Sinterklaas, designed by Ron Hendriks St Nicholas Center Collection

Sinterklaas Arrives in Castricum, NL Photo: P Van Trigt

In mid-November Dutch television broadcasts the official arrival of St. Nicholas and his helper Zwarte Piet live to the nation. Coming by steamer from Spain, each year they dock in the harbor of a different city or village. Wearing traditional bishop's robes, Sinterklaas rides into town on a white horse to be greeted by the mayor. A motorcade and a brass band begin a great parade which leads Sinterklaas and his Piets through the town. Nearly every city and village has its own Sinterklaas parade.

In the following weeks before St. Nicholas Day, December 6, Sinterklaas goes about the country to determine if the children have been well-behaved. He and his Zwarte Piet helpers visit children in schools, hospitals, department stores, and even at home. The bakeries are busy making speculaas molded spice cookies of the saint. During this time children put out their shoes with wish-lists and a carrot or hay, or maybe a saucer of water, for the horse. When St. Nicholas happens by, the next morning children may find chocolate coins or initial letter, candy treats, pepernoten, and little gifts in their shoes. Everyone hopes for sweets, not coal or a little bag of salt.

The Dutch celebrate Sinterklaas on December 5th, St. Nicholas Eve, with festive family parties when gifts and surprises are exchanged. In the Netherlands, unlike other places, adults as well as children join in the fun. As the Dutch like an element of surprise, a small gift may be wrapped in a huge box, or it may be hidden and require following clues to discover where it is.

Child's Sinterklaas Backpack St Nicholas Center Collection

Gifts are prettily wrapped in special Sinterklaas paper or they may be hidden, for example, in a potato or an old sock. Each gift, anonymously signed "from Sinterklaas," comes with a clever rhyme that may point out a person's shortcomings in a humorous way. (For the less creative, there are books with suggestions for making rhymes and packaging disguises.) Originality, not value of the gift, is what counts.

Children sing traditional Sinterklaas songs while waiting for the saint to appear. A knock comes on the door and a black gloved hand appears to toss candies and pepernoten inside. Children scramble to gather up the treats. A large burlap bag, "de zak van Sinterklaas," also appears filled with gifts. At the table, decorated with speculaas and other sweets, guests may find their initial in a chocolate letter at their places. Food is apt to include hot chocolate, Bishop's wine, and letter banket.

Dutch Pencil Topper St Nicholas Center Collection

The Dutch feast of Saint Nicholas is about giving, for "it is in giving that we receive." The fun is in trying to surprise people, to tease in a well-meaning way, to make a good joke, to produce a rollicking rhyme. The gift itself is just a bonus, as the fun is in the doing.

Sinterklaas is the most important tradition for the Dutch, a 2008 Centre for Dutch Culture survey found. Celebrated the evening of December 5 with traditional tasty foods, it is the main time for family gift-giving. The second ranked tradition is decorating a Christmas tree, followed by Queen's Day, April 30. Blowing out birthday candles and eating raw herring were also in the top ten.

Studies* with young children (ages 4-7) in the Netherlands show that St. Nicholas encourages positive, sharing behavior:

One may think that traditions like the Dutch Saint Nicholas tradition makes children materialistic, greedy, and less likely to share with others as they are spoiled with gifts and candy. However, our results clearly show that children in The Netherlands still associate Saint Nicholas with "sharing with others"  . . . .

Significant others, such as family members, friends, and Saint Nicholas, are pre-eminently the people that influence us and that teach us what is good, and what is bad, and what the social norms are in our society. . . . Give Dutch children a coloring picture depicting the attributes of Saint Nicholas (a book, miter, and a staff) and they will give away more of their candy.

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Sinterklaas—One Family's Experience
Living in the Netherlands, emigrating to the USA
Sinterklaas Official National Entry—with Photos
2010: Official National Entry in Harderwijk, Saturday, November 13, will be telecast live on Dutch national television.
Sinterklaas Arrival in Amsterdam
2010: Sinterklaas will arrive in Amsterdam on Sunday, November 14
Dutch Chocolate Letters
Sinterklaas Goes Green! De Groene Sint
Deventer—A Unique Sinterklaas Tradition
More Sinterklaas Visits in the Netherlands
Saintly and Generous: Saint Nicholas and the Low Countries
How Sinterklaas traditions developed
Six to Eight Black Men by David Sedaris
An American humorist tries to understand Dutch Sinterklaas traditions

Link
Dutch Sinterklaas LPs

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* "Staff, miter, book, share: How attributes of Saint Nicholas induce normative behavior" by Janneke F. Joly and Diederik A. Stapel, European Journal of Social Psychology, volume 39, pp. 145-153 (2009). Published online 14 January 2008 in Wiley InterScience.