St. Nicholas Day. December 5

[Farmerswife4]

We will be on Nieuw Amsterdam on the Netherlands Christmas Day. Does anyone know if they do anything special for guests?

[Sir PMP]

Well, it's pakjes avond, prepare yourself.

[Copper10-8]

They used to have this dude make an appearance for the kiddies onboard. Make sure you bring a carrot for his white horse 😉 

 

[samsonmo]

4 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:

They used to have this dude make an appearance for the kiddies onboard. Make sure you bring a carrot for his white horse 😉 

 

This is Sinterklaas and his birthday is December 5.

[YXU AC*SE]

On the Nieuw Statendam inaugural, we received DeHeer chocolate letters at turndown, which comically did not relate to any letter in our first or last names  ...    we laughed and put it down to a Dutch to Malay to English translation.   Tasted all the same !   🙂.         Scott. 

[Copper10-8]

7 hours ago, samsonmo said:

This is Sinterklaas and his birthday is December 5.

 

Yes, it is! Very familiar with the Sint, "zijn boot uit Spanje, en zijn paard," Having grown up in Amsterdam in my youth. My prents used to have our neighbor loudly knock on our door and when us kids, opened it, there was a large bag of presents sitting there and no one around. Great memories! Dutch Sinterklaas really has nothing to do with Christmas. His character is based on the patron saint of children

[Copper10-8]

6 hours ago, YXU AC*SE said:

On the Nieuw Statendam inaugural, we received DeHeer chocolate letters at turndown, which comically did not relate to any letter in our first or last names  ...    we laughed and put it down to a Dutch to Malay to English translation.   Tasted all the same !   🙂.         Scott. 

 

Handing out chocolate letters is just another tradition of Dutch Sinterklaas. If it's family, you get the letter representing the individual's first initial of their first name. On a cruise ship, doing that would take a lot of time and effort. Pretty cool gesture by the Nieuw Statendam staff though!

 

 

 

[dot73]

We also celebrated this day when I was growing up in Poland. I will be on the NA on December 5, and I hope that HAL will mark this day in some way.🎅

[Sir PMP]

1 hour ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

Yes, it is! Very familiar with the Sint, "zijn boot uit Spanje, en zijn paard," Having grown up in Amsterdam in my youth. My prents used to have our neighbor loudly knock on our door and when us kids, opened it, there was a large bag of presents sitting there and no one around. Great memories! Dutch Sinterklaas really has nothing to do with Christmas. His character is based on the patron saint of children

And he sits on a schimmel, remember Toon Hermans said: het is een oude vent met schimmel tussen zijn benen.

[Copper10-8]

17 minutes ago, Sir PMP said:

And he sits on a schimmel, remember Toon Hermans said: het is een oude vent met schimmel tussen zijn benen.

 

 

Toon Hermans, Wim Zonneveld and Wim Kan, the Big Three! Lots of laughs with those gents while growing up!

[samsonmo]

2 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

Yes, it is! Very familiar with the Sint, "zijn boot uit Spanje, en zijn paard," Having grown up in Amsterdam in my youth. My prents used to have our neighbor loudly knock on our door and when us kids, opened it, there was a large bag of presents sitting there and no one around. Great memories! Dutch Sinterklaas really has nothing to do with Christmas. His character is based on the patron saint of children

Unfortunately Sinterklaas is not that important anymore. No more "Zwarte Pieten " allowed . Christmas is also becoming a bigger event in Holland.

[Copper10-8]

14 minutes ago, samsonmo said:

Unfortunately Sinterklaas is not that important anymore. No more "Zwarte Pieten " allowed . Christmas is also becoming a bigger event in Holland.

 

Yes, I've been reading about that, unfortunately! Sad, the world we live in! A great tradition going by the wayside!

[fatcat04]

19 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:

They used to have this dude make an appearance for the kiddies onboard. Make sure you bring a carrot for his white horse 😉 

 

I am assuming St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra. We love his story and have a special service and then celebration for the kiddies after on his Saints Day, we read his story and then he shows up and gives out chocolate coins, nuts, and oranges. Kiddies put out their shoes the night before and find little gifts in them in the morning. Fun! We are Orthodox and you can't "swing a dead cat" in our church without hitting a Nick, Nicholas, or Nicky, so this tradition is alive and well here. But the carrots for the horse are new to me. Gonna have to place some carrots next to those shoes this year 

Edited November 26, 2022 by fatcat04

[Copper10-8]

27 minutes ago, fatcat04 said:

I am assuming St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra. We love his story and have a special service and then celebration for the kiddies after on his Saints Day, we read his story and then he shows up and gives out chocolate coins, nuts, and oranges. Kiddies put out their shoes the night before and find little gifts in them in the morning. Fun! We are Orthodox and you can't "swing a dead cat" in our church without hitting a Nick, Nicholas, or Nicky, so this tradition is alive and well here. But the carrots for the horse are new to me. Gonna have to place some carrots next to those shoes this year 

 

Very nice and yes, correct on assuming Bishop of Myra! Yeah, the carrot is for his horse since, unlike Santa, Sinterklaas doesn't have a sleigh with flying reindeer! If I remember correctly, I would also place a bowl of water, again for the horse, next to the carrot at our fireplace when I was a young lad. When I got older, I always wondered how that horse was able to get on the roof/other roofs without making any noise - hooves in silent mode, I guess.

 

And, oh yes, I had an awful lot of respect for the "Zwarte Pieten" / "Black Petes," Sinterklaas' helpers like most Dutch kids have, because if you had been a bad boy, you had a pretty good chance of being put in a large bag and taken back to Spain (Sinterklaas lives there, instead of at the North Pole - He's obviously not stupid! 😉) 

Edited November 26, 2022 by Copper10-8

[sailingdutchy]

26 minutes ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

Very nice and yes, correct on assuming Bishop of Myra! Yeah, the carrot is for his horse since, unlike Santa, Sinterklaas doesn't have a sleigh with flying reindeer! If I remember correctly, I would also place a bowl of water, again for the horse, next to the carrot at our fireplace when I was a young lad. When I got older, I always wondered how that horse was able to get on the roof/other roofs without making any noise - hooves in silent mode, I guess.

 

And, oh yes, I had an awful lot of respect for the "Zwarte Pieten" / "Black Petes," Sinterklaas' helpers like most Dutch kids have, because if you had been a bad boy, you had a pretty good chance of being put in a large bag and taken back to Spain (Sinterklaas lives there, instead of at the North Pole - He's obviously not stupid! 😉) 

 

How nice and innocent were we than @Copper10-8and @Sir PMP ????  the good Saint or his Black Petes  would come through the chimney .......while mom or dad had just warmed up the living room  with a very hot and glowing coal stove .

In Den Haag ( The Hague )  besides the large carrot for the horse we placed a glass of milk and some cookies for the Saint .  Than maybe in the morning , if we had been good , we found in our shoe that we set out before we went to bed near the stove a Dinky Toy , a little bag with marbles , a  Vlooienspel   ( is that the same as what English people call tiddlywinks ? ) or a spinning top which made us very happy ................

 

Reminds me I have to listen again to Toon Hermans on YouTube and listen to "Snieklaas " I do that each year right about now .

 

Nowadays kids ask for an iPhone , a guitar or a TV for their room or more ..........

 

It has become all too commercialized and on the wrong day where we should celebrate the real meaning of  Christmas !

[MAVIP]

On 11/26/2022 at 2:20 AM, fatcat04 said:

 But the carrots for the horse are new to me. Gonna have to place some carrots next to those shoes this year 

Please donot foerget to join some straw with the (big winter-)carrrot! H=The horse will appreciate it very much. And let the childres sing a nice Sinterklaas song because he will listen carefully.

[Copper10-8]

On 11/25/2022 at 6:41 PM, sailingdutchy said:

 

How nice and innocent were we than @Copper10-8and @Sir PMP ????  the good Saint or his Black Petes  would come through the chimney .......while mom or dad had just warmed up the living room  with a very hot and glowing coal stove .

In Den Haag ( The Hague )  besides the large carrot for the horse we placed a glass of milk and some cookies for the Saint .  Than maybe in the morning , if we had been good , we found in our shoe that we set out before we went to bed near the stove a Dinky Toy , a little bag with marbles , a  Vlooienspel   ( is that the same as what English people call tiddlywinks ? ) or a spinning top which made us very happy ................

 

Reminds me I have to listen again to Toon Hermans on YouTube and listen to "Snieklaas " I do that each year right about now .

 

Nowadays kids ask for an iPhone , a guitar or a TV for their room or more ..........

 

It has become all too commercialized and on the wrong day where we should celebrate the real meaning of  Christmas !

 

You just brought back a lot of memories, Tony! Thank you! That's me, my two nephews Pete and Karl, and part of our family with Sinterklaas and two Zwarte Pieten on December 5 in the sixties in Amsterdam  

Edited November 27, 2022 by Copper10-8

[MAVIP]

On 11/26/2022 at 2:45 AM, Copper10-8 said:

And, oh yes, I had an awful lot of respect for the "Zwarte Pieten" / "Black Petes," Sinterklaas' helpers like most Dutch kids have, because if you had been a bad boy, you had a pretty good chance of being put in a large bag and taken back to Spain (Sinterklaas lives there, instead of at the North Pole - He's obviously not stupid! 😉) 

We had respect for Zwarte Piet (and how strange, even as small children we noticed it was an aunt or other member of the family) and his big bag. Now, winter is coming, and every year I ask Zwarte Piet to carry me to Spain in that bag on December 6th.....but he never does....

[Copper10-8]

A Sinterklaas song 🙂