Sinterklaasavond (St. Nicholas evening) remains more important in the Netherlands than Christmas, although in recent years, the Dutch have started to celebrate Christmas Eve with Santa as well.

This sparks minor controversy each year over when it is “appropriate” to start celebrating Christmas, with shopkeepers preferring to start the lucrative Christmas season immediately after Sinterklaasavond (sometimes putting up decorations even earlier) while others argue that the “foreign” and “commercial” Christmas impinges too much on the traditional Sinterklaas celebrations.

Considering the ancestry of Santa Claus, it has truly been said that Sinterklaas is in competition with himself here.

The present-giver in children’s folklore in The Netherlands and Belgium is a Santa-ish character called Sinterklaas or Sint Nicolaas. Like Father Christmas in Germany, Sinterklaas is often accompanied by a black helper named Zwarte Piet (Black Pete) who punishes disobedient children.

Sinterklaas wears a tall bishop’s hat and carries a crooked staff. He is said to reside in Spain, and in mid-November he arrives by steamboat, an event which is often acted out in the many coastal communities of the Low Countries.

Dutch children leave their shoes out on many nights in the run-up to the actual celebration, to find them filled with small treats in the morning. December 5 (The Netherlands) and December 6 (Belgium) are traditionally recognized as the main gift-giving days of the Low Countries, with December 25 being a lower-key, more religious event.

In recent years Dutch and Belgian cultures have also incorporated Santa Claus into their traditions, with him and Sinterklaas being recognized as two distinct characters.

Walloons call Sint Nicolaas Saint Nicolas and Zwarte Piet Père Fouettard (Whipping Father).

Christians and a large amount of people having a Christian background go to church for Christmas. The Roman-catholic service is on Christmas eve, the Protestant churches in the Netherlands have their Christmas service on 25 December.

This service is normally kept somewhat simpler compared to normal services, with more attention to the children and the singing of famous old Christmas hymns. Since the end of the 20th centuries, some Protestant churches also have services on Christmas eve.

Due to the high amount of church abandoning during the last few centuries, a lot of old churches have been closed. However, the amount of people that want to visit a church service with Christmas seems to be as large as several years ago. Therefore, the remaining churches become too small to accommodate all the attendants with Christmas.

Source: Wikipedia