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December the 5th is a big day in Holland! We celebrate
Sinterklaas...
 
Liam warming up (or cooling down for
Sinterklaas)
 
Liam eventually realising that these pretty
coloured parcels are to be opened!
  
  
and... then Liam begins to like Sinterklaas,
whoever or whatever he is!
But, it's not only for the children... later
the adults have dinner together, exchange presents (Usually you
pick names out of a hat in our family) and get to read poems
made about you by Sint!
Gourmet tonight!
  
Auntie Rachèl reads her poem as Fred looks
on... then time for the pressie!
Extracted from
www-astro.physics.ox.ac.uk/~erik/sint/sint.html
"the most influential figure in the shaping of today's Santa
Claus was a real man. St. Nicholas of Myra (now Turkey), a
fourth century bishop. As a champion of children and the needy,
he was legendary for his kindness and generosity."
In the fourth century a.d.
St. Nicholas (in dutch called "Sinterklaas" or "Sint Nicolaas";
in
german called "Sankt
Nikolaus") was the bishop of Myra, which is now situated in
Turkey. According to the legend, he saved his town from
starvation. He is also said to have revived
three dead children, and to
have offered gifts of dowries to poor girls. Some sources say
that
he died on the sixth of
December in 343. In 1087 his relics were taken to Bari in Italy.
It is unclear why, according to the Dutch tradition, he comes
from Spain. Possibly it has something
to do with the fact that
St. Nicholas was the patron of sailors. In the 17th century
Holland
was famous for its
navigation. Maybe by contact with Spanish sailors this myth
began. It
could also explain why St.
Nicholas has "zwarte (black) pieten" to help him because the
Moors dominated Spain for
several hundreds of years. (Another [more popular] explanation
for "zwarte piet" being
black is that he has come down the chimneys so often [see below]
that he can't wash the dirt
off.)
His legendary gifts of
dowries to poor girls led to the custom of giving gifts to
children on the
eve of his feast day, 6
December. The companions of St. Nicholas (in Germany and Austria
they are called "Knecht
Ruprecht" or "Krampus") show the victory over evil. Together
with
his "pieten" he visits
children to punish the evil ones and to reward the good ones.
The worst punishment is to be taken to Spain in "zwarte piet's"
bag out of which the good children get
the sweets (called "pepernoten",
"taai-taai", or "schuimpjes") and presents. A less radical
punishment is to get the "roede" (rod) instead of presents.
Nowadays there are not many
evil children any more!!!
A few weeks before his
feastday St. Nicholas comes to Holland (and Belgium) on his
steamer
with all his "pieten" and
the presents which they prepared in Spain during the year. This
event can be seen on Dutch television. From his arrival in
Holland till his feastday the children can
put their shoes in front of
the fireplace. During the night St. Nicholas visits all the
houses
by travelling over the
roofs on his horse, traditionally a white/grey (called "Schimmel"
in dutch), and "zwarte piet" enters the houses through the
chimney to put little presents in the children's shoes.
Sometimes the children put straw, carrots and water near the
shoe for the horse.
On the eve of his feast day
St. Nicholas visits all children. After knocking on the door he
gives them a bag full of
presents (if they were good children). Early in the morning of
6 December, when he has
visited everyone, he leaves and goes back silently to Spain,
to come back next year. |
