Sinterklaas to Santa Claus - Sinterklaas or Sint-Nicolaas is a traditional figure based on Saint Nicholas. Other names for the figure include De Sint (The Saint), De Goedheiligman (The Good Holy Man), and De Goede Sint (The Good Saint) in Dutch; Saint-Nicolas in French; Sinteklaas in Frisian; and Kleeschen and Zinniklos in Luxembourgish. Sinterklaas is celebrated annually with the giving of gifts on the night before Saint Nicholas Day (5 December) in the Netherlands and on the morning of 6 December, Saint Nicholas Day itself, in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Northern France (French Flanders, Lorraine and Artois). He is also well known in territories of the former Dutch Empire, including Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao. He is one of the sources of the popular Christmas icon of Santa Claus. Sinterklaas is the basis for the North American figure of Santa Claus. It is often claimed that during the American War of Independence, the inhabitants of New York City, a former Dutch colonial town (New Amsterdam), reinvented their Sinterklaas tradition, as Saint Nicholas was a symbol of the citys non-English past. In the 1770s the New York Gazetteer noted that the feast day of St. a Claus would be celebrated by the descendants of the ancient Dutch families, with their usual festivities. The name Santa Claus supposedly derived from older Dutch Sinter Klaas. However, the Saint Nicholas Society was not founded until 1835, almost half a century after the end of the war. In a study of the childrens books, periodicals and journals of New Amsterdam, the scholar Charles Jones did not find references to Saint Nicholas or Sinterklaas. Not all scholars agree with Joness findings, which he reiterated in a book in 1978. Howard G. Hageman, of New Brunswick Theological Seminary, maintains that the tradition of celebrating Sinterklaas in New York existed in the early settlement of the Hudson Valley. He agrees that there can be no question that by the time the revival of St. Nicholas came with Washington Irving, the traditional New Netherlands observance had completely disappeared. However, Irvings stories prominently featured legends of the early Dutch settlers, so while the traditional practice may have died out, Irvings St. Nicholas may have been a revival of that dormant Dutch strand of folklore. In his 1812 revisions to A History of New York, Irving inserted a dream sequence featuring St. Nicholas soaring over treetops in a flying wagon – a creation others would later dress up as Santa Claus. But was Irving the first to revive the Dutch folklore of Sinterklaas? In New York, two years earlier John Pintard published a pamphlet with illustrations of Alexander Anderson in which he calls for making Saint Nicholas the patron Saint of New York and starting a Sinterklaas tradition. He was apparently assisted by the Dutch because in his pamphlet he included an old Dutch Sinterklaas poem with an English translation. In the Dutch poem, Saint Nicholas is referred to as Sancta Claus. Ultimately, his initiative helped Sinterklaas to pop up as Santa Claus in the Christmas celebration, which returned – freed of episcopal dignity and ties – via England and later Germany to Europe again. The Saint Nicholas Society of New York celebrates a feast on 6 December to this day. The town of Rhinebeck in Dutchess County, New York, which was founded by Dutch and German immigrants, has an annual Sinterklaas celebration. It includes Sinterklaas crossing the Hudson River and then a parade to the center of town. During the Reformation in 16th-17th-century Europe, many Protestants changed the gift bringer from Sinterklaas to the Christ Child or Christkindl (in English to Kris Kringle). Similarly, the date of giving gifts changed from 5 or 6 December to Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas from ModernVintage Cross!
Posted on: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 00:23:53 +0000
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