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Happy Saint Nicholas Day!

12/6/2013

9 Comments

 
Picture
I was born in the Netherlands in the days when Christmas was still celebrated purely as a religious day, and entirely separate from St. Nicholas Day which comes three weeks earlier. It was on Saint Nicholas Eve that we would receive gifts, and eat special treats, and not on Christmas Day.

I remember the year I was four and a half, and in kindergarten. Saint Nicholas was a very big deal! The whole town went down to the harbour to welcome Saint Nicholas. Everyone waved their flags - both Orange and the red, white and blue striped Dutch flags - as the decorated barge sailed into the port. We all strained to look. And then there he finally was - Saint Nicholas, splendid in his red and white robes, sitting on a majestic white horse, and surrounded by his Moorish helpers.

Saint Nicholas came to visit our school, and he sat down on a chair in the middle of the large room. I'm not sure if it was the gymnasium, or another room, but in my memory it was very big and round.  All the school children sat on the floor around him. Saint Nicholas would point to a child and have them come up and sit on his lap and sing one of the popular Saint Nicholas ditties.  I've always been extremely shy, and the thought of being singled out to come up there absolutely terrified me, so I made myself as small as possible, hiding behind the person in front of me, almost laying flat on the floor. I was so relieved he never noticed me!

Our class had made special boxes to be put out for Saint Nicholas, so we could receive a small gift. The boxes were printed out on stiff card, but we didn't have scissors. We had to meticulously use a needle to poke rows of holes along al the printed lines with a large needle. Then we'd punch out the box, and fold it into shape. Somehow I can't imagine four and five year olds being asked to do that nowadays. I remember Saint Nicholas left an orange and a ball for me.

In the evening at home, we put our wooden shoes under the Christmas Tree. We had filled them with hay for his horse. We had a small real tree, filled with real candles, and we watched in awe as they were lit. The candles were put out and we went to bed. In the morning I remember a set of beautiful foil-wrapped chocolate tools in my wooden shoes! I guess someone knew even then that I liked making things! That was the last Saint Nicholas Day I spent in the Netherlands, as we immigrated to Canada the following spring. For many years, my parents continued with the Saint Nicholas Eve traditions, until eventually moving the gift-giving to Christmas.

To this day many Dutch people still give chocolate letters and bake special gingerbread treats at Saint Nicholas.
One of my favourite Saint Nicholas treats is 'Gefulde Speculaas', or Almond-Filled Gingerbread.          *To download the recipe, just click on the photo below.....
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Many years ago I made a Saint Nicholas figure, with head and hands sculpted of polymer clay. My husband puts him out every year. When I started collecting BJDs, I thought I'd take some doll photos with my Saint Nicholas figure, as he was pretty close in scale. I didn't have any black dolls to dress as his Moorish servants, so decided to make elf outfits for my smallest dolls, and let them help Saint Nicholas instead. Not exactly "traditional", but with Christmas stories continually changing and evolving over time, who cares?

The photo at the beginning of this post was taken the year I had just two tiny dolls - an Iplehouse Elin BID and my little Kaye Wiggs Cinnamon. Each year the number of little elf helpers has grown. Last year he had five - Elin and Cinnamon had been joined by Nami, Byuri, and Tillie......
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This year two more have joined the group - Erzulie, and Bonnie, who should be coming home very soon.  I guess I better make them some elf outfits too!  Or at least some hats and collars.
9 Comments
Shannon
12/6/2013 03:57:07 am

I have never heard of st. Nicholas day but it sounds fun are all the elf costumes the same

Reply
Martha
12/6/2013 12:30:34 pm

In the last photo, four of the elves have similar costumes although the colours may differ. The fifth is wearing just a collar and hat over an existing dress with a red vest and skirt.

Reply
Jane
12/6/2013 04:42:11 am

I loved reading this Martha thank you so much for telling it. And I so understand you hiding when you were at school........I did the same myself as a child if Father Christmas visited my school! LOL!

And I just adore how you have changed and evolved the story to have your little elf girls.......brilliant!
Saint Nicholas won't know what to do this year with so many helpers!

And he is fabulous too!

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Erin Winslow link
12/6/2013 07:25:22 am

Just curious, why does Saint Nicholas have "moorish servants"?

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Martha
12/6/2013 12:28:32 pm

I don't know the origins, but Saint Nicholas traditionally has several black servants - "blackamoors" - called "Black Peter", who are dressed in Renaissance attire. Their role is to amuse the children, toss candies & treats, and they are the ones who actually go down the chimneys. The role of Black Peter has traditionally been played by a white person with a blackened face, and it has become very controversial in recent years, as many have come to see it as racism & very offensive.

So, my Saint Nicholas gets elves to help him instead.

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Margo
12/7/2013 04:18:16 am

This is wonderful! Thank you for sharing your story (I too was terribly shy as a little girl) St. Nicholas looks very pleased with all his little helpers.

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Meike
12/7/2013 05:54:31 am

Hello!
Sinterklaas is still a big deal here in the Netherlands and a very special tradition as it still focused on children, family and crafting. My family and i celebrated it last week, so i was very happy and surpriced to see Sinterklaas- as we call him- with your girls!
And Black Peter is black because of going up and down the chimney to deliver the gifts to the children, it has no racism background. However the community is making adjustments so everybody can still enjoy this tradition. And when i read your story, thats about the only change since your childhood....

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designdreamer
7/27/2022 09:36:27 am

OMG!! (Again, not sure you'll ever see this as it's now 9 years later, but .....) I'm (evidently) 1 year younger than you, and of German heritage. When I was younger, we celebrated St. Nick (I thought it was Dec 8 though) I grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin, and my dad would sneak treats (while he was ALSO milking the cows on the night we celebrated St. NIck) He would knock on the door and run away!! I also have a book of stories one of my cousins compiled of what happened when HE was young, and he and his siblings felt very lucky to receive an orange as a Christmas gift back then. Oh how times have changed!

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Martha
7/27/2022 12:55:28 pm

Yes, I get emails every time someone makes a comment, even if the post was made years ago.

My Dad used to do the same thing - knock on the door, and run away leaving a bag with gifts.

Yes, things have certainly changed since we were little. I can't imagine a child today being happy with some chocolate and an orange.

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    Author

    Martha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll maker and costumer specializing in fantasy and historical-style costumes.
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