Sinterklaas, Santa Claus - potato, potato, tomato, tomato <+:-)>

[beelikej]

Especially for the US-folks on my flist; a little background information on Saint Nick
Sinterklaas is a traditional Winter holiday figure in the Netherlands, Belgium, Aruba, Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles. He is the basis of the mythical holiday figure of Santa Claus in the USA.


Sinterklaas is celebrated annually on Saint Nicholas' eve (5 December) by exchanging gifts and poems. Celebrants of the holiday are traditionally given their initials in chocolate.*
The feast celebrates the name day of Saint Nicholas, patron saint of Amsterdam, children and sailors.

It is often claimed that during the American War of Independence the inhabitants of New York City, a former Dutch colonial town (New Amsterdam) reinvented their Sinterklaas tradition, as Saint Nicholas was a symbol of the city's non-English past. The name Santa Claus supposedly derived from older Dutch Sinterklaas.
Sinterklaas is assisted by many mischievous helpers with black faces and colourful Moorish dresses. These helpers are called 'Zwarte Pieten' (Black Petes).

*In order to use the same amount of chocolate for each letter the manufacturer varies the thickness or the depth of the grooves in the letter. This way one letter is not favoured over another, for example the W, or the M over the I or the J. It also occurs that two of a small letter (like I for Ian) come in one package to make up for its smaller size.

This is how my family has celebrated Sinterklaas the last couple of years. For the first time in 40 years I wasn't at home. Because I chose to travel to Berlin to see Panic! at the Disco;-)

Comments

[aerynvala.livejournal.com]

When I was little, around xmas time, all the families in my parents' social group would get together at one house. And all the kids would gather round and we would be visited by Saint Nicolas and his assistant (dressed all in black) Ruprecht. St. Nicolas had two books, a gold and a black one. Our good deeds were read out of the gold one and the things we needed to work on were read out of the black one. And Ruprecht would hold St. Nicolas' staff and we had to jump over it for some reason that I can't quite recall now.

Good memories.

[aerynvala.livejournal.com]

oooh, just read your Sinterklaas posts that is way, way cooler/neater/more special than what we do here! I love it. I'm telling my whole family. :D

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Your story sounds familiar: there is only one book Sinterklaas carries these days. It has all the children's names in it, but no longer whether they were good or bad; modern day Sint assumes they are at least full of good intentions and that's what counts;) It does list what they want for presents though:)

Mind you; my family goes a little crazy when celebrating, it's more common to pick one name out of a hat and make a surprise package and poem for that person (those mostly make fun of events in the past year). As you have seen we make something for everyone that joins our party, resulting in a table full of presents and hours (and hours) of fun:)
Most people only write poems and sadly more and more people skip Sinterklaas in favor of Christmas, since that's less work. *pouts* I hope you can convince your family to start celebrating Sinterklaas (If not you're more than welcome to join us over here next year) :-D

[aerynvala.livejournal.com]

Oh I'd love to visit you! I haven't been to Europe since I was three. I remember very little for some reason. :D

I'm really going to see about getting us to start celebrating Sinterklaas. It's far more rewarding than the rush to buy of xmas.

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

:)

I hope you keep me posted on travelplans and the Sinterklaasconversion efforts;)