28 November 2007

you have been warned: be kind!~

(on my birthday) in the Netherlands, legend has it that sinterklaas (dutch name for St. Nicholas) arrives in the Netherlands by way of steamboat from spain two weeks before his traditional birthday, december 6th, along with his helper, zwarte piet (black pete), who will help disperse the gifts and candy to all the good children. sinterklaas, along with the zwarte piets, will go abroad at night and stride about the countryside wearing his red mantle, his mitre, and his golden crosier and sporting a long, white beard. referring to his book that lists all the good and bad children, sinterklaas will deliver presents to all the good children, but watch out if you've been bad! the bad children may be taken back to spain with him. in anticipation of st. nicholas's nightly visits, children in several european countries put their shoes in front of the fire place. wrapping the presents up in odd packages and planting a trail of clues is also part of the general fun, and can sometimes be pretty tricky to get to, depending on the squeamishness of the recipients.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

born in the netherlands? You, along with CA's governor, John McEnroe, and Bruce Willis can never become President (of the US). Oh wait you are not an American anyway.....

natalie said...

this canadian born, made in the netherlands living in Oregon really, really wishes that you'd identify yourself when commenting. its the least you could do.

theCrazy said...

Who cares about becoming the president of the U.S. anyway... all the president does is shake hands, smile and veto bills that are of no use to anyone such as healthcare for millions of children

Here are a list of jobs which you have to be more intelligent and qualified to do than be the president...
1. Mc Donalds employee
2. Unemployed
3. Drug attict