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In mid-November Dutch television broadcasts the official arrival of St. Nicholas and his helper Zwarte Piet live to the nation. Coming by steamer from Spain, each year they dock in the harbor of a different city or village. Wearing traditional bishop's robes, Sinterklaas rides into town on a white horse to be greeted by the mayor. A motorcade and a brass band begin a great parade which leads Sinterklaas and his Piets through the town. Nearly every city and village has its own Sinterklaas parade.

In the following weeks before St. Nicholas Day, December 6, Sinterklaas goes about the country to determine if the children have been well-behaved. He and his Zwarte Piet helpers visit children in schools, hospitals, department stores, and even at home. The bakeries are busy making speculaas molded spice cookies of the saint. During this time children put out their shoes with wish-lists and a carrot or hay, or maybe a saucer of water, for the horse. When St. Nicholas happens by, the next morning children may find chocolate coins or initial letter, candy treats, pepernoten, and little gifts in their shoes. Everyone hopes for sweets, not coal or a little bag of salt.

The Dutch celebrate Sinterklaas on December 5th, St. Nicholas Eve, with festive family parties when gifts and surprises are exchanged. In the Netherlands, unlike other places, adults as well as children join in the fun. As the Dutch like an element of surprise, a small gift may be wrapped in a huge box, or it may be hidden and require following clues to discover where it is.

Gifts are prettily wrapped in special Sinterklaas paper or they may be hidden, for example, in a potato or an old sock. Each gift, anonymously signed "from Sinterklaas," comes with a clever rhyme that may point out a person's shortcomings in a humorous way. (For the less creative, there are books with suggestions for making rhymes and packaging disguises.) Originality, not value of the gift, is what counts.

Children sing traditional Sinterklaas songs while waiting for the saint to appear. A knock comes on the door and a black gloved hand appears to toss candies and pepernoten inside. Children scramble to gather up the treats. A large burlap bag, "de zak van Sinterklaas," also appears filled with gifts. At the table, decorated with speculaas and other sweets, guests may find their initial in a chocolate letter at their places. Food is apt to include hot chocolate, Bishop's wine, and letter banket.

The Dutch feast of Saint Nicholas is about giving, for "it is in giving that we receive." The fun is in trying to surprise people, to tease in a well-meaning way, to make a good joke, to produce a rollicking rhyme. The gift itself is just a bonus, as the fun is in the doing.

Sinterklaas is the most important tradition for the Dutch, a 2008 Centre for Dutch Culture survey found. Celebrated the evening of December 5 with traditional tasty foods, it is the main time for family gift-giving. The second ranked tradition is decorating a Christmas tree, followed by Queen's Day, April 30. Blowing out birthday candles and eating raw herring were also in the top ten.

Tomorrow starts the big celebration for out friends over in the Netherlands. I know Aafke, Carla and the others are very busy getting ready.

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Mega Sinterklaas Dittos, Aafka!

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Hi Donna,

You described our "sinterklaasfeest" very well.I personally don't celebrate it because it is especially for the children,and we don't have little children in the family.But I have to admit that I was in Dusseldorf (Germany) with my daughter for three days to visit the christmas-markets where we did drink the Gluhwein,Heiser Met,and eat lots of German speciallities.(Bratwurst)(Reibekuchen)(Spatzzles)etc...

Greetings Carla :christree: :christree: :christree:

Thanks

 :chrispup: Carla

You and Janet need to hook up. She  :heart: German food and  :beer:

I started my message before you posted this one,it took me some time to find the correct words.
Language problems ::) :chriscat:

Spatzzle!  :heart: :heart: WooHoo!  I'm making homemade spatzzle for Christmas Eve.  :heart: :heart: Love Rebekuchen!  :beer: :beer: Heading to the Bavarian Inn in January for some good German food and beer!   :beer: :beer:  I'm having an open house this coming Saturday and I have a cheese from the Rhineland. 

I'll try to be there.....do you have a recipe to make spazzle? I made them once and I do have a tupperware spatzzle maker.Greetngs Carla :hungry:

I do have a recipe (in both German and English) - give me a couple of days and I'll scan it and send it to you off line.  I bought a Spatzlewonder years ago - great invention.  I do find it easiest to pour the batter into a large measuring cup and then pour into the Spatzlewonder that way.  I also use only 5 eggs (instead of 6), but make up for that with the butter.  Gee, it's no wonder that I'm on Lipitor!

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Spatzzle!  :heart: :heart: WooHoo!  I'm making homemade spatzzle for Christmas Eve.  :heart: :heart: Love Rebekuchen!  :beer: :beer: Heading to the Bavarian Inn in January for some good German food and beer!   :beer: :beer:  I'm having an open house this coming Saturday and I have a cheese from the Rhineland. 
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Nyah, Nyah, my work Christmas party is at the Bavarian Inn  :happy:
But I will have to try and hook up with you Olafsens in January, to try the house specialties :beer: :beer:
Carol
WV
12 miles from the Bavarian Inn

Thanks Donna and Janet
Our "Sinterklaas" was great, it always is!
And I didn't agree with Carla, it's not only for children, we always celebrate it with lots of adults and we like  :heart: it very much. But everybody is doing it in their own way, it's the same with  Christmas.
Just like every year, here a few pictures from our "Sinterklaas"

1) a baby in an egg

2) A tree, no leaves but money is growing on it, very easy.

3) a castle

 :bunny: greetings Aafke

I like your pictures.  I tell Rich all of the time that he has a 6-year old in the house (that would be me), as I love Christmas!   :heart:

me tooo...Christmas is fantastic  :christree: :chrispup: :chriscat:

Fun pics Aafke....the egg is cool...   :hatch1: who made it and who was it for? Very clever.  :thanks2:

I bet the egg was for Aafke!

Ha ha,  :clap: yes I would like the egg. But the egg was for one of the children and it was made by Gina.
I received a box and  I had to put my hand in it,   :scaredblue:  in the midle just next to the green thing, just like I was digging in the earth and the "earth" was ful of roots and a few funny things, like insekts carrots a back tooth  etc. They made it for me because the last time I was complaining about all the bad roots in my garden and what a bad job it is to get them out.
 :sparrow: greetings Aafke   

What a wonderful and creative gift, Aafke!  Simple fun - I like it!   :clap:

Very clever of your sister Gina, (get her back on here). I  :heart: all the creative things your family makes for Sinterklaas. Now go put your tree up.  :christree:

BTW, we have about 3 inches of  :snow2: right now and it's turning to  :rain:, I see flooding in our future today...Oh boy  :aaarggh: