Vrolijke Sinterklaasavond!

Sinterklaasavond of pakjesavond vindt jaarlijks op 5 december plaats. Op deze avond krijgen kinderen cadeautjes. Volgens het verhaal komen Sinterklaas en Zwarte Piet op vijf december de huizen via de schoorstenen binnen, om op die manier cadeautjes voor de kinderen te brengen. Voor de Tweede Wereldoorlog werd sinterklaasavond amper gevierd. Dit kwam voornamelijk door de crisisjaren. Nadat de economische situatie verbeterde, was er meer ruimte om extraatjes te geven. Hierdoor werd sinterklaasavond steeds vaker gevierd. Veel kinderen mochten hun schoentjes gaan zetten, waarin ze de volgende een cadeautje vonden. In Nederland trekken veel gezinnen en vriendengroepen lootjes, zodat iedereen iemand heeft waarvoor hij of zij een cadeautje moet kopen. Veel kleine kinderen geloven in het bestaan van Sinterklaas. Als zij wat ouder worden en niet langer geloven, doen zij vaak mee met het trekken van de lootjes.

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alan20 · M

I remember in Spain the children receive gifts on something like Jan.6, the day the Maji were supposed to have arrived with gifts for the baby Jesus. My earliest memory of the Netherlands was that you have storks who brought along the babies. And of course the dykes and that kid who kept his finger in when the dam burst.

Soph03 · 18-21, F

@alan20 yes I was always told I can from a stork!

alan20 · M

@Soph03 I don't doubt the truth of what you were told : flying from out of the sunlight on the wings of a bird - an angel from heaven. ❤️

samueltyler2 · 80-89, M

@alan20 great legend, but does it have a place in 2023?

Soph03 · 18-21, F

@samueltyler2 why wouldnt it?

alan20 · M

@Soph03 When I was a kid my father when he occasionally got home from a work tour, would take me down at night to a hollowed out apple tree in our garden, near the river. He'd persuaded me a family of fairies lived in there , would put his hand down inside the trunk, and they'd always give him a bar of Fry's Chocolate Cream for me. What more proof could one need? Once I even heard the music they were dancing to. Alas the tree is now cut down .

samueltyler2 · 80-89, M

@Soph03 i hate to state the obvious, we know more about nature and birth than we did years ago. I don't say that everything has to meet a scientific basis, and it is a beautiful legend, but it is folklore.

I enjoy reading the bible, but realize that it is only the written word of the authors, and you can actually see by the wording, that it must have been written by more than one author. It is the writing down of oral history. Anyone who has ever played the game of telephone in which you sit in a circle and relate a story to the person next to you who then tells the same story to the person next to them and when the story gets back to you, it has been altered, often by the experiences of each individual.

samueltyler2 · 80-89, M

@alan20 lovely story, my granddaughters have such a "belief" in fairies. It is a beautiful folklore

Soph03 · 18-21, F

@alan20 the things that parents do for their kids is amazing. Sometimes I think what they do is magic. I have to say I'm looking forward to that day!

samueltyler2 · 80-89, M

@Soph03 being a parent is an amazing experience, but, it is also a life sentence, one never relaxes. To this day, if the phone rings and I am not expecting a call, I worry that someone is sick or worse. But, these traditions are great fun. The tooth fairy is one of my favorites. I kept all of my kids baby teeth for them. When I was a kid, we were lucky to get 5 cents, today my grandkids get $5 per tooth lost.

alan20 · M

@Soph03 I hope its happy for you and your kids. Life is there to be enjoyed.

Soph03 · 18-21, F

@alan20 thank you!