{"id":2786,"date":"2015-12-05T13:13:56","date_gmt":"2015-12-05T13:13:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/?p=2786"},"modified":"2015-12-05T13:13:56","modified_gmt":"2015-12-05T13:13:56","slug":"christmas-traditions-december-6th-sinterklaas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/2015\/12\/05\/christmas-traditions-december-6th-sinterklaas\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Traditions &#8211; December 6th Sinterklaas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For most children in The Netherlands, the most important day during December is the 5th of December, when Sinterklaas (St. Nicholas) brings them their presents!<\/p>\n<p>St. Nicholas&#8217; day is on the 6th December, but in The Netherlands, the major celebrations are held on the 5th December. The name\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.whychristmas.com\/customs\/fatherchristmas.shtml\">Santa Claus<\/a>\u00a0comes from the name Sinterklaas.<\/p>\n<p>It all starts on the second Saturday of November (the first Saturday after 11th November) when Sinterklaas travels to a city or town in The Netherlands. Dutch tradition says that St. Nicholas lives in Madrid,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.whychristmas.com\/cultures\/spain.shtml\">Spain<\/a>\u00a0and every year he chooses a different harbour to arrive in Holland, so as many children as possible get a chance to see him.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-2787\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2015\/12\/Amsterdam_Sinterklaas_Procession-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Amsterdam_Sinterklaas_Procession\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2015\/12\/Amsterdam_Sinterklaas_Procession-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2015\/12\/Amsterdam_Sinterklaas_Procession.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Sinterklaas travels with his servants called &#8216;Zwarte Pieten&#8217; (&#8216;Black Peters&#8217;). When Sinterklaas and the Black Peters come ashore from the steam boat, all of the local church bells ring in celebration. Sinterklaas, dressed in his red robes, leads a procession through the town, riding a white horse. Every town in The Netherlands has a few Sinterklaas helpers, dressed the same as Sinterklaas who help give the presents out. (and sometimes you might one see one or more Zwarte Pieten with Sinterklaas!)<\/p>\n<p>Children are told that the Zwarte Pieten keep a record of all the things they have done in the past year in a big book. Good children will get presents from Sinterklaas, but bad children will be put in a sack and the Zwarte Pieten take them to Spain for a year to teach then how to behave!<\/p>\n<p>On the evening that Sinterklaas arrives in The Netherlands, children leave a shoe out by the fireplace or sometimes a windowsill and sing Sinterklaas songs. They hope that Sinterklaas will come during the night with some presents. They also believe that if they leave some hay and carrots in their shoes for Sinterklaas&#8217;s horse, they will be left some sweets or small presents. They&#8217;re told that, during the night, Sinterklaas rides on the roofs on his horse and that a &#8216;Zwarte Piet&#8217; will then climb down the chimney (or through a window) and put the presents and\/or candy in their shoes.<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image imgc\">Complete article: \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.whychristmas.com\/cultures\/holland.shtml\">http:\/\/www.whychristmas.com\/cultures\/holland.shtml<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For most children in The Netherlands, the most important day during December is the 5th of December, when Sinterklaas (St. Nicholas) brings them their presents! St. Nicholas&#8217; day is on the 6th December, but in The Netherlands, the major celebrations are held on the 5th December. The name\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.whychristmas.com\/customs\/fatherchristmas.shtml\">Santa Claus<\/a>\u00a0comes from the name Sinterklaas. It  <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/2015\/12\/05\/christmas-traditions-december-6th-sinterklaas\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[259,268],"class_list":["post-2786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-aupairs","tag-christmas"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Christmas Traditions - December 6th Sinterklaas - Au Pair In America - Rhode Island<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christmas Traditions - December 6th Sinterklaas - Au Pair In America - Rhode Island\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For most children in The Netherlands, the most important day during December is the 5th of December, when Sinterklaas (St. Nicholas) brings them their presents! St. Nicholas&#8217; day is on the 6th December, but in The Netherlands, the major celebrations are held on the 5th December. The name\u00a0Santa Claus\u00a0comes from the name Sinterklaas. It Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/2015\/12\/05\/christmas-traditions-december-6th-sinterklaas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Au Pair In America - Rhode Island\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-12-05T13:13:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2015\/12\/Amsterdam_Sinterklaas_Procession-300x225.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Terry Sweeney\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Terry Sweeney\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/2015\/12\/05\/christmas-traditions-december-6th-sinterklaas\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/2015\/12\/05\/christmas-traditions-december-6th-sinterklaas\/\",\"name\":\"Christmas Traditions - December 6th Sinterklaas - Au Pair In America - Rhode Island\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/2015\/12\/05\/christmas-traditions-december-6th-sinterklaas\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/2015\/12\/05\/christmas-traditions-december-6th-sinterklaas\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2015\/12\/Amsterdam_Sinterklaas_Procession-300x225.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-05T13:13:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-12-05T13:13:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/#\/schema\/person\/7ced20e53b55dc1a8f0361ef00b3645d\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/2015\/12\/05\/christmas-traditions-december-6th-sinterklaas\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/2015\/12\/05\/christmas-traditions-december-6th-sinterklaas\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/2015\/12\/05\/christmas-traditions-december-6th-sinterklaas\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2015\/12\/Amsterdam_Sinterklaas_Procession.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2015\/12\/Amsterdam_Sinterklaas_Procession.jpg\",\"width\":400,\"height\":300},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/2015\/12\/05\/christmas-traditions-december-6th-sinterklaas\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Christmas Traditions &#8211; December 6th Sinterklaas\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/\",\"name\":\"Au Pair In America - Rhode Island\",\"description\":\"Resources for au pairs and host families in Rhode Island, and for families who are considering the au pair program for their child care needs. Those who choose Au Pair in America are working with the nation&#039;s first and most experienced au pair program. \u2014 Tanja Carroll, RI Community Counselor\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/#\/schema\/person\/7ced20e53b55dc1a8f0361ef00b3645d\",\"name\":\"Terry Sweeney\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3aab5c403ff5d1a11d689e8b83b0241a7c271ce894f5f864f93042e3f04fd2c9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3aab5c403ff5d1a11d689e8b83b0241a7c271ce894f5f864f93042e3f04fd2c9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Terry Sweeney\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/author\/rip00\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Christmas Traditions - December 6th Sinterklaas - Au Pair In America - Rhode Island","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Christmas Traditions - December 6th Sinterklaas - Au Pair In America - Rhode Island","og_description":"For most children in The Netherlands, the most important day during December is the 5th of December, when Sinterklaas (St. Nicholas) brings them their presents! St. Nicholas&#8217; day is on the 6th December, but in The Netherlands, the major celebrations are held on the 5th December. The name\u00a0Santa Claus\u00a0comes from the name Sinterklaas. It Read More","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/2015\/12\/05\/christmas-traditions-december-6th-sinterklaas\/","og_site_name":"Au Pair In America - Rhode Island","article_published_time":"2015-12-05T13:13:56+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2015\/12\/Amsterdam_Sinterklaas_Procession-300x225.jpg"}],"author":"Terry Sweeney","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Terry Sweeney","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/2015\/12\/05\/christmas-traditions-december-6th-sinterklaas\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/2015\/12\/05\/christmas-traditions-december-6th-sinterklaas\/","name":"Christmas Traditions - December 6th Sinterklaas - Au Pair In America - Rhode Island","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/2015\/12\/05\/christmas-traditions-december-6th-sinterklaas\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/2015\/12\/05\/christmas-traditions-december-6th-sinterklaas\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2015\/12\/Amsterdam_Sinterklaas_Procession-300x225.jpg","datePublished":"2015-12-05T13:13:56+00:00","dateModified":"2015-12-05T13:13:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/#\/schema\/person\/7ced20e53b55dc1a8f0361ef00b3645d"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/2015\/12\/05\/christmas-traditions-december-6th-sinterklaas\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/2015\/12\/05\/christmas-traditions-december-6th-sinterklaas\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/2015\/12\/05\/christmas-traditions-december-6th-sinterklaas\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2015\/12\/Amsterdam_Sinterklaas_Procession.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2015\/12\/Amsterdam_Sinterklaas_Procession.jpg","width":400,"height":300},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/2015\/12\/05\/christmas-traditions-december-6th-sinterklaas\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Christmas Traditions &#8211; December 6th Sinterklaas"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/","name":"Au Pair In America - Rhode Island","description":"Resources for au pairs and host families in Rhode Island, and for families who are considering the au pair program for their child care needs. Those who choose Au Pair in America are working with the nation&#039;s first and most experienced au pair program. \u2014 Tanja Carroll, RI Community Counselor","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/#\/schema\/person\/7ced20e53b55dc1a8f0361ef00b3645d","name":"Terry Sweeney","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3aab5c403ff5d1a11d689e8b83b0241a7c271ce894f5f864f93042e3f04fd2c9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3aab5c403ff5d1a11d689e8b83b0241a7c271ce894f5f864f93042e3f04fd2c9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Terry Sweeney"},"url":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/author\/rip00\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2786\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/ri\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}