I can/t wait to paint and teach.
Love and Light, OLGA
PRETTIGE SINTERKLAAS AVOND VOOR ALLE NEDERLANDERS van ArtWanted!
--Wishing all the Dutch a great SINT NICOLAS EVENING!--
Here a picture of "Sinterklaas" and two of his many "Pieten" which was printed in the Dutch newspaper of today ("Geen pepernoten op rood Damrak") opening the Dutch stock market. ______________________________________________
Some HISTORY about a DUTCH TRADITIONAL SINTERKLAAS EVENING, celebrated tonight:
SINTERKLAAS usually will bring gifts on December 5th to all children of Holland.
Much like Santa Claus, Sinterklaas (a bishop) is an old man with a long white beard, he wears a red costume with golden stripes, and a miter on his head.
DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES BETWEEN SINTERKLAAS AND SANTA
Though the figure of Santa Claus, and his role during Christmas, is largely based on the Dutch Sinterklaas (5th of December celebration), there are a number of differences and similarities between the two:
TRANSPORTATION
One of the most obvious differences between Sinterklaas and Santa Claus in the way they choose to travel. Santa (together with his helpers) makes use of a reindeer-drawn sleigh, which, due to the magical reindeer, is able to fly through the air. Sinterklaas arrives at the Netherlands on a steamer, called "Pakjesboot". In Holland he travels on his horse, a white horse with speckles, while his helpers walk. The horse however possesses magical power, as it is able to walk over rooftops.
GIFTS:
PREPARATIONS
Both Santa and Sinterklaas have helpers. Elves assist Santa Claus, while "Zwarte Pieten" ("Black Pete's") are helping Sinterklaas. Zwarte Piet will inform Sinterklaas if a child has been good or bad. "Zwarte Piet" has a dark skin, curly hair, and wears red lipstick.
While Santa appears to make all the presents himself, his house is often represented as a toy factory. Sinterklaas on the other hand will buy the presents in stores, which he can do due to being indescribably wealthy, and then the Pieten will wrap them.
Santa only deposits gifts between Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, though he can be seen in the weeks before Christmas. Sinterklaas arrives in The Netherlands and Belgium some weeks before the 5th of December. His arrival is always be broadcasted on national television.
Sinterklaas usually will bring gifts to the children of Holland on December 5th. The children put their shoes next to the chimney filled with straw and a carrot. These treats are for Sinterklaas' horse. The next morning, when the children wake up, they find the straw and carrot have been replaced by a present and/or candy.
Both Santa Claus and Sinterklaas deliver their presents through the chimney. Santa uses "a little bit of magic" as he himself goes down the chimney, while Sinterklaas will wait on the roof top with his horse, while his Zwarte Pieten will go down the chimney.
Both figures use fixed positions as to where the presents need to be placed. Santa will place his presents around the Christmas tree and fills the stockings hanging above the fireplace. Sinterklaas exclusively will place his gifts in front of the fireplace, and, instead of stockings, he will fill shoes (which the children placed in front of the fireplace the night before) with candy.
PUNISHMENT
Sinterklaas sometimes is used as a fear tactic by parents in order to get children to behave. Many Sinterklaas songs incorporate one basic element: Children who've been good will receive presents and candy, the ones who haven't will receive nothing, will get the roe small branches) , or in the most extreme case will be taken with Sinterklaas to Spain. Santa also cares whether children have been "naughty or nice". Santa has been known to leave only coal to those who are naughty although on the whole he's fairly lenient.
RECEDENCY
While Santa Claus is said to live on or near the North Pole together with his helpers, Sinterklaas lives in an unspecified (but likely Southern) castle in Spain. Sinterklaas and Santa Claus both spend most of their days preparing for Christmas. In this, Sinterklaas assumes the role of a more administrative figure, while his helpers do much of the packaging and manual labor as opposed to Santa Claus who is often portrayed as doing both jobs, but also together with his helpers.
FAMILY
Sinterklaas never spoke about relatives. Santa however has a wife: Mrs. Claus. The reason why Sinterklaas has no wife or children is likely caused by the fact that he is largely based on Saint Nicholas, an early Christian bishop, and hence bound to celibacy.
AGE
Technically both Sinterklaas and Santa Clause are the same figure, both based on Saint Nicholas of Myra. Hence in theory they should be of the same age, which would be 1737 (given that Nicholas was born in 270 A.D) however, both Santa and Sinterklaas will never give an explicit answer when asked their age. Santa says he stopped counting at 550 and Sinterklaas says he's simply too old to remember.
KNOWLEDGE OF EACH OTHER
Santa Claus, seems to be unaware of the existence of Sinterklaas. Sinterklaas knows about Santa's existence, and has said that they occasionally meet at his castle, adding that their meetings usually have several centuries in between.
PERSONALITY
While Santa is often very punctual and rarely forgets anything, Sinterklaas can be forgetful at times, needing the help of his Zwarte Pieten to remind him of what he was or supposed to be doing.
SINTERKLAAS EVENING on DECEMBER 5 in HOLLAND:
Traditionally Saint Nicholas will bring his gifts at night December 5th known as “Sinterklaasavond” or “Pakjesavond” (present evening). After the singing of traditional Sinterklaas songs, there is a loud knock on the door, and a sack full of presents is found on the doorstep. Alternatively - some improvisation is often called for - the parents 'hear a sound coming from the attic' and then the bag with presents is "found" there. Some parents manage to "convince" Sinterklaas to come to their home personally.
Presents are often accompanied by a simple poem, telling something about the child or giving a hint to the nature of the present.
When the presents are too bulky in size or when the quantity of presents is too large, they have to be sneaked into the house while the kids are distracted.
Another aspect of "Pakjesavond" is writing small poems for gifts to adults. When children grow too old to believe in Sinterklaas, they are introduced to a different form of entertainment on Pakjesavond night, December 5th. People will write small personal poems for friends and family usually accompanied by a small gift or candy. Teasing the receiver of gifts about their habits or hang-ups can be included in the poem.
Poems can still accompany bigger gifts as well, though instead of brought by Sinterklaas, people will draw 'lootjes'(literally: lottery tickets) comparable to Secret Santa. The gifts are creatively 'disguised'. E.g. someone will receive a CD wrapped into a box that is made to look like a chimney or a present has to be looked for in a Sinterklaas scavenger hunt, clues will be left by Piet.
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And I'll miss out on all this fun since we don't celebrate SINTERKLAAS in the USA.
Love and Light~OLGA
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PS: Click on picture for a larger view of “The feast day of Saint Nicholas”, painted c. 1665 – 1668, by the Dutch master JAN STEEN. The picture, painted in the chaotic Jan Steen "style," depicts a family at home on December 6, the night celebrated in the Netherlands as the Feast of Saint Nicholas.
I hope you bought pepernoten to take home with you?
Wishing everyone a happy weekend!
Feeling much better.. still a bit of stiffness in the fingers but slowly improving day by day..:-)
Great info on Sinterklaas Olga.. an interesting read.
Where is everyone? Is the thread finally dead??
We're not dead, we're all here, just wait a bit and the hordes will come in! :)
http://www.annekehut.nl/anneke/other/armandoall.jpg
lol.. good to hear everyone's still around.. guess they're tied up with the seasonal frenzy.
Just received a nice card from Nat and that's reminded me that I need to get my finger out, else it'll be January before I make a start..:-)
Great pic Anneke.. lol.. I'll have to steal a copy of that for the memoirs..:-)
Great to see you back Ter!
Where is the majority of the gang by the way? (Armando & Co?)
I'll be back in Holland for a month again upcoming Saturday - ( until January 15 2009) to take care of my mother in law....
--*Love and Light~OLGA*--
PS: This picture is taken in Vreeland, close to my Mom's house boat. I'll go to her every weekend the upcoming 4 weeks, while being in Holland. We'll bike on those small roads, next to the Vecht. It's just beautiful over there.... YES, I DO MISS HOLLAND!
All Good Wishes for your trip to Holland... it looks lovely from the pic.
That's a great job Anneke!
Great story Olga.
I dont think this thread will ever die, It's just getting harder to locate.
How is everybody doing?
No word/news info from Armando yet....?
Here's a view from my mom's house boat in Holland. Isn't it peaceful?
--Love & Light for 2009 for all of you! ~Olga
I had a mail from Armando in late December, so he's OK... perhaps busy.
Yes, that's a wonderful setting Olga.. make a nice painting..
[[[Hugs]]]
Yes.. let's keep the old thread running.. Armando will doubtless reappear when time permits.
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