On Sunday afternoon Saint Nicholas visited the Lefferts Historic House in Brooklyn, NY. Saint Nicholas, or Sinterklaas in Dutch, is a traditional winter holiday figure in the Netherlands. The Lefferts House which we visited earlier is a Dutch-American house and his visit was part of the display “Winter on a Flatbush Farm”.

St. Nick made his entrance riding on a brown horse followed by a crowd of excited children, a little later then the scheduled 3.00 pm.

There were at least 3 Dutch families with small children attending. A mother said she was disappointed with this rendition of Saint Nick as the costume was not very elaborate. “And 15 minutes ago I saw them carrying his costume through the crowd, so everybody could see it!”. However, Dutch and American children alike were duly impressed by Sinterklaas. Kids received chocolate gold coins and mandarins.

The tradition of a St. Nicholas visiting the Lefferts House goes back at least 20 years. “And we always get a couple of expat-families who visit”, said Mr. Billy Holliday, the Director of the Lefferts Historic House. The traditional Saint Nicholas date is December 6th or the evening of the 5th, and most Sinterklaas events in the US and the Netherlands are held next weekend. Mr. Holliday explained that in the past the House was closed in December and though that’s no longer the case, the event is still held the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

Saint Nicholas stayed for about an hour. Children had the opportunity to pet his horse and feed it carrots. There were also demonstration of how to make candles and how to make sauerkraut. Inside a lady was spinning flax, and to the delight of this correspondent outside fresh “oliekoecks” or “oliebollen” were served.

St. Nick arrives.

Welcome.

Chocolate Euro coins.

Oliebollen!

St. Nick and his horse

Flax spinning.

St. Nick leaving.

“Zie de maan schijnt door de bomen…” — see, the moon shining through the trees.