{"id":10523,"date":"2015-12-24T16:00:16","date_gmt":"2015-12-24T16:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aesu.com\/blog\/?p=655"},"modified":"2015-12-24T16:00:16","modified_gmt":"2015-12-24T16:00:16","slug":"celebrating-christmas-netherlands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bobeckmedia.com\/aesu\/celebrating-christmas-netherlands\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Christmas in the Netherlands"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This month, we\u2019ve been looking in to the fascinating Christmas traditions and activities of other countries, such as <a href=\"http:\/\/aesu.com\/blog\/aesu-world-travel\/3-fun-irish-christmas-traditions-seen-ireland\/\">Ireland<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/aesu.com\/blog\/italy-travel-tips\/christmas-traditions-italy-3-weeks-celebration\/\">Italy<\/a>. Another country with unique Christmas customs is the Netherlands, land of the Dutch and tulips. Their celebrations closely follow distinctive cultural beliefs surrounding Saint Nicholas himself. Below, we\u2019ll dive into the rich history behind the Netherlands celebrations and discover their meaning of Christmas!<a href=\"https:\/\/bobeckmedia.com\/aesu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/christmas-netherlands.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-656\" alt=\"christmas-netherlands\" src=\"https:\/\/bobeckmedia.com\/aesu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/christmas-netherlands-226x300.jpg\" width=\"226\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h2>St. Nicholas\u2019 Day and Sinterklaas<\/h2>\n<p>While St. Nicholas\u2019 day is actually on December 6<sup>th<\/sup>, celebrations are held on December 5<sup>th<\/sup> in Netherlands. Did you know the name Santa Claus actually comes from the Dutch version, <i>Sinterklaas? <\/i>In fact, part of the makeup of our modern Santa Claus comes from the mythical figure Sinterklaas. On December 5<sup>th<\/sup>, Sinterklaas is the one to deliver presents to Dutch children for the holidays.<\/p>\n<p>This Dutch version of Santa Claus is dressed in red and has helpers. Sound familiar? However, there are differences: The Sinterklaas dress is of robes rather than a suit, and his helpers are <i>Zwarte Pieten <\/i>(\u2018Black Peters\u2019) instead of elves.<\/p>\n<p>Celebrations in the Netherlands on December 5<sup>th<\/sup>, or the eve of St. Nicholas\u2019 day, include games and treasure hunts where children find the presents Sinterklaas left for them. They also include a pastry called <i>banketletter<\/i>, made from marzipan. They are shaped in the first letter of party guests\u2019 names.<\/p>\n<h2>Christmas Day<\/h2>\n<p>Christmas day in the Netherlands isn\u2019t celebrated like it is here in the US. While there is usually still a family meal and a church service, most celebrations and gift exchanges take place on St. Nicholas\u2019 Day or the evening before. However, you will still find a Christmas tree in many Dutch homes, as they do still celebrate the holiday. In fact, they will wish you a \u2018merry Christmas\u2019 with \u201cZalig Kerstfeest,\u201d in case you would like to wish family or friends a \u2018merry Christmas\u2019 in Dutch this year!<\/p>\n<h2>See the Netherlands in person!<\/h2>\n<p><b>AESU\u00a0<\/b>offers unique, thrilling travel programs for college students and young professionals at affordable rates. Each trip is action-packed and informal\u2014designed just for people your own age. We are also able to design custom tours just for your group.<\/p>\n<p>AESU offers several trips to the\u00a0<b>Netherlands<\/b>, including:\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/aesu.com\/alltrips\/efo\/default.aspx\">Euro Focus<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/aesu.com\/alltrips\/ges\/default.aspx\">Great Escape<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/aesu.com\/alltrips\/esp\/default.aspx\">Euro Spree<\/a>, and our <a href=\"http:\/\/aesu.com\/alltrips\/lil\/default.aspx\">Live in Concert<\/a> tours. Explore the Netherlands and see the famous windmills, plus check out the sea-side region of Holland.<\/p>\n<p>Also,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/aesu.com\/book\/default.aspx?tour=\"><b>book now<\/b><\/a>\u00a0and pay for your tour in full by January 29<sup>th<\/sup>, 2016 and\u00a0<b>save up to $250<\/b>\u00a0on your trip! Click\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/aesu.com\/deals\/default.aspx\">here<\/a>\u00a0for more details.<\/p>\n<p>If you have any questions or want help booking your\u00a0<b>Netherlands\u00a0<\/b>adventure, please contact\u00a0<b>AESU\u00a0<\/b>by calling\u00a0<b>800-638-7640<\/b>, or fill out the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/aesu.com\/Contact_Us.aspx\">contact form<\/a>\u00a0found on our website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This month, we\u2019ve been looking in to the fascinating Christmas traditions and activities of other countries, such as Ireland and Italy. Another country with unique Christmas customs is the Netherlands, land of the Dutch and tulips. Their celebrations closely follow distinctive cultural beliefs surrounding Saint Nicholas himself. Below, we\u2019ll dive into the rich history behind [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"postBodyCss":"","postBodyMargin":[],"postBodyPadding":[],"postBodyBackground":{"backgroundType":"classic","gradient":""},"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,43],"tags":[66,220],"class_list":["post-10523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-europe-travel-tips","tag-christmas","tag-netherlands"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Celebrating Christmas in the Netherlands<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Another country with unique Christmas customs is the Netherlands, land of the Dutch and tulips.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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