Most kids in Flanders, Holland and parts of Germany will know the answer to this question. On the night of December 5th, Saint Nicholas walks the roofs, along with his trusted horse and his helper Piet, to drop presents through the chimneys for all the kids who were good.
Americans can best compare Saint Nicholas to Santa Claus, with a couple of slight variations. Santa Claus has reindeer, Saint Nic a white horse.
Nowadays there is some controversy around Nicholas and his helper. Piet was always portrayed with a black face - creeping down chimneys makes you black with soot. But some people now see it as a sort of discrimination. Personally, I think this is going a bit too far (same goes for the Me too movement).
Saint Nicholas actually existed. Centuries back, he was a bishop in Turkey, Nicholas of Myrna. It's known he gave away some of his possessions to those in need.
In Flanders, we have not only Saint Nicholas, but also Saint Martin. It depends in which region you live. In our neighborhood it was Saint Martin. When I was around 4 years old, I concluded that St. Martin must be real (compared to Nicholas) because we got a day off (November 11th....) when he came!
But I can still remember the wonder you felt when coming down, earlier in the morning than usual, to see what the good saint had brought. All that chocolate, the toys, the cookies, .... And later, knowing how the presents came to be, it was still great. I still feel like a child when there's a surprise to be found at breakfast. I think it's nice you can keep being a child sometimes. What do you think?
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