Christmas is celebrated very differently in The Netherlands.
Christmas in the Netherlands: In the Netherlands Santa is not called "Santa" instead he is called St. Nicholas or Sinterklass. They believe that he comes to the Netherlands on a boat with his helper Black Peter. The Dutch believe that St. Nicholas lives in Spain, not in the North Pole. On December 5, they have a huge feast. On this day Dutch farmers blow horns early in the morning to chase away the evil spirits. Also, on December 5th the Dutch exchange presents instead of on December 25th. Dutch The children leave hay and sugar out for St. Nicholas's horse to eat. People say that St. Nicholas comes to the little children in the middle of the night during the year to see if they are being good. Then later on December 5th the families sit around a Christmas tree and sing carols, exchange gifts and tell stories. Netherlands Christmas
Who is Black Peter:
- Black Peter is St. Nicholas's helper
- He wears Spanish clothes while helping St. Nicholas
- When it is not Christmas he spends all his time recording children's behavior and watching over them. Black Peter
Below is black peter and St. Nicholas.
This is very interesting to see how other's celebrate Christmas, it's very cute that children leave out sugar for the horses.
ReplyDeleteGermany has a similar tradition as the Netherlands. They have Krampus who travels with Santa Claus like Black Peter travels with St. Nicholas. But Black Peter is a lot nicer than Krampus. Krampus supposedly drags naughty children away while Black Peter just keeps track of how a child behaves.
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