St Nicholas 'Eve is a typically Dutch feast and celebrated on the fifth of December. The Dutch give each other presents accompanied by a poem or verse. In the weeks before St Nicholas 'Eve the children may put their shoes in front of the stove or fire place, but nowadays with central heating we try to find other places. My children thought it best to put shoes on the doormat behind the frontdoor. The shoes must contain a piece of bread or a carrot, apple or other food for St Nicholas's horse." St. Nicholas has NOTHING to do with Christmas.
We also celebrate Christmas which is a wholly religious feast in Church and a Christmas tree at home. We sing X-mas carols in the weeks before the 25th of December. We have four Advent Sundays in Church to prepare ourselves for X-mas just like all other western countries. St. Nicholas is just an extra event.
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16 comments:
really liked your slide presentation...thanks for sharing with us :)
In our tradition when the children have a tidy room and their shoes nicely side by side by the bed, St.Nikolaus comes in the night and leaves some gingerbread and maybe a sweet in them.
Isn't it fun to prepare for Christmas with all the festive lead up of Advent Sundays and visits from St. Nick.
Nice slide show, I was not aware of this custom.
Hello Reader Wil,
I am so sorry to hear about your illness. I hope today fines you one step closer to a speedy recovery. Being ill on a vacation is no fun, all I can think about is I wish I had my own bed. I hope before the FP set in that you had a nice time and took pictures and have stories to share with us. I will settle for taking my vacation in Egypt through your eyes.
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.
Welcome back, I hope you enjoyed your trip even though you got sick, I hope you're okay again?
The photos are great :) In Germany, St. Nicholas comes on the 6th of December and children put shoes outside the door on the night before to be filled with sweets and little presents. He's called Nikolaus and the Black Peter is called Knecht Ruprecht, although he's not part of the ritual in all regions.
Welcome home! I hope you had great time during your travel (exept your illness). Excellent post! I missed your writing. If you want i would like you to send me an email with your name and home address because i want to send something for Christmas.
Did you find the new award for you?
It's on my blog at 23rd of November. I made a comment to your previous post.
I think its great to learn festival dates all around the world, it seems to unite everyone, providing we respect everyones belief. Great pics.
Wil: It is so neat to see how the different Christmas are portrayed around the world.
I love that the food was left for St. Nicholas' horses!
No matter how Christmas is celebrated, it is always fun for kids. Thanks for visiting my post about the Hulks in Powell River. -- Margy
How interesting to learn about your traditions. Thanks for sharing this and the slide show is great!
We also celebrate Christmas which is a more a religious feast in Church and a Christmas tree at home and we sing X-mas carols in the weeks before the 25th of December. We have four Advent Sundays in Church to prepare ourselves for X-mas just like all other western countries. St. Nicholas is just an extra event.
interesting festival !! and a lovely presentation you put :)
I love learning about different christmas celebrations. I've never heard of Black Peter, such an interesting concept. Our family celebrates christmas twice - we have a german christmas on Christmas eve - we go to church, then come home and open the family presents, then have a traditional turky dinner. On xmas day, we open the presents from Santa Claus first up then head to the beach for an Aussie xmas and a bbq on the beach
Fascinating My World post, Wil! I enjoyed learning about Saint Nicholas--I always thought he was a European version of Santa Klaus! This was so interesting, and the slides were wonderful!
Thank you for coming by my Painting blog and commenting on the miniatures!
Marie
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