Christmas In The Netherlands

Christmas in the Netherlands
Now that Sinterklaas took his steamship back to his summer residency in Spain, people in the Netherlands are ready for the christmas season. It’s not done to set up the tree before Sinterklaas has left the country, so you can say that there is an explosion of Christmas sentiment right now. People are decorating their trees, making dinerplans and drinking hot chocolate to go with it.

Santa, the brother of Sinterklaas
Santa Claus is a descendant of Sinterklaas. Dutch emigrants took the tradition with them to America. In America, Sinterklaas became Santa Klaus, when people took all the religious symbols away from him. But still there are al lot of resemblances like the long white beard, the red suit and the giving of presents.

Boomeranging back
The giving of presents was traditionally kept for Sinterklaas in the Netherlands. But since the end of the 20th century, Santa Claus is creeping up Sinterklaas his sleeve. The tradition is boomeranging back from America. So nowadays the children receive the most gifts with Sinterklaas, but there are still a few presents underneath the Christmas tree. Those lucky Dutch children!

Christmas packages
Companies usually give their employees a box fulled with Christmas treats. When you’re boss is very stingy, you’ll receive a lousy box filled with products that are preservable until the year 2030. Ragout, crackers and paté are the usual suspects. Fortunately, you can find better Christmas packages in the Yummy Dutch webshop. They are full of delicious Dutch stuff!

Written by DelicaTessa

Tags: kerst, christmas, presents, santa claus, hot chocolate, christmas packages, kerstpaketten