A cosy Sinterklaas evening at home

On 5 december the whole of Holland celebrates Sinterklaas. The evening is also called gift-evening (pakjes avond) and this is for Dutch children like Christmas eve for the rest of the western world! Yatzie and Moët also had their share of gifts of course! They picked them out themselves from the baskets! Last year I made a film of Sinterklaas when he came to our house and poor Moët was so scared, see this link. This year Sinterklaas had already brought all the gifts in the afternoon!

A little history about Sinterklaas

Sinterklaas is celebrated on the nameday of Saint Nicholas (280–342), patron saint of Amsterdam, children and sailors. Saint Nicholas was a bishop of Myra in present-day Turkey. He was very kind to children. In the 11th century his relics were moved to south Italy and his fame spread over Europe. Sinterklaas has many helpers with black faces and colourful dresses called Zwarte Piet. During the Middle-ages Zwarte Piet was a name for the devil. Having triumphed over evil, it was said that on Saint Nicholas eve the devil was shackled and made his slave.

An interesting fact that most of us are unaware of is that Santa Claus in the United States, and later our Swedish jultomten, originates from the Turkish Saint Nicholas.

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