Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet

Happy ? Sinterklaas Day ?

Did you know that our Santa Claus derives from the Dutch figure of Sinterklaas?

Sinterklaas is a traditional Winter holiday figure in theNetherlands and Belgium and is celebrated annually either on the eve ofDecember 5th or the morning of December 6 (that's today). Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of children,sailors, and oddly enough, Amsterdam and Moscow.

In the 4th century, Saint Nicholas of Myra was a Greek bishop in what is now Turkey. He is the inspiration for Sinterklaas. He (the real St. Nicholas) was famous for his generosity to the poor. In Europe, Sinterklaas is still portrayed as a bishop in robes.

Not unlike Santa Claus, Sinterklaas has elves in the form of a black Moor (and if you'd like to know more about Moors . . .)

As with the origins of Santa Claus, there are numerous legends about his assistant, Black Pete, but the politically correct one in use today is that he is black from soot. You can use your imagination on the other legends and they may be close to correct. A bit like the story we like to use about Santa Claus which doesn't exactly reflect the real St. Nicholas. But who cares? We like to think of him as plump, jolly, living in a perpetual snowy world with eight tiny reindeer, and bringing gifts to good little children with the help of magical elves.

I wouldn't have it any other way.

In Belgium, Sinterklaas and Black Piet arrive by boat to most towns they visit and Hasselt was no exception. It happened the day Randi and Frazier arrived and we just happened to be downtown with the throng of others to welcome them. I took a picture of Sinterklaas, then took a picture of Black Pete giving Frazier a cookie. Here's the strange part . . . the pictures disappeared! Or worse, I inadvertently deleted them :(

So imagine this guy . . .

giving a cookie to this guy . . .

That's it!

As you can see from this huge shopping bag, he's quite popular!