The Man I know as Santa Clause goes by many names. Kris Kringle, Saint Nicolas, Father Christmas, and the list goes on. I think you get the idea, that he is a master of disguise. As a child I learned that Santa had all these names because he brought toys to all the good girls and boys of the world. People from different lands had different names for him.
It is odd for me, moving to Belgium, and there being a difference between Kerstmans (Santa Claus) and SinterKlaas (Saint Nick). What’s even more fascinating is that the traditions for SinterKlaas is what we did for Santa Claus.
On December 5th little boys and girls take a shoe and place it next to the fire place, or the door if you don’t have one. Then the stick a carrot in the shoe and sing the magical Sinterklaas song, and go to bed.The next morning the carrot is gone, and in its place are oranges, cookies, marzipan and gifts.
This is similar to what I would did. I had a special christmas stocking with my name in glitter, that hung on the mantal in the living room. My Grandmother and I made cookies which we decorated with frosting, and then left them out for Santa and his elves. We filled a glass with milk, to wash the cookies down. Of course you can’t forget about the nine reindeer! They each got a celery stalk. The next morning the milk was drunk, the celery gone, one cookie with a bit out of it with scattered crumbs, and of course presents.
In America we get the raw end of the cookie deal. Because Sinkerklaas brings the food, and it is delicious. The marzipan is shaped like tiny fruits. You get letter cookies, and nic nacs with frost. Delicious speculoos in the shape of Sinterklaas which taste like a gingersnaps and graham crackers had a baby. Finally SinterKlaas shaped sweetbread.
The biggest difference is Christmas decorations. Normal people put them up after Thanksgiving, however with the commercialization of Christmas in America they sometimes get put up as early as October. That is wrong though. In Belgium though, SinterKlass isn’t associated with Christmas. He is his own thing, as a result Christmas decorations are suppose to go up after the 6th, which is very late to me.
Want to know more check out my video.
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