In Holland
and Flamish Belgium and a part of south Germany the provences that used to belong to Holland before the Spanish took over the Netherlands,
there are several Holiday's witch may be simulair to the English/American/Australian people out there in the world
Before the midages, the Dutch were forced to be Catholics by the Spanish King and Bishoppes everywhere tried to get the not Catholics into the church with bonding their believes together with the Christiany believes.Specialy the Autum and Winter Celebrations to get trough the cold periods quickly..
~Sint Maarten/Saint Marten~
St'Marten was a knight who ride somewhere in Holland on his horse in November .It was very cold and he wore a cape to keep himself warm.He saw a beglar who was freezing to death

and he desided to cut his cape into two halfs with his sword and gave one part to the beglar and kept the other to himself.
The pope who heard of this, declared knight Marten as a Saint.
That is why we remember it still by,
November 11th is St'Martens day (St’Maartensdag),kids go out with a (selfmade)lantern

into the streets,ring at the door and if the door wil be open, the kids sing a nice song.
They get rewarded by candy now these days ,in my time we get fruit and money too.It is different than Halloween but simulair, trick or treat..!.

<~SinterKlaas/Saint Claus~

The other one is called

(Saint Claus)Sint Nicolaas,
a bishoppe from Turkey who came to Holland in December and saved kids on several places.

He heard three sisters cry because they didn't had wedding gifts and there for couldn't be wed.
The bishoppe trough money in their in the drying stockings on the chimney,

so they could be wed afterall.He saved three boys. An angry inkeeper who was trowing them in a waterbarrow.The boys were pulled out by the bishoppe.

And he gave poor hungry kids some bread and cake so they wouldn't starve.
The pope declared Nicolaas a Saint

and Nicolaas became the friend of the kids.
Since then it was celebrated and the story changed a little bit.

He came from Spain and he had helpers,

the "Moors", (Black people may see them as slaves but they are just helpers with costumes from a long time ago)and the Saint lived in a castle.

Every November he came to holland by ship to enter the harbour in December.

(The ship is changed later into a steamboat)

This is SinterKlaas who is famous because of the commercial and media.Bram van der Vlught plays for several years the second tv.SinterKlaas,The first died years ago,I saw the entrance of SinterKlaas on an old black and white tv.And the Saint who came at our school was not the one of tv,
it was and it is confusing for children in Holland,Belgium and a part of Germany.

~Santa Claus~

This was made by KoolAngel...Thank you mum...,
first santa had green coat
on later on blue
it became later on red.
The Dutch Immigrants in America thought about the Saint but couldn't remember the correct things anymore after being away from Holland all those years.

So they rembered the stockings on the chimney and they rembered the December month and where thinking of the Christ and so the Santa Claus was created.
So in fact:
*~*Santa Claus is Sinter Klaas & Sinter Klaas is Santa Claus!*~*


Austrailian Santa with the children of my Austrailian "sister"