Blue Cavern

Hi guys,

since I'm going to Enschede tomorrow with my parents in order to buy some fish for Xmas, I'd just wanted to wish our Dutch and Flamish friends a Merry Sinterklaas in advance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPUfz-599b0

thx Dom,

Will be celebrating it when in Düsseldorf visiting the Weihnachtsmarkt...
Mixing up traditions I guess...

Thanks Dom!

I celebrate it tomorrow traditionally

Lia

How do you celebrate it? I love to hear about other countries holidays and celebrations! Please tell me more!!

Traditionally in NL Sinterklaas was bigger than Xmas, as in the sense of the giving gifts.
Of course with really 2 sundays on 25/26 and everybody having holiday and visiting family, christmas is very big and biggest event of the year in the Netherlands I guess as in many other places in the world.

But our giving gifts to eachother used not to be xmas eve, or xmas morning, it is/was on the evening of december 5th, actually the day before the birtday on december 6 of "Sinterklaas", Sint, Sint Nicolaas or whatever he exactly can be called. He is often confused with that other bearded guy roaming around around Xmas, and comming from the North Pole (or finland?) but this is not the same guy. Ours has his origin in Spain, is a spanish bishop..

So as a kid, believing in the real Sinterklaas (sometimes you saw a helper dressed up like him, but of course when the real one visited our hole family at my grandma Hoogland when I was young, you new directly why this was the real one...), we looked really forward towards the eve of the 5th. Wind howling, doors rambling...was that a doorbell or someone in the back? And after you were send away to check it out, on return you just missed "zwarte piet" (the Sint's assistants) who dropped by the big bag of gifts..
Normally these gifts would be accompanied by a poem, explaning why you got it, how much trouble it took for the Sint to find it or ashaming you a bit telling things which you preferred to keep private...

In later years you become a Sint(helper) yourself, and have to buy gifts for friends and family and make poems.
The nice thing is that in this way you might even celebrate it more often: with friend, with collegues and with family...

In the time towards Sinterklaas the kids already place their shoe in front of the fireplace with their wishlist and a carrot for the Sint's horse, and in return would already receive some candy in the shoe...

Nowadays many celebrate Sinterklaas much smaller, and the gifts part moved towards Xmas. I find that a pity, since I loved always Sinterklaas, and it was nice as well for Santaclaus that he could skip NL a bit.
That especially for me gifts with Sinterklaas was also better, is simply that my birtday is on 24th december, so in this way I could think at least for 3 weeks more what to ask for my birthday which I missed with Sinterklaas !

Aly, being from Romania actually also knows Sinterklaas, as they celebrate it as well, but smaller with just a little gift.

Greetings Ron & Aly

In my house, it`s a huge event!:))))
With lots of presents and dishes full of special candy, etc and it lasts a few hours.

there are some sites in english

http://www.thehollandring.com/sinterklaas.shtml

http://www.dutchmarket.com/sklaas.html# ... laas_Today

Lia

Thanks for posting! It sounds like a fun time! I like the idea of the handmade gifts and the poems. My family would have fun with that one!

Thanks for the explanations Ron and Lia.

I know St. Nikolaus from my childhood but like Aly I know it only with a small gift. Children would put their shoes (or preferably boots) in front of their door and wake up to them being filled with little pressies. It was a lot of fun...so much actually that I found little St. Nikolaus gifts in front of my door until about two years ago. I guess somebody thought I've finally grown up

I hate it when "adults" think you've grown up!

The litte gift in front of your door we actually received this weekend as well: when visiting the "weihnachtsmarkt" in Düsseldorf we stayed at a hotel, and sunday morning we had two chocolate Sint Nikolaus puppets there when we popped out of the hotel room.

A very nice gesture!

Ron & Aly

That`s really nice Ron!!!

I consider myself 6 years old , when it`s Sinterklaas!

Lia

We do it just like Maureen does with the little boots outside our bedroom doors and then when the kids wake up they find something small in there boots!! Because we live in america we explain it to everyone that it is santa coming for an early visit to make sure you are good, if you are good he will come back on christmas with more gifts.

Lovely ( and useful) explanation Gerda!

Lia

Then I was a kid, my parents told me that Nikolaus (German equivalent of Sinterklaas) would come on the 5th December, that's why I got my sweets in my boots and a little gift on that day.

I had no idea that this is a tradition in other countries, but I like it!

Is this still done by German parents nowadays Dom?

Lia

@Lia: Most German parents do celebrate Nikolaus on December 6th.

thanks! GOOD!

Our kids write a wishlist of things they'd like to have for christmas (usually things that cost zillions of Euros ) & put it with a boot outside their bedroom doors.

In the morning of the 6th if they're lucky Nikolaus has taken their lists & left something for them in their boots. Sara was very lucky this year as she was left a Blue Cavern 5th Anniversary tennis smurfette sockel

Sara was very lucky this year as she was left a Blue Cavern 5th Anniversary tennis smurfette sockel

She is lucky! I like this tradition....do the boots with little gifts replace stockings on Christmas or do you all do both?

Never thought of it but probably so. As far as I know the stockings are an American (British?) thing, Stace