Sinterklaas Festival

Sinterklaas, the Dutch Saint Nicholas, visits the Van Wickle House every year on the first Sunday in December after Thanksgiving weekend.  Dressed in his red Bishop’s robe and miter, he rides in on a white horse accompanied by his companion and helper Zwarte Piet.  In the Netherlands St. Nicholas day, December 6, 2008 is a very special holiday for children and families. In honor of this Dutch tradition the Meadows Foundation sponsors a celebration with music and dancing and hands on activities for the whole family.

Visitors are presented with a little slice of the Netherlands as dancers in traditional costumes perform Dutch Klompen Dances, and the beautiful Dutch street organ, the Violanta, plays Sinterklaas songs.  All are invited to learn a dance or two or sing along with the Violanta. The highlight for every child is a chat with Sinterklaas, who keeps a record of good deeds and bad.  Good boys and girls receive a small gift from Zwarte Piet.

Inside, the Van Wickle House is festooned with Dutch provincial flags and Dutch artwork. Participants may wish to try their hand at Stipwerke, a type of dot painting. Traditional Dutch food,
including, almond pastry, and Sinterklaas spice cookies known as Speculaas, are on sale. The aroma of fresh baked cookies fills the air as the art of making the Speculaas is demonstrated.

In 2008 the Festival of St. Nicholas will be held December 7, 2008 from 1 to 4 PM at the Van Wickle House. Admission is free, but a donation of $3.00 per car, to further the ongoing work of the Meadows Foundation will be appreciated.  For information call 732-249-6770. Learn more about Sinterklaas below!

The Story of St. Nicholas

The legend of St. Nicholas is based on historical fact.  He lived from 271 A.D. to 342 or 343 A. D.  Born of a wealthy family, Nicholas was brought up as a devout Christian.  When his parents died in an epidemic, he distributed his fortune among the poor and entered the priesthood.  Subsequently he became Archbishop of Myra.  From then the fame of his good deeds and saintly ways began to spread across the Mediterranean.  He must have been an extraordinary man.  For no sooner had he been buried than the line between fact and fantasy blurred and a fabulous series of legends and miracles sprang into being.  The Good Bishop of Myra becalmed the stormy seas when desperate sailors invoked his name; prison walls crumbled as soon as victims of persecution prayed to him.  He saved small children from the butcher’s knife and dropped dowries into the shoes of penniless maidens.  In due course, Saint Nicholas became the patron saint of sailors and merchants and, especially of children.  Amsterdam, along with other European towns, adopted ST. Nicholas as its patron saint. 

His feast day, December 6, was celebrated by choirboys of St. Nicholas Churches.  Very likely these boys introduced St. Nicholas into their homes.  Gradually his name, now corrupted to Sinterklaas, became a household word, his festival a nationwide event and his image the popular symbol of a stern yet benevolent moralist.  In due time Sinterklass came accompanied by his Moorish servant Piet, a grinning fellow with a birch rod, whose sack full of goodies when emptied, is large enough to carry away any naughty children. 

The Dutch Tradition of Sinterklaas

All Dutch children know that Sinterklaas lives in Spain.  There he spends most of the year recording the behavior of all children in a big red book, while Piet stocks up on presents for next Sinterklaas Eve.  After mid-November Sinterklaas mounts his milk-white steed, Piet swings the sack full of gifts over his shoulder, and the three board a steamship to set course for Amsterdam harbor and a formal welcome by the Mayor and a delegation of citizens.  A fabulous parade through town marks the beginning of the St. Nicholas season.

From now on, time and space merge as the old bishop and his helpmate are everywhere at once.  At night they ride across Holland’s rooftops.  While Sinterklaas listens through the chimneys to check the children’s behavior, Piet sees to it that the hay or carrot, left for the horse in each little shoe by the fireplace, is exchanged for a small gift or some candy.  In the daytime they are even busier visiting all classrooms and hospitals as well as many department stores and private homes. 

But if they are busy in the days before Sinterklaas Eve, so are the Dutch – all of them.  Shopping is the least of it, for a Sinterklaas present is not at all like a Christmas present three weeks ahead of time.  Dutch tradition demands that all packages be camouflaged in some imaginative way, and that each gift be accompanied by a fitting poem.  For this is the essence of Sinterklaas:  Sheer unadulterated fun on the one day when plain kidding is not only permitted, but expected without the slightest regard for differences in age and social status. 

To be truly appreciated, presents must be concealed or disguised.  Recipients must be willing to follow a trail of directions all over the house to look for them.

To write a poem to go with each present is another challenge.  For in these Sinterklaas rhymes – long or short; good or bad – the real kidding comes into the open.  The giver has his fling.  He’ll bring out some foible, a love interest, a recent incident, in fact, anything to cause embarrassment, as long as it is good natured and in good taste.  The butt of the joke, who has to open his package in public and read the poem aloud amid general hilarity, does this manfully; for he too has something in store for his tormentor.  Just wait!

As every surprise comes as a gift from Sinterklaas, and every poem is signed by him, the real giver is supposedly anonymous.  Recipients simply say a loud, “Thank You Sinterklaas!”

Excerpted from Santa Claus The Dutch Way, Albani  The Hague Holland