Letter: Doubly spoiled

YoU reported (24 December) that in Holland and Belgium, children get their Sinterklaas presents on 6 December since the Reformation. This is not the case. In the Netherlands (Holland is just a part of the country), the children get their presents and traditional sweets (peppernuts and chocolate letters) from the generous Saint Nicholas on the evening

of 5 December and in Belgium (mainly in Vlaanderen) on 6 December.

Not so much driven by the Reformation but more by commerce, the children in the Netherlands are even more spoiled now as they are also visited since the mid-eighties by the 1930s Coca-Cola Santa Claus, although from the US, claimed to come from Lapland.

To avoid confusion with the children and heavy competition between the two friendly elderly gentlemen, there is a regulation in the Netherlands that stores are not allowed to advertise or even sell Santa Claus products before Sinterklaas has returned to Spain on 6 December.

For Dutch children in Scotland, every year Sinterklaas takes the trouble to visit Aberdeen and Glasgow, dressed in red, riding on his white horse and supported by his loyal Black Peter servants.

TON CHRISTIAANSE

Great Stuart Street

Edinburgh