Can any Dutch Duers shed some light on this for me?

[nemo137]

When I was a little kid, like 6-7, the old Dutch-American couple who lived down the street would have a St. Nicholas day coffee or openhouse, and invite people from our church and our neighborhood, and have coffee and fruitcake, and delicious little Dutch desserts and give all the children a small present, usually (the Van Pernesses being good people) a book. And the adults would talk and socialize, and the kids would play or listen to Mr. V talk about about the Netherlands or tell stories (he always told about St. Nicholas day when he was a child, or tell stories of the real St. Nicholas), and it was, basically, lovely.

What day is this supposed to be on, and are these little parties traditional, does anyone know?

[Aristus]

1. I'm not Dutch, but I do know that St. Nicholas Day is December 6th.

I know enough about the Dutch to suggest that these neighborhood parties, with gifts for the children and refreshments for the adults, are probably pretty traditional. Hope that helps.

[progmom]

2. December 5th is Sinterklaas

And yeah - the parties are traditional. So is leaving your shoe by the chimney so Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet can fill it up with candy and cookies.

[nemo137]

6. I remember him telling us about Zwarte Piet.

Did he carry chains to put bad kids in, or is that some other Christmas tradition?

[China_cat]

8. Put the kids in a bag and carry them back to Spain

to work in the pepernote mines.

[China_cat]

7. And making funny wrappings for the gifts

and poems geared to the recipient. Actually the shoe was to be left outside the door with hay and carrots in it for Sinterklaas' horse. Somewhere here I have the sheet music for the traditional songs to be sung to make sure Sinterklaas would come to your door.

[Arugula Latte]

3. I just listened to the David Sedaris recording of "Six to Eight Black Men"

It's about the Christmas in Holland, and how the children are told that St. Nick is accompanied by "six to eight black men." Sedaris says, "why can't they have a more specific number?" Apparently the legend was that they were St. Nick's slaves, but that version was changed in the fifties and now they're Nick's "friends" and helpers.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

5. I love that recording!

It's one of my favorite Christmas stories.

[Kellanved]

4. St. Nicholas

Is celebrated as a sort of "pre-Christmas" in the German/Dutch culture. It carries many of the "Santa" aspects of the US christmas, for instance the red-robed man with a beard or the good/naughty part, but presents are pretty much limited to sweets :P . There also is a dose of halloween in there, insofar as that kids from the neighborhood are considered as well.