Jan de Vries and his family are having Christmas in
America. They are amazed about Santa Claus.
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John Doe and his family celebrate Saint Nicholas in The
Netherlands. They never expected something like this.
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Transportation:
A sleigh pulled by eight
flying raindeer: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder,
Blitzen. The leading reindeer is Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer (not to
be mixed up with Henk's youngest brother).
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Transportation: For the short distances,
Sinterklaas is riding over the roofs on a white horse (a grey) and for
the longer distances he uses an old fashioned steamboat. |
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His helpers:
Elves. |
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His helpers: black petes (nowadays they
are usually friendly, but years ago children were afraid of these guys
because they could be quite hostile).
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To get inside the house:
He comes down the chimney and lands in the fireplace.These chimneys must
be very clean to keep Santa's beard so white.
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To get inside the house:S interklaas has the same strange habit to
enter a house than Santa. Strange guys these white bearded bishops from
Myra. |
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Place of
living: Santa Claus is not the most clever guy on
earth. All year (except December) he lives on the North Pole. From this
perspective he can learn a lot from his Dutch colleague. |
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Place of
living: Sinterklaas is clearly the more clever
bishop of Myra. Eleven months per year he enjoys the perfect climate in Spain.
He must love the Dutch children very much to come during wintertime a
couple of weeks to the wet and chilly Dutch climate.
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Presents:
Santa Claus is giving his presents during
Christmas. This is a bit strange if you know his birthday is on December
6th. But Americans are commercial. They want to keep the big shopping
weeks before Thanksgiving (November) and Christmas (December) completely
separated.
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Presents:
Also the Dutch Sinterklaas is a strange
guy. He doesn't receive presents on his birthday, but gives them away.
This is even more strange if you would know how stingy the Dutch are.
This proves that Sinterklaas cannot be Dutch! |
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To pamper
Santa Claus: you
put milk and cookies under the Christmas tree together with
a carrot for the reindeers.
The poor elves don't get anything. If you
give Santa enough (and have been nice during the year), you probably
will receive big gifts on Christmas day.
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To pamper
Sinterklaas: Before December 5th, children place their shoe(s) under the chimney and fill it with hay and carrots for the horse
of Sinterklaas. If you are lucky, you will get a gift in return. If not,
your shoes are gone. |
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