Sinterklaas again!

On December 5, it's Sinterklaas again here in the Netherlands. This gonna be my second time to celebrate it. Well, it's not really that we will celebrate it per see, but I'm just gonna witness it how special it is for the children. We will be joining with my sister-in-law since they have two kids. Without kids, this event woudn't be sold out solely to the adults.

Who is Sinterklaas?

Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet (s).

Who is also Zwarte Piet?

I already introduced them during my previous post last year. Have a look and get up-close and personal to him:-)

Tag: Bye Sinterklaas, Hello Santa Claus .

For a bird's eyeview, Sinterklaas or Sint Nikolaas in Dutch or Saint Nicolas in French, is a holiday tradition in the Netherlands and Belgium (both Dutch and French speaking parts), celebrated every year on Saint Nicholas' eve December 5 or, in Belgium, the morning of December 6. Zwarte Piet is Sint's helper. The feast celebrates the name day of Saint Nicholas, patron saint of children. Read more...

I just refresh this subject it is because, since the start of November, many googlers are referred to my site and untiredly using the search word Sinterklaas. I hope that the above link might be a help.

It's just amazing how this feast a big business grower. All items now on sales are related to this feast. All items are costumized and commercialized. From clothings, toys, kids accessories, and food are all Sint inspired.

In food section, you can see taitai, speculaas, chocolate letters (pure or milk) and choco sint/piet figurines, marsepein ( a mixture of almonds and sugar that has been ground), choco munten (chocolate coins), peppernoten, and many more. Check this link for more Sint food ideas.

Speculaas are flavoured with cinnamon and some specific spices. A type of shortcrust biscuit (traditionally baked for consumption of this feast) in the Netherlands and Belgium.

All the food stuff can be found anywhere in the supermarket or you might even get these for free in some shops or as giveaways of some companies and offices.

Now, I'm eating pepernoten. This is made of kaneelpoeder (cinnamon) and nootmuskaat (nutmeg).

Right image is the pepernoten.

After this feast, Christmas will follow. People are not as busy unlike during the Sinterklas day. Christmas is celebrated very shortly and treated with a simple family dinner. Very unlikely to what we used to in the Philippines...where the yuletide season is occupying a quarter of the calendar year.

Ps. It's also during Sinterklaas that you might need to start writing your wishlist :-) Hehehe. It's my own interpretation. Well, at this time, I'm not wishing...I'm praying :-)

This' all for now. Happy Sint day.