Saint Nicholas

The coming weeks will be busy.

Only last Thursday the children in my little town went singing for candy, from door to door. This ancient tradition is called Saint Maarten. And custom has it that the Saturday after that, the next Saint comes to town: the one and only Saint Nicholas.

A big old steamboat sails into the old Dutch harbor, welcomed by lots of small boats. The quays are crowded with people, young and old. The smaller children are sitting high on the shoulders of their parents, so they can still see the boat. They frantically wave with little paper flags, and sing old songs.

Now legend has it that Saint Nicholas comes to the Netherlands to celebrate his birthday, on 5^th December. That’s the evening when he hands out gifts, all at once, to all the children all over the country.

But 3 weeks before that date, we are all standing here, looking at the boat, packed with dancing and waving so called Black Pete’s, helping hands of the old Saint. You have to be accustomed to our traditions to really appreciate them. The first celebrations of  the gift giver Saint Nicholas date back to the dark Middle Ages. I can’t help myself: when the Black Pete’s wave at me, I wave back.

And when Saint Nicholas  finally gets off the boat, and calmly mounts his white horse, I think of the words of the owner of that horse, that I read in the paper that morning: ‘ The celebration of Saint Nicholas is really a feast for adults, for which we need children.’