Hello Sinterklaasje!
Go immediately to:
In the fourth century a.d. St. Nicholas (in dutch called "Sinterklaas" or
"Sint Nicolaas"; in german called "Sankt Nikolaus") was the bishop of
Myra, which is now situated in Turkey. According to the legend, he
saved his town from starvation. He is also said to have revived
three dead children, and to have offered gifts of dowries to
poor girls. Some sources say that he died on the sixth of December
in 343. In 1087 his relics were taken to Bari in Italy.
It is unclear why, according to the Dutch tradition, he comes
from Spain. Possibly it has something to do with the fact that St.
Nicholas was the patron of sailors. In the 17th century
Holland was famous for its navigation. Maybe by contact with
Spanish sailors this myth began. It could also explain
why St. Nicholas has "zwarte (black) pieten" to help him because the
Moors dominated Spain for several hundreds of years.
(Another [more popular] explanation for "zwarte piet" being black is
that he has come down the chimneys so often [see below] that
he can't wash the dirt off.)
His legendary gifts of dowries to poor girls led to the custom of
giving gifts to children on the eve of his feast day, 6 December.
The companions of St. Nicholas (in Germany and Austria they are
called "Knecht Ruprecht" or "Krampus") show the victory over
evil. Together with his "pieten" he visits children to punish the
evil ones and to reward the good ones. The worst punishment
is to be taken to Spain in "zwarte piet's" bag out of which the
good children get the sweets (called "pepernoten",
"taai-taai", or "schuimpjes") and presents. A less radical
punishment is to get the "roede" (rod) instead of presents.
Nowadays there are not much evil children any more...
A few weeks before his feastday St. Nicholas comes to Holland
(and Belgium) on
his steamer with all his "pieten" and the presents which they
prepared in Spain during the year. This event can be seen on
Dutch television. From his arrival in Holland till his feastday
the children can put their shoes in front of the fireplace.
During the night St. Nicholas visits all the houses by travelling
over the roofs on his horse, traditionally a white/grey
(called "Schimmel" in dutch), and "zwarte
piet" enters the houses through the chimney to put little
presents in the children's shoes. Sometimes the children put
straw, carrots and water near the shoe for the horse.
On the eve of his feast day St. Nicholas visits all children.
After knocking on the door he gives them a bag full of presents (if
they were good children). Early in the morning of 6
December, when he has visited everyone, he leaves and goes back silently
to Spain, to come back next year.
- During the Sinterklaas period one eats spicy ginger
`speculaas' or `pepernoten', mild anise `taai-taai' in fancy doll
shapes, sugar candy, fancy
fruit slices or rich almond marzipan, and
chocolate letters (mostly you get only the first letter of your first name).
It can all be ordered from the
Sinterklaas shopping site from
the The Dutch Market.
Alternatively, you can make some of them yourself using
their recipes,
those from 'Back to your roots'
or
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs;
note that for the pepernoten you need `speculaas'-spice, which can be ordered
from The Dutch Market as well from the
spices and sauces list.
For the brave one: make speculaaskruiden
yourself!
- Also through the SinterklaasShop.com of
Hollandbymail.nl you can order all the
typical Sinterklaas food (as well as Sinterklaas decorations, costumes, etc.) worldwide.
- More Sinterklaas recipes...
- For those who can read dutch, the
recipe list,
Sinterklaasrecepten, or
De Hollandse Pot are also excellent references.
- The traditional Sinterklaas drink is
`Bisschopswijn' (mulled wine); see
'Back to your roots' or
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to
make it yourself!
- Some of us drink Sint-Nicolaas beer
(in no particular order)
(in no particular order)
(in no particular order)
(in no particular order)
(in no particular order)
(in no particular order)
(in no particular order)
Last updated - Nov 12, 2001 -
Erik Kuulkers
e-mail me for any other worthwile Sinterklaas sites:
E.Kuulkers@sron.nl
This page had the latest version retrieved from the Wayback machine, as the original had gone offline. I'm not maintaining it, just making it online again for refence purposes.
