Next month, Tuesday December 5, the Dutch will celebrate their feast of Sint Nicolaas, with poems, marzipan, ginger biscuits, hot chocolate, and with presents for the children.
The history of Saint Nicholas is a colorful and storied one: he lived from 270 to December 6, 343 AD, was the Greek Bishop of Myra - located in modern day Turkey - and he was a Christian saint known for his miracles and secret gift-giving. Saint Nicholas attended the First Council of Nicaea, which was the first effort to attain consensus in the Church through an assembly representing all of Christendom. Later on Saint Nicholas became an important figure for Italians and Greeks, honored in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church. Throughout Europe he is celebrated for his generosity, especially towards children.
In the Netherlands, Saint Nicholas became a figure of folklore, who would visit the Netherlands every November traveling by steamboat from Spain, riding a white horse and joined by....
