LL-L "Holidays" 2004.12.09 (03) [A/E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 09.DEC.2004 (03) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Ruth & Mark Dreyer <mrdreyer at lantic.net>
Subject: LL-L "Holidays" 2004.12.08 (01) [E]

Dear Ron,

Subject: Holidays

> To all our Lowlanders who (that?) celebrate it, happy Hannukka from me on
> behalf of your friends on Lowlands-L!  May this really be a time of light
> and joy for you and yours!

Thank you, from Ruth & I, for the thoughts & wishes for this Season. We both
tried it to 'Tannenbaum', but found it didn't scan. Ah, well... (My
contribution below)

 Afrikaans

Gaanike, Gaanike,
mooi dag, en skone,
lustige, vrolikke,
geen ander gelyke.
Heeltyd speel ons tollietjies,
smul aan ertappel koekies.
Alle jongens sluit nou aan,
steek die Gaanike kersies aan!
Op die mooi dag, die skone,
dans ons almal in die rondte.

Groete,
Mark en Ruth

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From: Ingmar Roerdinkholder <ingmar.roerdinkholder at worldonline.nl>
Subject: LL-L "Delectables" 2004.12.08 (10) [E]

>>>>>About Marzipan, this is one of the things traditionally eaten in the
Netherlands at the Sinterklaas period,
which actually is not only celibrated on the 5th of December, but starts
around November 15, when Sinterklaas,
his Zwarte Pieten (Black Petes, Moorish servish) and his 'Schimmel' (white
horse) arrive in one of our harbors by
steamboat. From that day on, the childeren who still believe in him (approx.
under 8 yrs old) 'set their shoe'
(schoen zetten), normally about two times a week, e.g. on Wednesdays and
Saturdays.
That means that before bedtime, they put one of their shoes by the stove,
with a carrot for the horse and a few
drawings for the Saint in that shoe, and sing a few Sinterklaas songs.

The next morning they'll find all kind of little animals (usually mice or
frogs) etc made of marzipan in the shoe in return, as well as small
chocolate Sinterklaases and Zwarte Piets. Sometimes small
toys too. The real big presents they get on the real Sinterklaasday,
December 5. These come in a big jute bag (de zak van Sinterklaas) - when all
children are nervously gathered in the living room, waiting for what will
come, suddenly they hear a loud knocking on doors and windows.
One of the parents will open the front or back door, and find that bag full
of presents...

There are more typical traditional things eaten around Sinterklaas, cookies
called Speculaas, a kind of sweet spicy biscuit, and Taai-taai, a kind of
gingerbread, of which speculaaspoppen and
taai-taaipoppen are made, human shaped biscuits.

Outside the Sinterklaas-period, little marzipan is eaten, most people do not
really like it that much.
*Ingmar

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Holidays

Beste Ruth en Mark, ek wens julle nog lekkere dae en baie lig in julle lewe!

Mark, I hope that, true to your surname, you get to spin the dreydl.

Ingmar, in Northern Germany we children, too, put out (polished) shoes for
Sünnerklaas (G Nikolaus), but on a window sill.  Then we would recite a
pleading poem and would be sent off to bed.  This would be in the evening of
December 5.  If we had been nice all year, we'd find various Christmas
treats and also small toys in our shoes in the morning.  The naughty kids
would find coals, but in more recent times, after their punitive shock,
they'd find another shoe with treats in it.

We got this treat on top of Father Christmas (Santa Claus) visiting at
Christmas.  So we had *two* such visits in this time of the year.  I suppose
that's because we have one foot in the Lowland tradition and the other foot
in the German tradition.

I suppose the tradition of giving Jewish children _khanuke geld_ ("Hanukka
money," usually chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil), and in more recent
times also toys and such, at Hanukka may be partly inspired by the Christian
traditions of Sinterklaas and Christmas, thus seems to be a European, if not
only a North European tradition.  My mother, who had grown up in a part of
Altona that had a large Jewish population (mostly lower middle class like
the rest), told me that her mother and other Christian adults in her street
would also give _khanuke geld_ and other treats to their Jewish neighbor
kids, and the latter would sometimes give treats to the Christian children
around Christmas (sometimes in recognition of kids having served as _shabbes
goyem_ during the year, but this wasn't mentioned because it wasn't kosher).
Of course, all that good-neighborliness suddenly disappeared, you know when.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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