Sinterklaas!

Who is Sinterklaas, who are zwarte Piet and what is a pepernot?


Sinterklaas and his feast day is a huge thing in the Netherlands! His annual arrival and parade in all the cities of the Netherlands and the traditional festivities that follow are amazing! Sinterklaas is the reason why Santa Klaus exists. His true origin of existance is Saint Nikolaos (who was an actual person and honoured as a saint in the Orthodox church).
Every year everyone is waiting for him to come from Spain (no one really knows why he chose to live in Spain but maybe the Spanish domination over the Netherlands in the past has something to do with it). 
He even has his own website-journall (The Sinterklaas Journal) with live news covering his every move.
Zwarte Piet literally means Black Peter, they are Sint’s helpers. The last years Zwarte Piet is the subject of depate in the Netherlands, about how racist the whole idea is.

Once Sint arrives in every town, children lay out their shoes before bedtime, along with water and a carrot for his horse, in the hopes that there will be a gift left there by morning.
The very sweet kids are usually rewarded with chocolate letters and marzipan while the naughty anxiously wait to see if they’ve been given coal..

Although the feast of Saint Nicolas is celebrated on the 6th of December, the evening of 5th December is the main gift-giving occasion during the holiday season in the Netherlands. 

Called 'sinterklaasavond' (Sinterklaas night) or 'pakjesavond'  (presents night), Sint drops off a sack full of gifts on the doorstep before heading back to Spain. Every present from Sinterklaas, has a poem that is written especially for each recipient. 

All the children but also the adults are enjoying this feast day, although some find it too childish. For me it's all new, and I can honestly say, I like it!! I knew saint Nikolaos already and it's nice to receive his gifts!!
This year Sinterklaas visited our house (maybe while I was sleeping) and left inside my boots, some pepernoten (small spiced biscuits) and a lovely chocolade letter.




Dank je Sinterklaasje!!

You can find many nice songs, images and printables in this site (all in Dutch).




In our parish for Sinterklaas gifts, the children of Sunday school prepared some amazing christmas ornaments and cards to help the Romanian Valea Plopului orphanage.If you want to help, you can visit their facebook page.

f(our) months

Through the past months so many changes, so many happy moments.
From our little apartment in the center of Utrecht, life seems magical!
We got busy arranging our square meters of happiness with little pretty details here and there.

I started learning Dutch ,en nu ik spreek een beetje Nederlands. 

Also I visited some places in this beautifull country and yes
I like it more and more. Somehow four months have already passed by,
four months full of love!

F(our) months! 

A new life, a new house, love all arround.
July in Netherlands found us with, what seemed like, millions of wedding congratulation cards. I never knew there could be so many different types, wishes, poems, drawings for a wedding card!
August and a visit to a nice cottage brought us some basilicum to decorate our own "garden" by the window.
September was full of Greece, as the wedding of my sister was the wedding of the decade! Love, laughter, rock 'n' roll, dance and happiness! Also September was the month that babies were arriving everywhere in Greece and in the Netherlands!
October had birthday parties, autumn leaves, visits to museums, hot chocolate, warm bed covers, morning tea, pompoens, pears and quinces. And of cource autumn is here and it's time for crafting and crocheting again.
And now November is a day away, with a weather so nice and autumni!
These are my first months in the Netherlands. Lovely and precious months.
Months that are, so far, the happier in my life.

So did you know that months in Dutch
are not written with a capital letter?

They are called maanden and they are easy
to recognise if you speak english,
here they are:

januari, februari, maart, april, mei,
juni, juli, augustus,
september, oktober, november
and december.





How were your past months?
How are the months called in your language?

Hope you are also enjoing life wherever you are!

big hug,

Panagiota

Here is a really nice reading in Dutch about the months: Een jaar heeft 12 maanden.