Page 41 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - The Netherlands

THE NE THERLANDS THROUGH THE Y EAR  39

(second or third week in Nov). from the celebrations of
St Nicholas is celebrated in St Nicholas, Christmas and
every town and village in the New Year.
Holland. He arrives by ship
near St Nicholaaskerk (see p95) December
and then rides on his grey Sinterklaasavond (St Nicholas’s
horse through town. Until Day) (5 Dec). St Nicholas ends
5 December, children with St Nicholas’s Eve on 5
traditionally sing Nicholas December. Both young and
carols in the evenings, and old are brought gifts, more
every morning find sweets often than not in person by (a
in their shoes. hired) Santa Claus. Friends give
poems caricaturing each other. The latest boats on display at the
Cirque d’Hiver (between annual Hiswa
Christmas and New Year’s Eve),
Roermond. Four days of Scheveningen, and hundreds
world-class circus acts in the of people in swimsuits run
Oranjerie theatre hotel, in down the beach to take a dip
the historic town centre. in the ice-cold water.
New Year’s Eve (31 Dec). The Leidse Jazzweek (mid-Jan),
Dutch spend the last evening Leiden. Throughout the week,
of the old year in festive jazz of all styles is played in
surroundings at home or the halls and cafés of the
with friends. Fritters and old town.
apple turnovers are eaten
and, in many houses, the February
champagne corks pop at Hiswa (Feb or Mar), Amsterdam.
The distribution of white bread in midnight. Afterwards, people Boat show in the RAI (see p141),
celebration of the relief of Leiden walk the streets to see in the featuring all types of crafts,
New Year with organized and from dinghies to yachts.
individual firework displays. Carnival (Feb or Mar). Officially
Winter
three, but in practice five, days
December aside, there are January before Lent, the Catholic south
not as many events in the Nieuwjaarsduik (New Year’s celebrates wildly. There are
winter calendar as there are Dip) (1 Jan), Scheveningen. processions with colourful
for the rest of the year – Every year, at noon on New floats, and costumed people
perhaps to the relief of those Year’s Day, a starting-gun sing and dance in the cafés
who need January to recover is fired on the pier in and in the streets.

The arrival of St Nicholas, attracting a great deal of attention

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