In the Netherlands, the holiday season unfolds across two distinct celebrations — each with its own history, rituals, and character. Long before Christmas trees go up or families sit down to their Kerstdag feasts, Dutch children are already placing their shoes by the fireplace and listening for hoofbeats on the roof. Sinterklaas, the venerable bishop who sails from Spain, arrives first. Christmas follows in his wake, quieter but no less cherished. Together, these traditions create a December unlike any other in Europe — and one whose influence stretches all the way to North America.
Sinterklaas — The Heart of the Dutch December
The Grand Arrival
Starting the Saturday after St. Martin’s Day (November 11), Sinterklaas makes his grand entrance into the Netherlands by steamboat. Each year, a different Dutch city or town hosts the official intocht (arrival), an event broadcast nationally and watched by millions. Dressed in his red bishop’s robes and tall mitre, Sinterklaas rides a white horse through the streets while crowds of children and families line the route, singing traditional songs like Zie Ginds Komt de Stoomboot (“See, There Comes the Steamboat”).
The figure of Sinterklaas is based on Saint Nicholas of Myra, a fourth-century bishop renowned for his generosity. Dutch communities have celebrated his feast day — December 6 — for centuries. The tradition of the steamboat arrival dates to 1850, when Dutch author Jan Schenkman published Sint Nikolaas en zijn Knecht (Saint Nicholas and His Servant), a children’s book that popularized many of the customs still observed today.
After the intocht, Sinterklaas spends the following weeks visiting towns across the country. During this time, children leave a shoe by the fireplace or windowsill each evening, filled with hay and a carrot for Sinterklaas’s horse. By morning, if the child has been good, the hay is gone and small gifts or treats — typically pepernoten or a chocolate coin — have appeared in its place.
The Pieten — A Tradition in Transition
Sinterklaas does not work alone. His helpers, called Pieten, accompany him during the arrival and throughout the season. Traditionally known as Zwarte Pieten (Black Peters), these figures were said to climb down chimneys to deliver presents, their faces blackened by soot.
In recent decades, the appearance of the Pieten has evolved significantly. Many Dutch communities have adopted Roetveegpiet (Sooty Piet), whose face bears smudges of chimney soot rather than full black makeup. This shift reflects a growing cultural conversation about representation and respect. Today’s intocht parades increasingly feature the soot-smudge version, and the focus remains on what it has always been — the joy of the children waiting for their gifts.
Pakjesavond — The Evening of Gifts
The climax of the Sinterklaas season arrives on December 5: Pakjesavond (present evening). This is the night Dutch families gather for their main gift exchange — not Christmas Day, as in much of the English-speaking world.
It is this evening, not Christmas morning, that Dutch children count down to all year — the night when the season’s gifts, surprises, and family ceremony all reach their height.
On the evenings before Pakjesavond, Dutch children leave a shoe out and wake to find small gifts and treats tucked inside — the schoentje zetten tradition.
The tradition is layered with creativity and humor. Gifts are often elaborately disguised in clever packaging or hidden throughout the house, accompanied by original poems — called gedichten — that gently tease the recipient. The poems are unsigned, attributed to Sinterklaas himself. Among the most beloved gifts are chocoladeletters: solid chocolate letters representing the first initial of each family member’s name.
For children, the evening is pure magic. For adults, it is an occasion to show wit and affection through the poems and surprises. It is, in many ways, the emotional heart of the Dutch holiday season.
Dutch Holiday Foods — Sweet Traditions and Festive Feasts
Pepernoten, Kruidnoten, and Speculaas
No Dutch December is complete without its signature sweets. Pepernoten are small, firm, spiced cookies — a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and ginger pressed into a dense bite. Kruidnoten, often confused with pepernoten, are smaller, crunchier, and rounder — the ones you find by the handful in every Dutch shop from mid-October onward, marking the unofficial start of the Sinterklaas season.
Speculaas — thin, spiced shortcrust biscuits pressed into carved wooden molds — are another December staple. The molds often depict Sinterklaas himself, windmills, or other traditional Dutch motifs. The biscuit’s warm blend of cinnamon, clove, white pepper, and ginger has been a fixture of Dutch baking for centuries. Looking for a taste of Dutch Christmas at home? Try this traditional speculaas recipe.
Chocolate Letters and Banketstaaf
The chocoladeletter is a Sinterklaas tradition in edible form: a large, solid chocolate letter, usually the initial of the recipient’s name. Families exchange them on Pakjesavond, and chocolatiers across the Netherlands compete each year to produce the finest. Dutch chocolate letters are made from real chocolate — not the hollow or waxy versions found elsewhere — and come in milk, dark, and white varieties.
Banketstaaf (or banketletter when shaped into a letter) is a pastry roll filled with rich almond paste — a Christmas and Sinterklaas treat that pairs beautifully with coffee. Kerststol, a fruit-studded bread similar to German stollen, appears on many Dutch tables during the Christmas days, often sliced at breakfast.
Gourmetten — Cooking Together at the Table
Perhaps the most distinctive Dutch Christmas food tradition is gourmetten: a communal tabletop cooking experience. A small electric grill sits at the center of the table, and each person receives a tiny pan to cook their own portions of meat, vegetables, cheese, or seafood.
Gourmetten is less about the food itself and more about the experience. Families sit together for hours, cooking in small batches, talking, laughing, and refilling their plates. In a culture that prizes gezelligheid — a Dutch concept of warmth, togetherness, and conviviality that has no precise English translation — gourmetten is the Christmas meal that embodies the spirit of the season.
Kerstdag — Christmas in the Netherlands
Eerste and Tweede Kerstdag
Where Sinterklaas is the season of excitement, Christmas in the Netherlands is the season of stillness. December 25, called Eerste Kerstdag (First Christmas Day), and December 26, Tweede Kerstdag (Second Christmas Day), are both national holidays.
The first day is typically spent with immediate family. Many Dutch families attend a church service — often a candlelit evening service on Christmas Eve or a morning service on Christmas Day — followed by a festive meal. Games, films, and quiet conversation fill the rest of the day.
Tweede Kerstdag is the day for extended visits. Families call on relatives and friends, share a second festive meal, and often take long walks through the winter landscape. The tradition of two Christmas days echoes across much of Northern Europe, but in the Netherlands the second day carries a particular warmth — a chance to widen the circle of togetherness.
The Kerstman and the Santa Connection
Dutch children know two gift-bringers. Sinterklaas arrives in November and delivers presents on December 5. But there is also the Kerstman (Christmas Man), who — like Santa Claus in North America — is said to come from Lapland on Christmas Eve.
The connection between the two is real, but the story is richer and stranger than a simple name change. Dutch settlers brought their devotion to Sint Nicolaas to New Amsterdam in the 1600s, and the name Sinterklaas did eventually become Santa Claus on English-speaking tongues. But the modern Santa was not simply carried across the Atlantic — he was reinvented in New York, layer by layer, over two centuries.
The reinvention began with a satirist. In 1809, Washington Irving published A History of New York under the pen name Diedrich Knickerbocker — a comic send-up of Dutch colonial life that mentioned St. Nicholas no fewer than twenty-five times. Irving’s St. Nicholas rides over treetops, parks his wagon on the roof, and slides down the chimney with gifts. He was not recording real Dutch customs; he was inventing them, tongue firmly in cheek. But the inventions stuck.
The following year, John Pintard — co-founder of the New-York Historical Society and tireless civic booster — published a broadside featuring St. Nicholas with verses in Dutch, proposing him as the patron saint of New York. Pintard had been privately honoring St. Nicholas since at least 1793; the 1810 broadside made the campaign public.
The final transformation came in 1823, when a poem titled A Visit from St. Nicholas appeared in the Troy Sentinel on December 23. Generally attributed to Clement Clarke Moore — though a minority of scholars credit Henry Livingston Jr. — the poem gave Santa his sleigh, his eight named reindeer, his chimney descent, and, crucially, moved gift-giving from St. Nicholas’s feast day on December 6 to Christmas Eve. Moore’s jolly, pipe-smoking figure with “a finger aside of his nose” — a gesture borrowed directly from Irving — became the Santa Claus the world knows today.
So the roots are Dutch, the name is Dutch, and the December-5 tradition remains alive in the Netherlands — but the Santa who fills stockings on Christmas Eve is an American creation, shaped by a New York satirist, a civic promoter, and a poet’s Christmas verse. Both countries can claim him, and both are right.
Midwinterhoornblazen — Horns Across the Countryside
In the rural eastern Netherlands, the season of Advent is announced not by bells but by horns. Midwinterhoornblazen (mid-winter horn blowing) is an ancient tradition practiced from the first Sunday of Advent through Epiphany. Farmers hand-carve long horns from birch or elder wood, then blow them over wells or streams — the water amplifies the deep, resonant sound, which carries for miles across the flat Dutch landscape.
The tradition is as old as the hills themselves — nobody quite knows when it began, only that it has sounded across these flatlands for as long as anyone can remember. It is recognized as intangible cultural heritage in the Netherlands. Midwinterhoornblazen remains a living practice in provinces like Overijssel and Gelderland — a haunting, beautiful reminder that even in a modern country, some winter rituals still belong to the land itself.
Markets, Music, and Midwinter Light
Dutch Christmas Markets
After Sinterklaas departs on December 6, the Netherlands turns its attention to Christmas, and the markets bloom. Maastricht’s Magisch Maastricht transforms the Vrijthof square into a winter wonderland of wooden stalls, a Ferris wheel, and an ice rink. Valkenburg, built on limestone hills in the province of Limburg, hosts a Christmas market inside ancient marlstone caves — an underground experience unlike any other in Europe.
Amsterdam’s canals take on a festive glow, and cities like Leiden, Haarlem, and Dordrecht host atmospheric markets along candlelit waterways. Visitors find oliebollen (fried dough balls dusted in powdered sugar), stroopwafels, glühwein, and handmade crafts at nearly every stall.
Carols and Seasonal Songs
Music fills the Dutch December from start to finish. The Sinterklaas season has its own repertoire — Sinterklaas Kapoentje and Zie Ginds Komt de Stoomboot are sung by schoolchildren and echo from every shop speaker. Once Christmas arrives, international carols blend with Dutch favorites: Stille Nacht (Silent Night), Flappie — a darkly humorous classic by Youp van ’t Hek about a pet rabbit that meets an unfortunate Christmas fate — and Eenzame Kerst (Lonely Christmas) by André Hazes, a prisoner’s plea to be home for the holidays, first released in 1976 and no less devastating half a century later — a song that brings the country to collective tears every December.
Decorations and the Dutch Christmas Tree
Dutch families typically wait until after Sinterklaas has departed — December 6 or 7 — to put up their Christmas tree. The tree, often a real Nordmann fir, is decorated with lights, glass ornaments, and sometimes kerstkransjes: small wreath-shaped almond cookies tied with ribbon and hung as edible ornaments.
Homes are dressed with candles, evergreen garlands, and simple natural decorations — a style that reflects the Dutch preference for understated elegance. In the weeks after Sinterklaas, the country transitions from the festive energy of the intocht to the quieter glow of Christmas, creating a season that is both celebratory and contemplative.
Frequently Asked Questions about Christmas in the Netherlands
What is Sinterklaas, and how is it different from Christmas?
Sinterklaas is a celebration honoring Saint Nicholas, centered on gift-giving on December 5 (Pakjesavond). Christmas, or Kerstdag, is celebrated on December 25 and 26 as a quieter, family-oriented holiday. The two are distinct traditions with separate customs — Sinterklaas handles the gifts, and Christmas is reserved for family, faith, and feasting.
When does Sinterklaas arrive in the Netherlands?
Sinterklaas arrives by steamboat on the Saturday after November 11 (St. Martin’s Day), typically in mid-November. The arrival, called the intocht, is a nationally televised event held in a different city each year.
What is Pakjesavond?
Pakjesavond (“present evening”) is the Dutch gift-giving celebration on the evening of December 5. Families exchange presents accompanied by humorous poems called gedichten, and children receive gifts from Sinterklaas — often including chocolate letters shaped like their initials.
What do the Dutch eat at Christmas?
Many Dutch families enjoy gourmetten — a communal tabletop grilling experience where each person cooks their own small portions. Traditional Christmas foods include kerststol (fruit bread), banketstaaf (almond-paste pastry), and seasonal sweets like speculaas, pepernoten, and kruidnoten. Fish, game, and roast meats also feature prominently at the Kerstdag table.
Why does the Netherlands celebrate two Christmas days?
Both December 25 (Eerste Kerstdag) and December 26 (Tweede Kerstdag) are national holidays. The first is typically spent with immediate family; the second is for visiting extended relatives and friends. This two-day tradition is shared across much of Northern Europe.
How did Sinterklaas become Santa Claus?
The name Sinterklaas became Santa Claus on English-speaking tongues after Dutch settlers brought their St. Nicholas traditions to New Amsterdam. But the modern Santa was shaped in 19th-century New York: Washington Irving’s 1809 satire gave him his chimney-sliding, rooftop-riding character; John Pintard promoted him as patron of the city; and the 1823 poem A Visit from St. Nicholas added the sleigh, reindeer, and Christmas Eve timing. The roots are Dutch, but the Santa we know is an American reinvention.
The Netherlands wraps its winter in layers — the excitement of Sinterklaas, the quiet grace of Kerstdag, the warmth of a gourmetten table shared with the people who matter most. From the sound of children’s shoes clicking along cobblestones to the deep hum of midwinter horns echoing across frozen fields, Dutch holiday traditions invite us to slow down, gather close, and savor the season’s small, sweet moments.
