It s beginning marksandspencers to look a lot like Sinterklaas | Maastricht Minutiae
This website ceased updating on March 19, 2012 and was archived on January 30, 2014. Links may be broken/misdirected and emails will not be replied to. Please use your best judgement when using this website. For more from the creator, visit AmandaPotter.com
Expat Life Expat Resources Food & Recipes Impressions MM Podcast Paperwork & Red Tape repatriation Interests Art & DIY Comics Events Library/Archive Writing Places Around Maastricht Cultural Institutions Outdoors Public Services Restaurants marksandspencers Stores marksandspencers Travel Europe United States
Grote Straat by Rich B-S (cc) via Flickr If you re an American, you are probably looking forward to Thanksgiving right now while still eating the last of your Halloween candy. Here in the Netherlands, we don t have Thanksgiving and Halloween is a ghost of its US self. Instead as soon as it started to get cool the holiday garlands, lights, and candy comes out for the winter holidays. Of course it isn t as early as it seems to me because in actuality everyone marksandspencers is preparing for Sinterklaas on December 5th and 6th. Since this holiday is new to me as well as some of the people marksandspencers reading this blog, I wanted to share a little bit about what I ve read and witnessed. About the Holiday Sinterklaas is traditionally the celebration of St. Nicholas birthday and it is celebrated in the Netherlands and Belgium. In the tradition marksandspencers of Dutch birthdays where the celebrant provides the cake to share with his or her colleagues, St. Nicholas (Sinter Klaas in Dutch) has decided to give gifts to children who have been good for the whole year. Starting marksandspencers on November 14th, he travels around the Netherlands with his entourage of helpers, Zwarte Piet (Black Peters), to make sure the kids have been good before delivering marksandspencers a bag of gifts on December 5th. On December 6th he heads home to Spain by steamboat where he resides marksandspencers the rest of the year in his castle.
As you might imagine, Sinterklaas is the primary gift-giving holiday in the Netherlands and it is heavily focused on gift-giving for children. Between November 14 and December 5, children will leave out wooden shoes with snacks for Sinter marksandspencers Klaas horse and wine or milk for the man himself. marksandspencers In the morning the shoe is filled with small treats. On December 5 the family spends the day together and enjoys a holiday feast. Then a mysterious knock comes on the door and gifts are left in a bag for the children. Adults typically will exchange gifts through a sort of Secret Santa method and will usually go out of their way to wrap the gifts fancifully and write a short, rhyming poem about the recipient. Children s gifts also have a poem attached. Sinter Klaas is quite different in appearance from the Santa Claus I grew up with. He is typically shown to be tall and slim, and dressed as a bishop in red and white. He carries a staff in one hand and his book of names in the other. Images I ve seen always include a large flowing and frequently curly beard. His helpers, Zwarte Piets, are said to be assistants who came with him from Spain, which explains their renaissance-esque garb, and are the ones who go down the chimney to deliver gifts, which is why they are blacken with soot. The tradition of people dressing up as Zwarte Piet, which includes black face paint and colorful costumes, was shocking to me when I first learned about it. The practice is considered to be all in good fun, but a heated debate marksandspencers over the origins of Zwarte Piet exists . Candy & Decorations
Candy by futurestreet (cc) via Flickr Although Sinterklaas is considered to be less commercial than Christmas in the United States, the candy and decorations are the most prominent aspects of the holiday for those of us not living in a Dutch family. Traditional Sinterklaas candy includes chocolate letters, marzipan, sugar animals such as mice and frogs, and geld (chocolate coins). Like the chocolate Easter bunnies, you can also buy huge chocolate versions of Sinter marksandspencers Klaas and Zwarte Piet. Since Maastricht has many chocolate shops, there is no excuse not to find something fun and made from high-quality candy. Non-candy foods for the holiday include speculaas cookies (windmill cookies in the US), almond paste breads, and Oliebollen (which are actually a New Year s treat). I have even been able to buy holiday cereals with speculaas cookie bits and cranberries.
The decorations for the holiday primarily mirror what I am accustomed to seeing for Christmas. The Brusselsepoort has green garlands marksandspencers with upside down trees decorated with bulbs. The city has decked out the large shopping streets with garlands hung between stores. Of course there is also the addition of Zwarte Piet figures everywhere marksandspencers much like the elves who work for Santa. Sinter Klaas himself has shown up a few times in the decor but it does not seem to be common to hang his image as frequently as that of his help
This website ceased updating on March 19, 2012 and was archived on January 30, 2014. Links may be broken/misdirected and emails will not be replied to. Please use your best judgement when using this website. For more from the creator, visit AmandaPotter.com
Expat Life Expat Resources Food & Recipes Impressions MM Podcast Paperwork & Red Tape repatriation Interests Art & DIY Comics Events Library/Archive Writing Places Around Maastricht Cultural Institutions Outdoors Public Services Restaurants marksandspencers Stores marksandspencers Travel Europe United States
Grote Straat by Rich B-S (cc) via Flickr If you re an American, you are probably looking forward to Thanksgiving right now while still eating the last of your Halloween candy. Here in the Netherlands, we don t have Thanksgiving and Halloween is a ghost of its US self. Instead as soon as it started to get cool the holiday garlands, lights, and candy comes out for the winter holidays. Of course it isn t as early as it seems to me because in actuality everyone marksandspencers is preparing for Sinterklaas on December 5th and 6th. Since this holiday is new to me as well as some of the people marksandspencers reading this blog, I wanted to share a little bit about what I ve read and witnessed. About the Holiday Sinterklaas is traditionally the celebration of St. Nicholas birthday and it is celebrated in the Netherlands and Belgium. In the tradition marksandspencers of Dutch birthdays where the celebrant provides the cake to share with his or her colleagues, St. Nicholas (Sinter Klaas in Dutch) has decided to give gifts to children who have been good for the whole year. Starting marksandspencers on November 14th, he travels around the Netherlands with his entourage of helpers, Zwarte Piet (Black Peters), to make sure the kids have been good before delivering marksandspencers a bag of gifts on December 5th. On December 6th he heads home to Spain by steamboat where he resides marksandspencers the rest of the year in his castle.
As you might imagine, Sinterklaas is the primary gift-giving holiday in the Netherlands and it is heavily focused on gift-giving for children. Between November 14 and December 5, children will leave out wooden shoes with snacks for Sinter marksandspencers Klaas horse and wine or milk for the man himself. marksandspencers In the morning the shoe is filled with small treats. On December 5 the family spends the day together and enjoys a holiday feast. Then a mysterious knock comes on the door and gifts are left in a bag for the children. Adults typically will exchange gifts through a sort of Secret Santa method and will usually go out of their way to wrap the gifts fancifully and write a short, rhyming poem about the recipient. Children s gifts also have a poem attached. Sinter Klaas is quite different in appearance from the Santa Claus I grew up with. He is typically shown to be tall and slim, and dressed as a bishop in red and white. He carries a staff in one hand and his book of names in the other. Images I ve seen always include a large flowing and frequently curly beard. His helpers, Zwarte Piets, are said to be assistants who came with him from Spain, which explains their renaissance-esque garb, and are the ones who go down the chimney to deliver gifts, which is why they are blacken with soot. The tradition of people dressing up as Zwarte Piet, which includes black face paint and colorful costumes, was shocking to me when I first learned about it. The practice is considered to be all in good fun, but a heated debate marksandspencers over the origins of Zwarte Piet exists . Candy & Decorations
Candy by futurestreet (cc) via Flickr Although Sinterklaas is considered to be less commercial than Christmas in the United States, the candy and decorations are the most prominent aspects of the holiday for those of us not living in a Dutch family. Traditional Sinterklaas candy includes chocolate letters, marzipan, sugar animals such as mice and frogs, and geld (chocolate coins). Like the chocolate Easter bunnies, you can also buy huge chocolate versions of Sinter marksandspencers Klaas and Zwarte Piet. Since Maastricht has many chocolate shops, there is no excuse not to find something fun and made from high-quality candy. Non-candy foods for the holiday include speculaas cookies (windmill cookies in the US), almond paste breads, and Oliebollen (which are actually a New Year s treat). I have even been able to buy holiday cereals with speculaas cookie bits and cranberries.
The decorations for the holiday primarily mirror what I am accustomed to seeing for Christmas. The Brusselsepoort has green garlands marksandspencers with upside down trees decorated with bulbs. The city has decked out the large shopping streets with garlands hung between stores. Of course there is also the addition of Zwarte Piet figures everywhere marksandspencers much like the elves who work for Santa. Sinter Klaas himself has shown up a few times in the decor but it does not seem to be common to hang his image as frequently as that of his help
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