Sinterklaas?

Hee, It's weekend!'

What am I gonna do, hmm I guess nothing special...

Just: blogging, making hw, working (in our snack-restaurant) and playing piano...

Anywayss...

Tonight I've got a school-party, yay =.=
I don't really feel like going to so I think I'm gonna stay here and just blog!

The theme of the party is: "Sinterklaas".

Ohmygod.. That's way too late! :p

I know what you're thinking right now:
WHAT THE HELL IS SINTERKLAAS?

Okay this blog is about "Sinterklaas"!

SINTERKLAAS
We have "Sinterklaas" here in the Netherlands.
He's a traditional winter holiday figure.

Every year he comes from Spain with his steamboat.

The children welcome him by singing traditional Sinterklaas songs. Sinterklaas also visits schools, hospitals and shopping centres.

After this arrival all towns with a dock have their own "intocht van Sinterklaas" (arrival of Sinterklaas). Local arrivals usually take place on Sunday, the day after he arrives in the Netherlands or Belgium.

In places a boat cannot reach, Sinterklaas arrives by train, bus, horse, or even carriage.

Sinterklaas / Sint Nicolaas has servants called "zwarte pieten". He traditionally rides a white horse called Amerigo and come here in november and give presents. The zwarte pieten give/throw candy and things called "pepernoten" (small, round ginger bread-like cookies) to little (good) children...

ZWARTE PIET
"Zwarte Piet," Sinterklaas' helping hand Black Pete, has his origin in the bishop's legendary past.

Three small Moorish boys were sentenced to death for a crime they did not commit. The bishop intervened and they were saved. To show their gratitude, the boys stayed with Sinterklaas to help him, tumbling and jumping on rooftops on Sinterklaas night to deliver presents. Their black skin may refer either to their Moorish background, or to the job of chimneysweep, an option is corroborated by their clothes, reminiscent of an Italian chimneysweep's costume and Pete's rooftop occupation.

CELEBRATION
The Sinterklaas feast celebrates the birthday of Saint Nicholas (280-342), patron saint of children. Saint Nicholas was a bishop of Myra in present-day Turkey.

HIS LOOKS
Sinterklaas has a long red cape, wears a white bishop's dress and red mitre (bishop's hat), and holds a crosier, a long gold coloured staff with a fancy curled top.
And don't forget his long white beard c:

HIS BOOK

He carries a big book that tells whether each individual child has been good or naughty in the past year. If the child was naughty, they will put him in the "zak van sinterklaas" and bring him to Spain to work. (not real of course... It's to scare the kids so they will be good.)

BAG & ROE
Like I said before, Sinterklaas and his Black Petes usually carry a bag, which contains candy for nice children and a "roe," a bunch of willow branches used to spank naughty children. (In actuality a chimneysweep's broom.) Some of the older Sinterklaas songs make mention of naughty children being put in the bag and being taken back to Spain, but that's just crap. It's just to scare them. (Like I said before xP)

5 DECEMBER - PUT YOUR SHOE!

In the Netherlands, Sint Nicolaas' Eve (December 5) is the chief occasion for gift-giving.

The evening is called "sinterklaasavond" or "pakjesavond" ("presents evening").

Every night 5 december (sinterklaas' bday) the children put their shoe in front of the fireplace or somewhere at home.

In their shoe they put their wishlist, things they want to give to sinterklaas, or carrots for Amerigo and they sing a Sinterklaas-song.

Then they go to bed, and find the presents around/in the shoes on the morning of the 6th.

The bad kids will get a bag salt in their shoe...

I DIDN'T KNOW?
The Zwarte Pieten toss candy around, a tradition supposedly originating in Sint Nicolaas' story of saving three young girls from prostitution by tossing golden coins through their window at night to pay their father's debts.
I didn't know this story... :o

SINTERKLAAS - CHRISTMAS?

It's actually close to Christmas!
Sint Nicolaas & Saint Nicholas.

Sinterklaas & SantaKlaus.

SIMILAR O__O

In the Netherlands, we celebrate both of them.

FAKE!

Don't think it's real :p

Sinterklaas is fake.. It's just a man who dresses up as Sinterklaas...

Our village's Sinterklaas is a Police Agent haha. xP
Every year he dresses up as Sinterklaas.

And many people dress up as "zwarte piet" and then they make children believe that it's real...
And throw candy and pepernoten everywhere.

An employer of our restaurant dresses up as zwarte piet every year! =)
That's so funny.

My little sister still believes Sint Nicolaas exist! :P

So every year on 5 december night...

I go to her shoe and put presents in there xD
ppssssttt... don't tell her ^.~

I believed in it too,
but my brother told me the truth about Sinterklaas being fake when I was 5 ^__^

Okay, hope you get it now hehe.
<3

Primark in the Netherlands

There's a primark in the Netherlands now! (The opening was on 1 december 2008)
It's in Rotterdam! Let's shop there!

It looks nice. It's really cheap there and they say the service is good!
But what is primark exactly?

Primark Stores Limited is an Irish clothing retailer, operating in Ireland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Spain. It operates a total of 187 stores with 34 in Ireland, 125 in the UK, 8 in Spain and 1 in the Netherlands. The company's main headquarters are based in Ireland where it trades as Penney's. The company is a subsidiary of Associated British Foods (ABF) plc, employing 27,500 people. The company positions itself as marketing fashionable clothing at competitive prices.



Primark is known for selling clothes at the budget end of the market. The company's success is based on sourcing supply cheaply, making clothes with simple designs and fabrics, only making them in the most popular sizes, buying stock in huge bulks and varieties and not advertising. This store states that "Primark targets young, fashion-conscious under 35s, offering them high quality, fashion basics at value for money prices.


The one from Primark is only 15 euro! O__O

Inside this place...

Collections...

Stuff...

I live in the Netherlands, NOT IN HOLLAND!

I live in Friesland. That's somewhere in the North of the Netherlands.
So I don't live in Holland. Read it here:

Holland is a name in common usage given to two regions in the western part of the Netherlands. The name 'Holland' is also often mistakenly used to refer to the whole of The Netherlands. From the 10th century to the 16th century it was a unified political region ruled by the Count of Holland. By the 17th century, Holland had risen to become a maritime and economic power, dominating other parts of The Netherlands. Today, the former County of Holland consists of the two Dutch provinces of North Holland and South Holland.

The name Holland first appeared in sources in 866 for the region around Haarlem, and by 1064 was being used as the name of the entire county. By this time, the inhabitants of Holland were referring to themselves as "Hollanders".[1] Holland is derived from the Middle Dutch term holtland ("wooded land"). This spelling variation remained in use until around the 14th century, at which time the name stabilised as Holland (alternative spellings at the time were Hollant and Hollandt). Popular, but incorrect, etymology[citation needed] holds that Holland is derived from hol land ("hollow land") and was inspired by the low-lying geography of Holland.The proper name of the area in both Dutch and English is "Holland". "Holland" is a part of the Netherlands. "Holland" is informally and quite incorrectly used in English and other languages, including sometimes the Dutch language itself, to mean the whole of the modern country of the Netherlands (this example of pars pro toto or synecdoche is similar to the tendency to refer to the United Kingdom as "England").

The people of Holland are referred to as "Hollanders" in both Dutch and English. Today this refers specifically to people from the current provinces of North Holland and South Holland. Strictly speaking, the term "Hollanders" does not refer to people from the other provinces in the Netherlands, but colloquially "Hollanders" is sometimes mistakenly used in this wider sense.

This article is from wikipedia