It begins with the tree. The tree is the proper beginning of the Christmas Season here. First, we have Sinterklaas (5 dec). The Sint had arrived on his steamboat, disembarked on his white horse to ride about the country with his band of Piet’s to greet the kids and give them various candies. On the evening of the 5th the Sint makes another pass and brings the gifts to the households in the land. Before that the kids get to experience “packages-evening”, where they get pakkies from their family. How you ever get a wound-up five-year-old into bed after that, plus all the candy sugar load I have no idea. Righty-ho then...back to the tree. The tree was being set up in our town centrum today and it was fun watching the blokes set it up and stringing the lights. If a mini skating rink will be set-up this year remains to be seen. There are several things one can see on this pic: A statue of a less than illustrious son, the red stone where criminals were beheaded in days gone by and the façade of the old 17th century administrative building. It is now the West-fries Museum. The lighting ought to be lovely at night. Of course the oliebollen stand off to the left will soon open for warm, sweet goodies.
Sjoerd, are olliebollen fried sweet dough packed with raisins, and then rolled in sugar while still hot? My dutch neighbors up north made olliebollen, and taught me how. The tree is beautiful, and I hope you can get a photo of it lit at night. Your town square is amazing--beheading stone and all!
Ah, the square! I want to dance in that square, eat treats from stands, visit the museum and shudder when I look at the red stone and think about its history. I also wish that I will get to see Sinterklaas on his white horse with my own eyes once in the future.
Thanks Zigs. Cheers Mart. It is a bit OTT, but lovely...or going to be, once they are finished. Jane, you are spot on. It is the very same. I am so impressed. That you went to the trouble of learning how to make an iconic Dutch goodie. I will indeed slip over to the Rode Steen and take a night picvy...if ever it doesn’t rain at night. Lots of rain and ice rain at the moment. I am very happy that you like the looks of the city centrum. Droopy...you’e got me chuckling now. Oh, the white horse with the Sint on it. It is a real sight to behold. Hopefully after this Covid thing has ended it may again happen. That horse’s name is Schimmel, an interesting name when you realise the english word for schimmel is, “fungus”. Oh dear.
I might be counted as a Reply Guy now but actually the word "skimmel" in Norwegian means a white horse. They're usually not true white. If you separate the hairs of their coats and check the skin it's more often than not grey or tan bar the spots where they would have white markings if the horse was, say, black or brown. The white horses may be born brown with black manes and tails, or a different colour. Then they "bleach out", or slowly change their coat colour to white. Our Gabriella was born brown with black mane and tail with two white socks and a white star on her forehead. As they grow older they tend to get grey spotted coats, then just grey spotted rumps and then finally they're all white. We also use the word "skimmel" to describe cheese like i.e. the Stilton cheese or the Roquefort. Sorry for the lecture, but horse people you know...
Thanks Eileen. What a nice thing to say. It is actually a different guy. We call the santa claus figure the Christmas. Man. The Christmas guy rides a sleigh, right? Our guy is a form of the Bishop of Myra.
I’ve never heard that one. I did visit the bishop’s burial place over in Turkey. It was interesting to be there, but the bones were already long gone. Sadly then, there was no one present to point out the bishop’s sarcophagus. Still, for me I enjoy visiting old historical places and this dusty old place was a real curiosity.
