Thursday 1 December 2016

Day 1: So, what about those decorations?

I have said several times that I will not start decorating until after December 5th. All you Dutch out there will understand that, but there are of course non-Dutch reading this blog as well, so for you I will explain. 

Growing up in the Netherlands, we never got Christmas presents. Well, not counting the book, mandarin and couple of nuts we got from Sunday school. Other than that: nix, nada, nothing. In fact, when I was in primary school, out of a class of 37, there was only one girl who celebrated Christmas with gifts. All the other 36 celebrated St Nicholas. 

St Nicholas is a saint (hence the St) who comes to the Netherlands, Flanders (in Belgium) and some regions of Germany in early December. He used to have one helper (Black Peter), but after WWII, the Canadians that helped the country to get back to normal felt that was a bit meager and they added scores and scores. 

St Nicholas lives in Madrid, Spain during the year and in November he makes his way by steam boat to the Netherlands. Together with his Black Peters* and his horse Amerigo. On the eve of his birthday which is on December 6th, he, his horse and his helpers take to the roof and leave presents for all the children. 

And this means I can't possibly put up decorations to mark Christmas, when St Nicholas hasn't been yet! It would be sacrilege!!!

*In recent years there has been a massive back lash against Black Peters. They are seen as racist because their faces are painted black. Are they slaves? Are they chimney sweeps? Mind you, in Suriname, a former Dutch colony where most inhabitants are in fact black, they paint St Nicholas white!

11 comments:

  1. Hari OM
    OOhh,, that is spooky, I just posted next Tuesday's images - with a first line and link to all things St Nick!!! I am looking forward to getting back across to Edinburgh in a couple of weeks so that I can go down to Princess Street Gardens and the annual 'German Market'!!! YAM xx

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    1. We've been spooky a few times now. It's getting super spooky this! Although you could also say that 'great minds think alike'.

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  2. Very interesting! I'm glad you explained the reasoning behind Dec. 5! I was the only girl in my class who opened presents on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas morning. My parents both had German heritage, and Christmas Eve was when they opened presents as children. So Santa Claus never made an appearance at our house...it was too early for him to come!

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  3. We had a friend named Antje who lived in The Netherlands for many years and she would tell us stories about this!

    Your Pals,

    Murphy & Stanley

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    1. We especially love the sweets that come with St Nicholas. Chocolate cigarettes (crayons nowadays, very pc), chocolate mice and frogs, chocolate letters, ginger nuts, ginger bread, cakes, more cakes and more chocolate. ooooohhhh

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  4. Have fun in London
    Hugs madi and mom

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  5. To be honest when I was working I never managed to get the tree and decorations up before mid December.

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  6. With a December birthday I would have the day off toward the first of December. Usually worked good to get started on the decorating.

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  7. My parents always did St. Nicholas for us and I did it for my children when they were young. It was a tradition that our families brought over from Czechoslovakia.

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Any weighty (and not so weighty) comments are welcome!