai the tradition is kept alive via this annual party organised by the ladies group under the umbrella of the Swiss Business Council. It’s for all Swiss youngsters under the age of eight and takes place on the Friday nearest to December 6 and, as luck would have it, this year it falls on a Saturday. Over morning coffee, laid out on a table decked with a red-and-white checked tableware complete with two black-and-white porcelain cows, a spread of both Swiss and Arabian dishes has been provided by Manuela Al Ansari, a long-serving member of the informal group that meets up once a month in private homes.
She recalls how, as a youngster growing up in Switzerland, in the villages on Saint Nicholas’ Day, goody bags made by the parents were secretly given to a man dressed up like Santa Claus. He arrived with a donkey carrying sacks filled with nuts, raisins, mandarins, apples and chocolates, and was accompanied by a sinister fellow called Schmutzli, who was dressed in black and brandished sticks for ‘whipping’ the children if they were bad.
“He went from house to house carrying a big gold book, and would know if they had been good or bad because the parents had, of course, written the text,” she says. The children usually learned a poem or a song for him, and if they had been good during the year, he would give them the gifts.
The Swiss Ladies Dubai get the goody bags ready for the children here, filling them with traditional healthy snacks rather than commercialised junk. For several years they made the 250 cloth bags themselves by forming a team, buying fabrics and stitching together.
Says Al Ansari, “It created such a good community spirit. People would say, ‘why don’t you go to the tailor?’ But that was not the idea.”
Each committee member cooks about 200 cookies. Marion Naef, an expert cheesecake baker, is German-born and became a Swiss citizen while in Dubai. “Sometimes we have 2,000 cookies, all different. On packing day about 15 ladies meet up in a private house. Each goodie bag is filled with home-made items such as traditional Swiss cookies. Sometimes we have items from sponsors such as Swiss chocolate in the shape of Saint Nicholas or coloured pencils,” she says.
Iris Schwarz, originally from Zurich, takes over from Al Ansari as head coordinator of the Samichlaus this year. She has been in Dubai for 18 months. Schwarz says, “Last year, I saw how it all went and it was a great success. Here, it is not really very Christmassy, so this event helped me get into the seasonal spirit. My children (aged four and five) are already thinking of what song to sing for Santa.”
Nicole Buergi, from the Lake of Constance area, says that there are about 254 women on the mailing list — 150 are German speakers, about 100 are Swiss-French and a few are Swiss-Italians. The gatherings are usually conducted in English because not everyone is multilingual. The coffee mornings serve as a meeting place for newcomers who might be a bit lost and as a way to make new friends.
The group mornings, usually attended by about 20 women, are often enriched by presentations or discussions on a variety of interesting topics, says Martina Boessow, President, Swiss Ladies Dubai. These have included a presentation of local handicrafts and a drive to collect books for a charity in Africa.
The group offers informal advice for issues such as repatriating a relative who has passed away, or the dos and don’ts if invited to attend a home-cooked meal by an Emirati family. “When I first arrived I even had help from the group regarding where to locate fly screens!” Schwarz says. “I had hunted for them everywhere and simply couldn’t find any.”
Buergi used to organise breakfast at the beach for younger mums and their children. “It was an opportunity for the children to meet and practise their language. Most are at international schools speaking English most of the time and we like them to use the Swiss languages so they don’t forget.” She now organises monthly ladies nights out for the Swiss members that work, although all can join in.
The group was initiated by Georgette Hartmann Rodel, who came to Dubai in 2000 and four years later organised get-togethers for newly arrived Swiss women as well as long-standing residents in Dubai.
