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Forum THE LOUNGE Holiday traditions from around the world, share yours!

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    • Ellie from The Netherlands
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        Everybody is getting into the holiday spirit here, and I’ve been getting some questions about our Dutch holiday of Sinterklaas. It would be really awesome to hear about everyone’s holiday traditions from around the world!

        What’s it like, what kind of foods do you eat, how big are the parties?

         

         


      • Ellie from The Netherlands
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          Sinterklaas: half november- december the 5th, The Netherlands and countries associated with us (Surinam, Belgium, Netherlands Antilles)

          Our most remarkable holiday is Sinterklaas with its pinnacle on the 5th of december. It has been celebrated for over 500 years now. Sinterklaas is based on Saint Nicholas, the bishop of Myra who was renowned for his charity. Some parts of the Sinterklaas tradition can be traced back to pagan times: the magic horse and the hunt for bad people can be traced back to Odins wild winter hunt. The American Saint Nick was based on our Sinterklaas, although Sinterklaas is not related to Christmas. Many Dutch people will think it’s rude to put up Christmas decorations before the 5th, because we want to preserve our most remarkable tradition. Children and adults celebrate differently, but it’s great fun for both!

           

          The kiddie version:

          Sinterklaas lives in Spain and visits us each year by travelling on his steam boat. He brings an entourage of helpers (Pieten) and his dappled horse which can ride over rooftops. Each Piet has a specialty, there’s a listening-Piet to scout out for naughty deeds, there’s an acrobatics-Piet who does the silliest tricks. And of course there is the navigation-Piet to steer the boat. Will it all go well, will they really arrive someday? From the beginning of november you can follow their travels on national TV each day, and boy is it exciting every year. A million things go wrong every time. If all goes right they all arrive around half november, in a different harbour city every year. There they are greeted by hordes of eager children, music bands and a government official. On arrival day the Pieten throw around candy, kruidnoten (small spiced cookies) and mandarins. From then to december the 5th it’s Sinterklaas season.

          During the season children will put their shoes in front of the chimney (or heater ) at night, and if you’ve been good you’ll find a treat in your shoe in the morning. Be sure to include a carrot or some hay for the horse, and you may even get a small toy. If you’ve been really good you’ll find a chocolate initial. The first letter of your name, about 20 cms high, completely made out of your favourite chocolate flavour. How does this happen, you ask? Well, the nimble and acrobatic Pieten go through the chimney and will visit all the children. All this going up and down chimneys has changed their looks: their are completely darkened by the soot. Pieten are terribly clever and know everything about you, and they report straight back to the Sint, who writes it all down in his book.

          Sinterklaas may visit your school together with his Pieten, this again involves presents and kruidnoten being thrown around. Every child gets to talk to Sinterklaas, and they all receive a small present.

          On the final day of december the 5th (pakjesavond, or presents evening) Sinterklaas visits homes. Some homes he visits personally, other homes will be shaken up by a loud banging on the door, with kruidnoten flying through the house. Those silly Pieten, always stirring things up! When the children have come around from their surprise, they’ll find a huge jute bag in the hallway filled with wrapped presents and treats. Each present has a name tag on it, and sometimes the presents have poems on them: about the things you did that year and what Sinterklaas thought about that. These presents are unwrapped by the whole family. If you get a parcel with your name on it you read the poem, unwrap the present, shout out your loudest “Thank you Sinterklaas!” and take a present out of the bag so that another family member can get a present. The evening is accompanied by sweet treats: kruidnoten, speculaas cookies, an almond letter ( spiced almond paste in puff pastry), chocolate inititials and candies. After this evening of sugar-fueled madness the Sinterklaas season has officially ended. Be sure to sing Sinterklaas his special goodbye-song!

           

          The adult version:

          The kids have been going crazy since the start of november. You’ll have to do your best to keep up the illusion that Sinterklaas is real, and if you do it right the kids will have a magical time. Many adults play Sinterklaas or a Piet at their kids’ school, at the sports club or for one of their friends and neighbours. The reactions are heart-warming: so many happy children!

          If the children are older and don’t believe in Sinterklaas anymore, you’ll be ready for a more adult version of Sinterklaas. For pakjesavond you each draw lots. These lots include someone’s wishlist. Of course you don’t just give presents, they have to be hidden inside a surprise (French pronunciation). A surprise is a piece of cardboard art with a theme referring to the person who receives the gift. One year I got a surprise in the shape of a gigantic cardboard mouse, which I had to behead to get to my presents. This was in the year where I fled the house because of a mouse problem. Oddly satifying

          The surprise is accompanied by a humoristic poem in the traditional Dutch style: direct, embarrassing and bordering on rude. Of course it has some nice things to say about you, but your embarrassing mess-ups of last year are definitely highlighted You’re supposed to read it out loud while the whole family roars with laughter.

          This is a time of year where the adults snack even more than the kiddies, it’s no exception to find luxury chocolate initials in stores. Made with fine chocolate in a myriad of flavours, decorated with nuts or bonbons, it can get really crazy. Special pop-up stores selling only Sinterklaas candies? Not unusual! Walking out with several 2 kg bags of kruidnoten for the whole office? Not weird. No shame here, thank you Sinterklaasje!

           

          Sinterklaas arriving on his steamboat the Pakjesboot (presents-boat) with all his Pieten. Sinterklaas is on the front deck.

          Sinterklaas and his horse:

          Sinterklaas sweets: chocolate initials, sweets, spiced kruidnoten (the small cookies), rye and anisseed pepernoten (the small cubes to the right), speculaas (large cookie), almond pastries

           

          And of course: bunny-shaped surprises! The crochet one is the one I gave Bas last year.

           


        • Q8bunny
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            Ellie, I love love love this thread!

            Can I subscribe to both versions of Sinterklaas? lol I’m not greedy… I just love the concept.

            We don’t really do a traditional Canadian holiday season in my family – we do things the way we used to do it in Romania when we were tiny elfs

            Basically, December 6 we celebrate St Nicholas by cleaning our shoes or boots and then when we wake up the next morning, there is chocolate and money and other stocking-type goodies in them.

            And then on December 24 we celebrate Christmas with a scrumptious dinner (dishes can vary, but my mom always makes our favourites – the soup, salad, rolls, and cake I mentioned in the other thread) and then we open presents and then watch a movie together before bed. It’s very cozy and very just our tiny family. lol

            Of course, the amount of work and stress that goes into cleaning the house perfectly (my dad) and wrestling with pots and pans to create scrumptious food (my mom) and being good little helpers (my brother and I) seems out of proportion to how long it takes to enjoy the results, but I feel it’s still worth it… such warm fuzzy feelings in that warm twinkly evening atmosphere. Especially if there’s snow outside (love the Nutcracker type snowfall, with the fat lazy whirly flakes).

            When I was little I also vaguely remember getting sticks with paper flowers on them, and going from door to door and tapping neighbours on the head with them while singing a song – we’d get oranges or money or other small treats in exchange for this good-luck wish song. But I can’t remember what it was called or why we did it precisely, or what day – I just remember it was during the holiday season.


          • Bam
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              Sinterklaas sounds really lovely! There’s nothing like that here.
              Christmas starts here on the 1st of Advent, which was last Sunday. It means 4 weeks until the Sunday nearest Christmas Eve. If you have smallish children you often go and listen to them sing in church. Or you go to the Christmas market downtown. All decorations and lights go up on the 1st of Advent.

              Then there’s Lucia, I wrote about that in the Christmas chat thread. If you have children or closer relatives with children, you go to their school and/or their sports club if they’re involved in a sport and listen to Lucia and her entourage sing Christmas carols.

              Then there’s the big family dinner with smorgasbord on Dec 24 and Santa comes in the evening.


            • LittlePuffyTail
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                That sounds so neat, Ellie. Thank you for sharing. I’m very interested in different cultures.

                While I love Christmas, I find the commercialism/material side of the Canadian/US Christmas is just getting ridiculous. It just gets worse every year. Of course, I buy gifts for family and friends but I always make sure to give back to in a more meaningful way. This year, I’m collecting cat food for a local cat rescue (where I go Kyle) and I always buy and donate a toy to give to a toy drive that makes sure low income kids get a nice Christmas.

                The lead up to Christmas here is basically shopping, putting decs inside and out (which I haven’t gotten to yet!), decorating the tree, lots of parties and family get togethers. Christmas Eve is the big deal. That’s when Santa and all his reindeer come visit you if you are not on the naughty list. Most kids leave milk and cookies out for Santa and apples or carrots outside for the Reindeer. Some people do the Christmas feast on Christmas Eve but some, like my family, do it Christmas Day. We open the gifts from Santa in the morning and have breakfast together and then head to my Mom’s, a few towns over to spend the afternoon and supper with my sister and her family.

                I’m pretty excited about Christmas this year as Evi is at a really fun age.


              • LBJ10
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                  Some people do 12 days of Christmas here in the US. Basically, you get a small gift each day leading up to Christmas.

                  As LPT said, Santa comes Christmas eve night. Some families open gifts to each other on Christmas eve, others wait until Christmas morning. In my family, us kids were allowed to open one present on Christmas eve. Then we had to wait for Santa to come and we would open our presents on Christmas morning.

                  Don’t forget to leave out a snack for Santa, usually milk and cookies. He might be so appreciative that he will leave you something extra special in your stocking.

                  Stocking stuffers are usually small items like stationary, lotions, or treats. If you’ve been really good those treats will be in the form of chocolate or other candies.


                • pinknfwuffy
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                    Christmas around the world! I love this. It makes me rethink my family’s traditions and want to make them more about the magic (rather than the garishness of the commercialized U.S. holiday). Thank you for sharing so much about Sinterklaas, I love the idea of little poems and humorous stories with family members. There are many different holiday traditions here in the U.S. depending upon your culture; Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, etc. But Christmas is unavoidable whether you like it or not–decorations everywhere, music, commercials, shopping sales, and holiday cards being sent around.

                    As mentioned already, many in the U.S. who celebrate Christmas wait for Santa to visit on the night of December 24th. Lore has it that Santa has been working all year in his workshop at the North Pole to make toys with the help of his elves. On Christmas Eve he rides his sleigh around the globe to deliver presents to those who were on his “good” list all year. Sometimes the news will show a “Santa Tracker” to show where he is along the route. Children leave cookies and milk for Santa to enjoy while he travels around the world and a few treats for reindeer are left on the steps (easy for us with bunnies and, therefore, an abundance of carrots!). I’ve also seen some people sprinkle “reindeer food” on the lawn with oats and dried fruit which I’m sure the local birds enjoy. We decorate a tree with ornaments and lights and sometimes a star or angel on top. Some families stay up until midnight to open gifts while others wait until morning to see what Santa has left for them. For those who are religious, sometimes there is a midnight mass held for those who’d like to share the holiday with their church community on the eve of Christmas.

                    My family always opens presents on Christmas morning and shares a breakfast together. We usually relax in pajamas for a while before getting everything ready for a big supper in the afternoon with other friends and family. It usually includes a roast, ham, and all the trimmings. We play Christmas music and sometimes watch holiday movies as well. My mom and I bake a lot of cookies and desserts. Sometimes we’ll make up boxes of treats to deliver to friends houses in the week before Christmas. It is the most fun for little children who wait for Santa to come and see if they got everything they asked for on their Christmas lists. Many people also fill stockings with smaller goodies like candy and trinkets and hang them over the mantle, one for each family member. This year I’ll be spoiling Olaf with a new hay tunnel and some dried banana treats–if he is a good boy, of course. :]


                  • LittlePuffyTail
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                      In my family, us kids were allowed to open one present on Christmas eve.

                      Same here and I do the same with Everly.

                      I’ll never forget the magical feeling of waking up Christmas morning and seeing that Santa had come.


                    • jerseygirl
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                        The main difference here is Australia is Christmas is in our Summer, so there are a lot of outdoor activites. There are a lot of Carols by Candlelight events. The major cities all have a big one, but many of the smaller council areas and towns will host their own also. 

                        Here are some images from some of the big ones. A lot of those are televised also. 

                        People gather early to get a good position or just soak up the atmosphere. There are often pre-show activites about also. 

                        Image result for carols in the domainImage result for carols in the domain

                        Image result for carols in the domain

                        Image result for carols by candlelight melbourne

                        Image result for carols by candlelight melbourne

                        Image result for carols by candlelight fireworks

                        Shows are concluded with a firework display.

                        Image result for carols by candlelight fireworks

                        We also have Christmas Pageants. Im being lazy and linking google images of that below.

                        Clicky.


                      • Azerane
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                          For us, Christmas Eve was our time for opening presents. I think it’s a Lutheran tradition because I had many friends growing up that followed the standard Christmas Day present opening. We would go to Church in the late afternoon, and while we were there Santa would come and deliver our presents. When we got home, we would sit down for Christmas Eve supper, which was really just a replacement for dinner and it would be all of our traditional Christmas foods, sweets and savoury. After eating we would all then gather around the tree and open presents. Being Summer and daylight savings, if you got something cool for outdoors like a bike, there was still time to go out and try it before it got dark.

                          My husband’s family is a Christmas Day family, so here we now try to blend the two a little, and we open a present on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day in the morning


                        • jerseygirl
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                            Growing up, traditions usually were attending carols night in the local town hall. There was normally a Nativity play performed by children and a supper afterward.

                             I also have vague memory of going around on the back of a truck (lorry) that had rails on the back and they’d drive around our tiny town while we sang carols. It was mostly kids but some adults to, to keep us safe and well behaved. Im pretty certain it would be illegal to do something like that now. 

                            Christmas Eve, the town businesses hosted a party. The fire truck would bring Father Christmas and he would then sit in the general store and the children would line up to see him. I think we were given a bag of sweets.

                            This was always a great time as we’d be on school holidays by then, so it was a chance to see our school friends and run around for the night.
                            Our family would sometimes attend midnight mass after that. In later years when we’d outgrown Father Christmas, we usually attended a church service in the evening or at Midnight.

                            Christmas gifts were opened on Christmas Day after the main meal. The food was usually a hot meal of either roasted beef or lamb, chicken and a ham, (sometimes a turkey roll also) accompanied by hot vegetables. We always had this inside at the dining table. These days we do more a combination of salads and hot vegetables with the meat. In addition, we have seafood options now. Growing up, that was a bit harder to come by and fussy kids meant it wouldn’t be worth it. The family has expanded now so we eat indoors and outdoors on the patio.

                            Mum has long been in the habit of making Christmas fruit cakes and puddings prior to Christmas. So we often have pudding for dessert, along with any other sweets people have brought and fresh fruit. We pretty much graze all day.

                            As kids, we usually went to my Dads parents for Christmas night. Everyone would bring a plate of food to share, so it was normally cold meats (left from the main meal) and salads and sweets. This was a chance to see our Aunts, Uncles and Cousins.
                            We would see our other Grandparents the weekend after Christmas.
                            My Grandparents have all passed away now so we normally stay at whoever is hosting Christmas for the whole day.
                            We do Kris Kringle, so each family (or individual) is assigned one person to buy a gift for. We still do the gift giving in the afternoon, after the meal.


                          • Q8bunny
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                              Az: Nope. Not necessarily. Romania is largely Orthodox and they also do Christmas Eve prezzies and dinner etc. Now I’m curious to know the origins


                            • Azerane
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                                Oops, just saw that JG posted while I had been typing. How could I forget to include carols. I love going to carols by candlelight. Really sets the mood for Christmas. There is a yearly Christmas pageant here, but it’s so early in November sometime, and I’ve never been.

                                Growing up we always had big family gatherings, my mum has five siblings so gatherings for her side were always very busy. On my dad’s side it’s just his one sibling and our two cousins, so Christmas there was less busy, but certainly not any quieter. On my mum’s side of the family, Christmas was usually held at a different house each year, just to share it around. For my dad’s side, we would go back up to the family farm and gather there. Christmas there often involved days that were too hot to want to do anything. Cold cuts of meat, too many snacks, and a Nanna who insisted that we could have custard, cream, and ice cream with our Christmas pudding, much to our mum’s dismay


                              • BunnyFriends
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                                  To, JG, it’s so odd seeing santa hats and knowing it’s summer. It just now feels like a winter thing after all these years!

                                  Some really cool traditions. I’ll post some later.


                                • BunnyFriends
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                                    *To me, JG,


                                  • jerseygirl
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                                      Yes, you’re right BunnyFriends. I think it’s kinda odd at times also.


                                    • Ellie from The Netherlands
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                                        Christmas in summer, now that’s a bit different! Really fun to read that Azerane

                                        Whew, that was one intense weekend of Sinterklaas madness. 16 people, a room full of presents and 5 hours of non-stop poems, surprises and gifts.

                                        Due to some planning mistakes I was still working on a surprise 1 hour before the celebration. I think I’ve never knitted so fast before. My boyfriend eventually started to time it with his phone stopwatch: 1,15 stitches per second, thanks for the encouragement hon
                                        But…the results were spectacular! My brother in law always walks around in the most hideous Christmas sweaters to annoy his GF and mom. As revenge we decided to give him a surprise made of a pair of knitted Christmas underpants, the presents hidden within. It has Rudolph up front, with small bells in his antlers and around his neck. It rings like sleighbells when you wear it. The whole family cheered him on to wear it, and here is our handsome boy:


                                      • LBJ10
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                                          Oh my Ellie! LOL


                                        • LittlePuffyTail
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                                            lol…..cute undies….


                                          • Q8bunny
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                                              Hahahahahah! I really want a pair now! (but shorter)


                                            • jerseygirl
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                                                omg Ellie! So awesome! Made me LOL ! How did his GF react? Won’t she fear he’ll wear them like this for the whole season now?


                                              • Bam
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                                                  Those underpants are a work of art. He ought to wear them like this for the whole season. It will make him very popular wherever he goes! His knees might get a little cold though, but the more important parts of his anatomy won’t, and that’s what matters =)

                                                  Very practical with the bells.


                                                • Ellie from The Netherlands
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                                                    Thank you ^_^ He’s already thinking to wear it to the office Christmas party, they have an ugly clothing contest. He thought it was really awesome, especially because I made it with wool granny gave to me before she passed away this year. He’s always been very close to her.

                                                    His GF thought it was a very funny gag gift. But we’ll see her again on Christmas. If she gets a nervous breakdown when the song “jingle bells” comes on, we’ll know what he’s been up to


                                                  • Azerane
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                                                      Ellie, lol! Those underpants are too funny! They look seriously amazing though! I really hope he wears them to the office Christmas party too! It would be hilarious and he would have to win the contest, especially if he paired it with a great sweater too!


                                                    • RabbitPam
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                                                        Ellie, if you post that pix on Facebook I swear it’ll go viral!
                                                        Too funny!!!!


                                                      • Ellie from The Netherlands
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                                                          Lol, I’ll leave that up to him if he wants to be an internet star.
                                                          There’s a reason why I cropped the pic, all in good fun, but no need to really embarrass him by putting a face on it.


                                                        • Bam
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                                                            Today is Dec 13, Lucia Day. Here’s a pic of a Swedish Lucia:


                                                          • Ellie from The Netherlands
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                                                              That’s beautiful Bam!


                                                            • Roberta
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                                                                Seafood and salad in the ac and waiting for the food to settle to float round my sisters pool with a champagne in one hand and the other hand pushing the inflatable off the side of the pool.


                                                              • Bam
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                                                                  Oh, Roberta! That sounds a TEENY bit nicer than December is here =D


                                                                • Ellie from The Netherlands
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                                                                    Yup, we haven’t seen the sun for days, it’s been hidden behind thick gray skies and a continuous drizzle with temperatures around 6 °C. Blugh..


                                                                  • LittlePuffyTail
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                                                                      Very pretty, Bam, but are those candles on her head????


                                                                    • Bam
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                                                                        LPT, yes, it’s a metal crown with candles. I remember from school we spent quite a lot of time removing candle-wax from Lucia’s hair when the show was over.

                                                                        Here’s when my niece was Lucia in her school a couple of years ago. Really blurry pic but it illustrates the general ide =).

                                                                         


                                                                      • LittlePuffyTail
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                                                                          Oh my…..

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                                                                      Forum THE LOUNGE Holiday traditions from around the world, share yours!