Sinterklaas





Sinterklaas is not the way we celebrate Christmas. It is a complete different celebration. After Sinterklaas is over, and he is back to Spain again on his steamboat, people in the Netherlands get ready from Christmas.


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What is this celebration?
Sinterklaas is an old man, he lives in Spain (Madrid) and comes to the Netherlands a few weeks before 5th December, on a steam boat (!).

You see the man has his birthday on the 6th, but the night before he goes out in the country on his white horse (even on top of the roofs), together with his helpers: the black Petes, and the children will get gifts and candy.

Sinterklaas has a thick book in which he keeps record of the behavior of the children throughout the year.

The black petes are completely grease-painted BLACK, they carry a linen sack that is filled with presents and candy for the GOOD children, the BAD ones, however, might be put in the sack, on the 6th December, to be taken to Spain with Sinterklaas. You can understand, this time is both cheerful and fearful for little children!

During the days between his arrival and his birthday the children are allowed to put their shoe next to the stove/fire place, at least the place that is closest to the chimney (bit difficult in our modern houses :) ) and at night the black petes climb over the roofs, throwing presents through the chimneys for the NICE and GOOD children and ONLY those who sang the traditional Sinterklaas-songs before going to bed.

I think all this is a rather silly celebration, but all the children believe it until they are about 8-9 year old, so we as parents do not have a choice than to play the game. Although I do NOT buy very expensive presents, and my girls may only put their shoes (in the hallway, since we do not have a fireplace) on Saturdays.

When they are older and do not believe it anymore the 5th December might be fun. We write down on a paper some gifts we would like to receive (not too expensive). All the papers are put in a box and everyone picks one out. You buy a present from the list, but have to wrap it in a funny way.

Once, a long time ago *S*, when I was at the secretary school someone made me a old-fashioned typewriter, the paper that was stuck in it was actually a LP (which by the way my kids do not know what that is, I told them once when they saw one it was an ancient CD!).

Also we write poems, and the most fun part is to add some funny things in those poems about what happened in the previous year etc.


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History of Sinterklaas:

Sinterklaas lived from 271 AD to December 6, 342 or 343.
His fourth century tomb in the town of Myra, Asia Minor, has only recently been dug up by archaeologists. Born of a wealthy family, Nicholas was brought up as a devout Christian.

When his parents died in an epidemic he distributed his fortune among the poor and entered the priesthood.

Later he became Archbishop of Myra, a town not far from his home, and it is from here that the fame of his good deeds and saintly ways began to spread across the Mediterranean.
He must have been an extraordinary man. For no sooner had he been buried than the line between fact and fantasy blurred and a fabulous series of legends and miracles sprang into being.

The good Bishop of Myra becalmed the stormy seas when desperate sailors invoked his name and prison walls crumbled as soon as victims of persecution prayed to him.
He saved small children from the butcher's knife and dropped dowries into the shoes of penniless maidens.
In due course, Saint Nicholas became the patron saint of sailors and merchants and especially of children.
After Myra had fallen to the Mohammedans, sailors carried the precious bones of the patron to Bari, a port in southern Italy. They build a mausoleum over his grave which became the center of the St. Nicholas worship.
From Bari the cult spread rapidly to coastal towns along the Atlantic and the North Sea.
In the 12th and 13th centuries, Holland built no fewer than twenty three St. Nicholas Churches, many of which are still partially standing.
Amsterdam, along with other European towns, adopted St. Nicholas as its patron saint and Rome decreed that December 6th, the anniversary of his death, be his official Calendar Day.

That St. Nicholas' influence was especially strong in the Low Countries is primarily due to his role as patron of merchants and sailors; the area's geography had predisposed it to trade and navigation.
But once established, his fame as the benefactor of children took precedence.

In the 14th century, choir boys of St. Nicholas Churches were given some money and the day off on December 6th.
Somewhat later, the pupils of convent schools would be rewarded or punished by a teacher, a monk disguised as the venerable bishop, just as he is still presented today with his long white beard, his red mantle and mitre, and his golden crosier.
Quite likely this very same schoolboys introduced St. Nicholas in their homes, for gradually his name, now corrupted to Sinterklaas, became a household word, his festival a nationwide event and his image the popular symbol of a stern yet benevolent moralist.
In due time, Sinterklaas came accompanied by his Moorish servant Pete, a grinning fellow with a birch rod, whose sack full of goodies, emptied, is large enough to carry away any naughty children.

By the 17th century, the Feast of Sinterklaas was so firmly established that famous Dutch painters and writers were inspired by it, and there are countless folk songs on the subject.
It was at this time, too, that the Dutch settled in the New World where, among other customs, they introduced their venerable Sinterklaas.
It isn't their fault, to be sure, that his image later merged with that of fat and jolly Father Christmas of British fame, who was feted in the same month.
Since that time, and aided and abetted by other ethnic influences, the American Santa Claus has developed strictly on his own to the point where he is now stationed on the North Pole and drives a team or reindeer.
All that remains of his Dutch phase is his name: Santa Claus is a direct derivation of Sinterklaas.


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I did not add links to 'Sinterklaas-pages' because a lot of them will be offline after December. If you want to know more about it, I suggest you type in 'Sinterklaas' at AltaVista (or another search engine). You'll be surprised how many sites there are!





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