Sinterklaas gifts shown below are available
all year long.
 |
 |
||
| Storytime with Sinterklaas is now completed for this season. This annual event is popular with families with small children. We look forward to hosting it again in the fall of 2015. Sinterklaas gift items are available year-round and are shown below. |
|||
The Legend of Sinterklaas in The Netherlands |
|||
In the Netherlands, mid-November is the
start of the Sinterklaas or St. Nicholas season. It begins with preparations for the parade on the last Sunday in November.
Sinterklaas, with his white horse Schimmel and helper Piet arrive by boat and lead a merry parade throughout the town. Sinterklaas parties are all on the 5th and it has come to be regarded as "Sinterklaas" or "Pakjesavond" (present evening). This is the eve of St. Nicholas Day, December 6. This is a time for exchanging gifts and making good-natured fun of each other. Most places of business close earlier than usual and all head for home and a table laden with traditional sweets and baked goods. A large chocolate letter - (for the first initial in the name of each person present) is a part of each place setting. Large gingerbread (Tai Tai) men and women, are also a traditional treat that shares the table. |
Early in the evening special seasonal treats are served
while those gathered take turns unwrapping their gifts. Traditionally this is the evening that Sinterklaas and Piet ride across the rooftops of Holland looking
for and rewarding good children with small gifts and candies.
In anticipation of Sinterklaas' visit, children fill their wooden shoes with carrots and oats and
place them on the door stoop for Sinterklaas' big white horse.
The following morning, gifts from Sinterklaas, many with hilarious poems attached, are opened and the poems read aloud. This traditional Dutch celebration of Sinterklaas or St. Nicholas is credited with being the basis of our Santa Claus tradition in the United States. |
||
| Hand painted Sinterklaas and Piet Wooden Shoes |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Available by special order only, Please call our shops at 616.396.1475 for pricing and availability. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
