Merry Christmas Holiday

“Kerstbrood” is what they call Christmas loaf and “Kerstkrans” is a Christmas ring which is eaten when they are around the Christmas tree singing songs.

Even though the Dutch do have a tree at Christmas, the festival is a quiet family affair with the children gathering around the tree to listen to father reading the story of the first Christmas from the New Testament.

For one thing, there is no Santa Claus or Father Christmas delivering presents on Christmas Eve.

The tradition of hiding silver coins in the pudding is a link to earlier days in English and Scottish courts when the leader of the Christmas revels was chosen on Twelfth Night by finding a bean hidden in the pudding.”

Music is a strong tradition in many Dutch churches, where groups play for the congregation on Christmas Day.

We do not have any one particular Christmas dish, however, we usually bake the famous Dutch Christmas cookies known as a Christmas ring, called Kerstkrans Kerstkrans.

On Christmas Eve, presents are supposedly delivered in stockings and under the Christmas tree by Father Christmas, who previously had been something like The Ghost of Christmas Present in Charles Dickens ‘ A Christmas Carol, but has now become mainly conflated with Santa Claus.

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