32° and Clear
Image
by Jane Stahl
One family in the Boyertown area has crafted collectible Belsnickel figures for over 50 years. Rosalie Birt took over the craft after her mother Margaret Yerk retired. Each year, folks look forward to adding to their collections with the latest version.
The 2025 version of Rose Birt's Belsnickel are currently in production. Call or text Rose to order: 484-793-5460.
“Der Belsnickel” originated from a character who, like Santa Claus, visited families around Christmas time, was known to give presents to good children, and encouraged them to behave all year long.
But unlike Santa, "der Belsnickel" identified the good children and the bad children and would leave switches to whip children who were bad through the year and leave small toys, socks, mittens, candies or fruits for the well-behaved children.
Belsnickel is presented as a thin, lanky person who dresses up in fur clothing, paints his face, wears a mask, and attaches bells to his costume. With his one hand, he is seen carrying a bag with gifts and treats for good children and the other hand would have a switch or a whip for bad children. He was a hero to well-behaved children; others feared him.
The idea of Belsnickel is alive and well in other countries; there is a horned figure named Krampus in Central and Eastern Alpine folklore.
Rose offers that her mother considered herself an artisan, a painter. As a member of the Historical Society, she heard about the Belsnickel and knew people who were visited by the Belsnickel; it was a fairly common occurrence in her mother’s days—and even Rose’s.
The Belsnickel figures have been available at the Boyertown Area Historical Society's Der Belsnickel, a Juried Craft Show that started in 1970 to preserve and promote historic crafts. Today, while the family's medical challenges have disallowed her participation at the Festival, Rose continues to create the figures to sell to her many fans.
The Belsnickel figure is fashioned from a pine cone base and dressed differently each year using specially selected fabrics and materials. Special pine cones are needed for the project that Rose collects herself or that friends bring her.
“There are special cones. Some won’t work. I squeeze them to tell the difference. Those that crush in my hand or fall apart won’t work; they have to bounce back,” she explains. Then I bake them at about 200 degrees for about 10 minutes. Interestingly, they don’t smell like pine,” she winces. “They smell more like turpentine. Nasty.”
Rose shares that she makes between 300-500 Belsnickels each year—often as she watches comedy shows on TV—and begins the process in September or early October. Prior to the actual start, she considers how the year’s Belsnickels will look and shops for fabric.
“I need about 20 yards of material for the season. I don’t have a definite idea how I want them to look. I just wander around the fabric store until something ‘hits’ me,” she explains, “and then I hope the store has enough of that fabric. I need to shop ahead; fabric stores don’t stock fleece in the summer months.”
One of her favorites was her COVID one, saying, "It was such a strange year; and so, I decided, like everyone else that year, he should wear a mask, too. That change from his traditional appearance, a change that reflected what we were facing at the time, brought him into ‘real life today.’”
For 2021, the Festival's 50th year, Rose thought he should be dressed in something gold, but felt that gold would be way too flashy. Fortunately she found some yellow fabric that worked.
In 2022, the Belsnickel was carrying a candy cane, not a bag; apparently Rose had the candy canes left over from another year. But perhaps unconsciously, inflation that season had her “downsize” his offerings unknowingly.
When I asked Rose what made her take on the project, she confides that she wanted to please her mother by continuing her legacy. “I have to,” she says. “Mom said, ‘Keep doing it’ and so I do.”
One update that Rose appreciates is the invention of the hot glue gun. “Mom used to use Elmer’s glue to attach the items he carried or to keep his mask, robe, hair, or beard in place,” she explains. “But each time she used it, she had to wait for the glue to dry.
“I also remember that to hold things in place she used straight pins. And I remember, in helping her, getting my fingers bloody. She never pricked herself, though; she had too much experience, I guess.”
Rose has no plans to retire herself, but has hope that her daughters will continue to create them after she decides to quit. “I can’t imagine a day that I will stop making them or that creating them will ever stop,” Rose admits.
****
To order this year's Belsnickel, call or text Rose: 484-793-5460.
More News from Boyertown
- Lighting History: The Story and Symbolism of the Chanukah Menorah For the past eight nights Jewish area residents have had their menorahs on display as part of the celebration of Chanukah.
- Philosophizing About Food With Francine: Potato Latkes A simple fried pancake offers a beloved reminder of faith, perseverance, and hope.
