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Sinterklaas
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Sinterklaas (also called Sint-Nicolaas or De Goedheiligman in Dutch []) and Saint Nicolas in French) is a traditional Winter holiday figure in the Netherlands, Aruba, Netherlands Antilles and Belgium, celebrated every year on Saint Nicholas' eve (December 5) or, in Belgium, on the morning of December 6. The feast celebrates the name day of Saint Nicholas, patron saint of, among other things, children.
It is also celebrated in parts of France (North, Alsace, Lorraine), as well as in Luxembourg, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Croatia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and in the town of Trieste and in Eastern Friuli in Italy.
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Sinterklaas (also called Sint-Nicolaas or De Goedheiligman in Dutch []) and Saint Nicolas in French) is a traditional Winter holiday figure in the Netherlands, Aruba, Netherlands Antilles and Belgium, celebrated every year on Saint Nicholas' eve (December 5) or, in Belgium, on the morning of December 6. The feast celebrates the name day of Saint Nicholas, patron saint of, among other things, children.
It is also celebrated in parts of France (North, Alsace, Lorraine), as well as in Luxembourg, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Croatia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and in the town of Trieste and in Eastern Friuli in Italy. Additionally, many Roman Catholics of Alsatian and Lotharingian descent in Cincinnati, Ohio, celebrate "Saint Nicholas Day" on the morning of December 6. The traditions differ from country to country, even between Belgium and the Netherlands.
In the Netherlands, Saint Nicholas' Eve (December 5) is the chief occasion for gift-giving. The evening is called "sinterklaasavond" or "pakjesavond" ("presents evening"). In Belgium and the Netherlands, children put their shoe in front of the fireplace on the evening of December 5th, then go to bed, and find the presents around the shoes on the morning of the 6th.
Sinterklaas is the basis for the North American figure of Santa Claus. It is often claimed that during the American War of Independence the inhabitants of New York City, a former Dutch colonial town (New Amsterdam) which had been swapped by the Dutch for other territories, 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 Sinte Klaas. However, the Saint Nicholas Society was not founded until 1835, almost half a century after the end of the American War of Independence. A study of the "children's books, periodicals and journals" of New Amsterdam by Charles Jones revealed no references to Saint Nicholas or Sinterklaas. However, not all scholars agree with Jones's findings, which he reiterated in a booklength study in 1978; Howard G. Hageman, of New Brunswick Theological Seminary, maintains that the tradition of celebrating Sinterklaas in New York existed in the early settlement of the Hudson Valley, although he agrees that "there can be no question that by the time the revival of St. Nicholas came with Washington Irving, the traditional New Netherlands observance had completely disappeared."
Sinterklaas
The Sinterklaas feast celebrates the birthday of Saint Nicholas (280-342), patron saint of children. Saint Nicholas was a bishop of Myra in present-day Turkey.
Sinterklaas has a long red cape, wears a white bishop's dress and red mitre (bishop's hat), and holds a crosier, a long gold coloured staff with a fancy curled top. He carries a big book that tells whether each individual child has been good or naughty in the past year.
He traditionally rides a white horse. In the Netherlands this horse goes by the name "Amerigo" while in Belgium the horse is either nameless or is called "Slecht weer vandaag," literally "bad weather today." The origin of this unusual name is the children's TV show Dag Sinterklaas by Bart Peeters. In Flanders, up to the mid-20th century, Sinterklaas was depicted using a black mule, rather than a horse. This image is preserved in the Nero comic books, where, oddly enough, the mule insists on being referred to as the "horse" of Sinterklaas.
"Zwarte Piet," Sinterklaas' helping hand Black Pete, has his origin in the bishop's legendary past. Three small Moorish boys were sentenced to death for a crime they did not commit. The bishop intervened and they were saved. To show their gratitude, the boys stayed with Sinterklaas to help him, tumbling and jumping on rooftops on Sinterklaas night to deliver presents. Their black skin may refer either to their Moorish background, or to the job of chimneysweep, an option is corroborated by their clothes, reminiscent of an Italian chimneysweep's costume and Pete's rooftop occupation.
Sinterklaas and his Black Petes usually carry a bag, which contains candy for nice children and a "roe," a bunch of willow branches used to spank naughty children — in actuality a chimneysweep's broom. Some of the older Sinterklaas songs make mention of naughty children being put in the bag and being taken back to Spain. The Zwarte Pieten toss candy around, a tradition supposedly originating in Sint Nicolaas' story of saving three young girls from prostitution by tossing golden coins through their window at night to pay their father's debts.
In the lean times of the German occupation of the Netherlands, 1940-1945, Sinterklaas nonetheless came to cheer everyone, not just children. Many of the traditional Sinterklaas rhymes written during those times contain references to current events, and many celebrate the Royal Air Force: in 1941, for instance, the RAF actually dropped little boxes of candy over the occupied Netherlands. One of the accompanying rhymes:
- R.A.F. Kapoentje,
- Gooi wat in mijn schoentje,
- Bij de Moffen gooien,
- Maar in Holland strooien!
The rhyme is a variation on one of the best-known traditional Sinterklaas rhymes, with "R.A.F." replacing "Sinterklaas" in the first line (fortuitously, the two expressions have the same metrical characteristics), and in the third and fourth urging Sinterklaas to drop bombs on the "Moffen" (slur for "Germans") and candy over the Netherlands. Many of the rhymes bewail the lack of food and basic necessities, and the fact that the German occupiers had taken everything of value; others express admiration for the Dutch resistance.
Arrival
Sinterklaas traditionally arrives each year in November (usually on a Saturday) by steamboat from Spain (even though the bishop was originally from Asia Minor). Some suggest that gifts associated with the holy man such as Mandarin oranges led to the misconception that he must have been from Spain. He is then paraded through the streets, welcomed by cheering and singing children. This event is broadcasted live on national television in the Netherlands and Belgium. His Zwarte Piet assistants throw candy and small, round, ginger bread-like cookies, either "kruidnoten" or "pepernoten," into the crowd. The children welcome him by singing traditional Sinterklaas songs. Sinterklaas also visits schools, hospitals and shopping centres. After this arrival all towns with a dock have their own "intocht van Sinterklaas" (arrival of Sinterklaas). Local arrivals usually take place on Sunday, the day after he arrives in the Netherlands or Belgium. In places a boat cannot reach, Sinterklaas arrives by train, bus, horse, or even carriage.
Shoe
Traditionally, in the weeks between his arrival and December 5, before going to bed children put their shoes next to the fireplace chimney of the coal fired stove or fireplace, or, in modern times, next to the central heating, with a carrot or some hay in it and a bowl of water "for Sinterklaas's horse," and sing a Sinterklaas song; the next day they will find some candy or a small present in their shoes, supposedly thrown down the chimney by a Zwarte Piet or Sinterklaas himself.
Typical Sinterklaas candy traditionally includes: Mandarin orange, pepernoten, letter-shaped pastry filled with almond paste or chocolate letter (the first letter of the child's name made out of chocolate), speculaas (sometimes filled with almond paste), chocolate coins and marzipan figures. Newer candy includes kruidnoten (a type of shortcrust biscuit or gingerbread-biscuits) and a figurine of Sinterklaas made out of chocolate and wrapped in painted aluminium foil.
Children are told that Black Pete enters the house through the chimney, which also explains his black face and hands, and would leave a bundle of sticks ("roe") or a small bag with salt in the shoe instead of candy when the child had been bad.
Children are also told that in the worst case they would be put in the gunny sack in which Black Pete carries the presents, and be taken back to Spain, where Sinterklaas is said to spend the rest of the year. This practice, however, has been condemned by Sinterklaas in his more recent television appearances as something of the past. Typical of that time was also the fact that the saint would have the names of every child written down in either his "golden book" (if a child had been good), or his "black book" (if a child had been bad) — very much like Odin's ravens reporting everything in the world to him. The standard joke would be that initially Sinterklaas would not be able to find the name in the "golden book," trying to scare the children. With modern views on child psychology, these practices have been abandoned as well.
Traditionally Saint Nicholas brings his gifts at night, and many Belgian and Dutch children still find their presents on the morning of December 6. Later in The Netherlands adults started to give each other presents on the evening of the 5th; then older children were included and today in these countries sometimes even the youngest on the evening of December 5 (Saint Nicholas' eve), known as Sinterklaasavond. After the singing of traditional Sinterklaas songs, there will be a loud knock on the door or the window, and a sack full of presents is found on the doorstep, or next to the chimney. Alternatively — some improvisation is often called for — the parents 'hear a sound coming from the attic' and then the bag with presents is "found" there. Some parents manage to "convince" Sinterklaas to come to their home personally. Often, the father of the house goes outside to "catch some fresh air" or "smoke a cigarette" and leaves presents behind at the door. He then comes back (annually, year after year), playing at being sad he missed it.
Presents are often accompanied by a simple poem, saying something about the child or with a hint to the nature of the present.
Another aspect of "Pakjesavond" is writing small poems for gifts to adults. When children grow too old to believe in Sinterklaas, they are introduced to a different form of entertainment on Pakjesavond night, December 5. People will write small personal poems for friends and family usually accompanied by a small gift or candy. Teasing the receiver of gifts about their habits or hang-ups can be included in the poem.
Poems can still accompany bigger gifts as well, though instead of being brought by Sinterklaas, people will draw "lootjes" (literally: lottery tickets), for an event comparable to Secret Santa. The gifts are creatively disguised; for example, someone will receive a CD wrapped in a box that is made to look like a chimney, or a present has to be looked for in a Sinterklaas scavenger hunt, with clues left by Piet. Sticky situations may arise though most people steer away from the old tradition of the gift 'surprise' being filled with saw dust and syrup (or hair gel and cotton balls, or news paper and peanut butter, etc.).
See also
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