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Martinmas and/or St. Nicholas Day?


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I'm Dutch and in The Netherlands Sinterklaas-feest is celebrated with lots of presents (we do not do presents at Christmas time). From the second week of November, the arrival of Sinterklaas is prepared with all kinds of activities, for example a daily news broadcast following Sinterklaas on his trip from Spain to The Netherlands. At the end of November he arrives in The Netherlands and his arrival is live broadcasted on national television with thousands and thousands of children and adults present. He is welcomed officially by the major of the town he arrives in, a different town every year. You can read more about it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas

I have young children who very much believe in Sinterklaas, so I arrange for all the presents, who are put on our doorstep (by a neighbour) on the evening of the 5th of December. Older children usually make or buy presents for family members. We do not do a St Njcholas cake, so can't help you there :tongue_smilie:.

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We celebrate St. Nicholas day!

 

On Dec 5 (St. Nick Eve) we put up our tree. Indy writes his letter to Santa and puts it with his St. Nick stocking. St. Nick is kind enough to deliver it to Santa. Way better than the USPS. ;) St. Nick leaves small gifts (puzzles, games, etc), candy and a clementine (oranges are a symbol of St. Nick) in his stocking which he opens on St. Nick morning.

That afternoon we go pick our "angel" from the Angel Tree and do our shopping for a less fortunate child. We always pick a girl who wants Barbies (because I loved them as a child) and a boy who is Indy's age (Indy loves to pick out the gifts for him).

If we're in the States, we go to dinner and Indy picks a family in the restaurant (he takes great care in picking the perfect family) and we pay their check. Over here in Germany, we usually have friends over for dinner and play games.

We try to make the day about giving and sharing, which is what St. Nicholas was about.

 

ETA: We do a St. Nicholas stocking instead of putting out shoes because I would NEVER let Indy eat anything that has been in his shoes. Little boy feet are gross. ;)

Edited by Mom in High Heels
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I'm a Dutch citizen too, and here in the States we celebrate Sinterklaas (St. Nicholas day) by singing traditional songs, ds and dd playing games on the sint.nl website, and the kids putting out their shoes out the door with some grass and a carrot for his white horse on Dec. 5. Sinterklaas comes that night, and in the morning the kids find a small present and chocolates. This year I want to order the chocolate letters.

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We celebrate St. Nicholas Day since we don't do Santa on Christmas. We read this book http://www.amazon.com/Saint-Nicholas-Story-Christmas-Legend/dp/0758613415/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1288090961&sr=8-1 and the kids put their shoes under the Christmas tree the night before. We put gold foil covered chocolate coins in their shoes and a small toy or book.

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Well, I just love the Feast of St. Nicholas. The night before, we put out carrots and oats for his horse and when we wake, that silly horse has made an awful mess all over the porch. Then we're suprised that in the night St. Nicholas himself has put out all of our St. Nicholas stuff. We take the day off school, bake a few St. Nicholas things, read stuff, have fun. We get our stockings this day. My daughter gets as many golden coins (sacagawea, adams, et c. dollars) as we can possibly afford.

 

FOR YEARS we have gone to Madonna House in the evening. We put golden coins in as many baby socks as there are babies and mommies at Madonna House. Every year, God bless her, my girl gives all her coins. When she was really little we used to give some to her and some to Madonna House but she loves giving them so now we always put them in her stocking. We drive over, sneak up to the door, put all the little socks on the porch, knock, run around the corner and hide. They come to the door and find the stocking and we wait till they go in and we run away to the get away car with Daddy waiting.

 

But now they've moved.

 

This will be our first year not to be able to do this and we're all sad. We'll find somewhere else, I guess, but I really don't know where.

 

Almost all of the Catholic charities have moved to the Catholic Charities campus which requires us to go through the gate, get buzzed in, et c. It wouldn't exactly be anonymous. : ( I don't know what we'll do this yr.

 

Still, I know we'll have a blessed day and look forward to it!

 

Oh, after going out to Madonna House, we usually come home for hot chocolate and a St. Nicholas movie.

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We celebrate St. Nicholas day!

 

On Dec 5 (St. Nick Eve) we put up our tree. Indy writes his letter to Santa and puts it with his St. Nick stocking. St. Nick is kind enough to deliver it to Santa. Way better than the USPS. ;) St. Nick leaves small gifts (puzzles, games, etc), candy and a clementine (oranges are a symbol of St. Nick) in his stocking which he opens on St. Nick morning.

That afternoon we go pick our "angel" from the Angel Tree and do our shopping for a less fortunate child. We always pick a girl who wants Barbies (because I loved them as a child) and a boy who is Indy's age (Indy loves to pick out the gifts for him).

If we're in the States, we go to dinner and Indy picks a family in the restaurant (he takes great care in picking the perfect family) and we pay their check. Over here in Germany, we usually have friends over for dinner and play games.

We try to make the day about giving and sharing, which is what St. Nicholas was about.

 

ETA: We do a St. Nicholas stocking instead of putting out shoes because I would NEVER let Indy eat anything that has been in his shoes. Little boy feet are gross. ;)

 

Oh, we just LOVE clementines!!!! But we never have a single one until we get them in our stockings that morning. and that's how we do our notes, too. We write them mostly about other ppl.

 

Amen on that giving and sharing and St. Nicholas part!

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Kids leave shoes out the night before (on Dec. 5th). St. Nicholas leaves gold chocolate coins and other candy and 3 small gifts. Usually a new Christmas book, a Christmas DVD and one toy (or something else when they're too old for toys). I've found that it's a great way to add Christmas books and DVDs to our collection. The kids generally don't want them once it's Christmas Day. Makes it hard to give them for gifts at that time.

 

We also read St. Nicholas stories the night before. "The Baker's Dozen" is one of our favorites.

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My dh is German and my two oldest were born in Germany. We celebrate both St Martin and St Nicholas. On St Martin we sometimes celebrate with our local German school. They have a program with a St Martin skit, a lantern parade and then a potluck with soups and baked goods. Some years we have just stayed at home. We listen to a St Martin story and make lanterns and eat special St Martin's treats.

 

For St Nicholas we also read a story about him the night before and then the children put out their shoes (we use Dutch clogs we bought on a trip to Holland). "St Nicholas" then fills their shoes after they have gone to bed- usually a clementine, some nuts and some chocolates.

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Kids leave shoes out the night before (on Dec. 5th). St. Nicholas leaves gold chocolate coins and other candy and 3 small gifts. Usually a new Christmas book, a Christmas DVD and one toy (or something else when they're too old for toys). I've found that it's a great way to add Christmas books and DVDs to our collection. The kids generally don't want them once it's Christmas Day. Makes it hard to give them for gifts at that time.

 

Ooh, this is a great idea! The timing makes so much sense.

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Kids leave shoes out the night before (on Dec. 5th). St. Nicholas leaves gold chocolate coins and other candy and 3 small gifts. Usually a new Christmas book, a Christmas DVD and one toy (or something else when they're too old for toys).

 

We celebrate St. Nicholas Day in a similar fashion, except we do the chocolate coins in the shoes(might have to do some real coins this year---Red has a cavity!) and give a new Christmas book to each child. We also read St. Nicholas stories that we check out from the library.

 

For Martinmas last year, we read a library book about St. Martin and then made a Martinmas lantern by modge podging tissue paper to the outside of a jelly jar. It looked like a stained glass window! We popped a tea light in and enjoyed it lit on our kitchen table. My husband did attach a wire handle to it, but I didn't feel comfortable with a four year old running around with an open flame. :D

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We've celebrated St. Nicholas Day with close friends for a few years, now. It's very low-key. We get together, read stories and do simple activities (coloring pages, word searches, etc.) about St. Nicholas. The kids put out their shoes and get gold coins (chocolate). We eat Bishop's Hat mini pizzas (cheese cut in shape of Bishop's hats with cut-out cross on top of each pizza) and drink hot spiced cider. We started making marzipan fruits and veggetables (very simple ones) at our first get-together, and it has been the favorite activity of the celebration since then. Since this is our main Christmas activity with this family, we also exchange our gifts to each other.

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We don't celebrate St. Nicholas at home - I thought about it when they were young, but just too much going on at the holidays (I contemplated St. Lucia too :)). They do get a little St. Nicholas Day at their German Saturday School, though - the kids all get treats in their shoes; some years they've had someone dressed as St. Nick come around and give them chocolate-filled Advent calendars.

 

Martinmas we used to do when they were young, both at German Sat. School, where the kids all parade up and down the hall with fake lanterns, and with a coop we had we'd make and parade with real lanterns. Both with songs, of course. :)

 

If you have a Waldorf School anywhere near you, they probably have a Martinmas celebration open to the public. We went to one at the school closest to us when they were really young. The school we have nearby also has a St. Nicholas market.

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Thank you everyone! I just love holidays! I found the St. Nicholas site looking for cake recipes but haven't had a chance to explore the site. I'm glad to see it recommended. What a lot of fun ideas! I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't want a 4yo boy running around with fire. ;) I think my DS will really love leaving treats for a horse, and pick-up of the Christmas list is a great plan.

 

Another question - I always left out shoes for the three kings. Have I been confusing this tradition with St. Nicholas, or is it for both?

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Thank you everyone! I just love holidays! I found the St. Nicholas site looking for cake recipes but haven't had a chance to explore the site. I'm glad to see it recommended. What a lot of fun ideas! I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't want a 4yo boy running around with fire. ;) I think my DS will really love leaving treats for a horse, and pick-up of the Christmas list is a great plan.

 

Another question - I always left out shoes for the three kings. Have I been confusing this tradition with St. Nicholas, or is it for both?

 

 

I think it's both :) ... here's the entry on wikipedia for Epiphany:

 

In Spanish tradition, on the day of January 6, three of the Kings: Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthazar, representing Europe, Arabia, and Africa, arrived on horse, camel and elephant, bringing respectively gold, frankincense and myrrh to the baby Jesus. Children (and many adults) polish and leave their shoes ready for the Kings' presents before they go to bed on the eve of January 6. Sweet wine, nibbles, fruit and milk are left for the Kings and their camels. In Mexico, it is traditional for children to leave their shoes, along with a letter with toy requests for the Three Kings, by the family nativity scene or by their beds. In some parts of northern Mexico the shoes and letters are left under the Christmas tree. The shoes may be filled with hay for the camels, so that the Kings will be generous with their gifts.

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We do St. Nicholas. I'm pretty low key, so the kids get a gift bag with some chocolate coins, an orange and a candy cane. I do ramp up the anticipation by warning them that Krampusz will be coming with St. Nicholas and asking whose list they will be on. We watch youtube clips of this Krampusz ad too:

 

 

 

Now that they're older, I think this may be the year to include a switch in their bags....

 

:sneaky2:

 

I guess I should add that I grew up with a visit from Krampusz and St. Nicholas at a party each year. Of the two, Krampusz was more exciting even though he didn't bring the loot.

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Another question - I always left out shoes for the three kings. Have I been confusing this tradition with St. Nicholas, or is it for both?

 

I think shoes get left out for both holidays, it's just different cultures that celebrate them - St. Nicholas in Germany/Netherlands, and Epiphany (3 Kings) in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries.

 

The cake/bread I think is for Epiphany - we celebrate Epiphany as the end of the 12 Days of Christmas, have Epiphany bread (with a little bean in it for someone to find). When the kids were little they'd have a little "play" with the 3 Kings. In many (most?) Spanish-speaking countries, 3 Kings Day is done up bigger than Christmas itself.

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Copying my post from this thread:

 

Dh & his family are Belgian, so we celebrate Dec. 6 w/ Oma & Opa. Oma & Opa always have a tray of chocolates, marzipan, speculaas cookies, & clementines for the dc, along w/ a small gift.

 

*Not* for the kids, but I love

" about St. Niklaas in the Netherlands. :lol: (Sedaris' reaction was about the same as mine the first time I was in Belgium w/ dh & saw the Zwarte Piets running around town.)

 

ETA: Dd attends a weekly Dutch school. For St. Niklaas day, they have Zwarte Piets visit & put sweets/treats in the kids' shoes (which they leave outside the classroom door that day).

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