Some European countries celebrate Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas) on 6 december. Not just another saint, but this holy man is children's best friend. Traditions of Sinterklaas go back many ceinturies, and he can be considered to be the "grandfather" of Santaclaus. (just compare their names !) Sinterklaas and Santa have a lot in common : they bring gifts to children, they wear a big curly white beard and there's a lot of mistery involved.
No reindeers but a white horse and a number of "black pete's" who help him to distribute the presents. He enters the houses through the chimney and leaves a trail of gifts...
He does that on the night of 5/6 December...
All kids in Belgium, Holland and other parts of Europe go absolutely bonkers around now...

Only... Sinterklaas only comes to kids who still "believe" in him. On average, kids learn about the sad truth (Sinterklaas = mommy and daddy) by the age of 7 to 9...
Sorry I told you the truth now...

At least now you know what the special version of the Armorama logo at the top of the page refers to...

Prettig Sinterklaasfeest !

PS : sometimes even grownup children get a Sinterklaas gift, and mommies and daddies bring something for eachother.

And you know the best part ? During the past centuries Sinterklaas evolved into Santa who emigrated to the US... and who came back to Europe during the past decades (WWII must have played a role in his return on X-mas day). So now we have Sinterklaas on 6 December, and Santa on 25 December. For completion, I need to add that some regions celebrate Sint Maarten (Saint Martin) who more or less plays the same role...








Some people in the US celebrate this too...

Hi there

I've read that Santa's "traditional" red outfit is all due to an old Coca-Cola advert.

Apparently, in ages past, he wore green...

All the best

Rowan

What's a black pete?

Black Pete ? --> "Zwarte Piet... "


Words fail me to describe this. I let pictures do the talking. This used to involve shoe polish when I was a kid, today there are skin-friendly products to achieve the same result.

Jan.......you shocked me......Sinterklaas does not excist......... another dream gone

Hehe....

Good explaining you did there Jan, thanks.

Ola Merlin




You actually couldn`t be more right on that point. The SantaClaus as we all know him now is designed by the Coca Cola Company. In the 30`s Coca Cola Gave the assignment to the commercial Artist Haddon Sundblom to give Santa a new appearance. Sundblom "designed" Santa. The Happy smiling big man with the white beard and the red clothes is known since 1931 and is used ever since in the Coca Cola Commercials.
So technologically speaking Coca Cola is responsible for the well known Santa

The three ages of man-

You believe in Santa Claus

You dont believe in Santa Claus

You are Santa Claus

Regards Dave