Who is Sinterklaas, Amsterdam’s patron saint?

A bishop in a red cape

Sinterklaas is a legendary figure based on a real man: Saint Nicholas, a Greek bishop of Myra, in what is now Turkey, who lived from 270 to 343. He is shown as an old, stately man with white hair and a long beard. He wears a long red cape and a red mitre, and he carries a gold-coloured staff with a curled top.

By tradition he arrives on a steamboat from Spain and rides a white horse. He is also one of the figures that Santa Claus grew out of.

The evening of 5 December

The feast keeps the name day of Saint Nicholas, which is 6 December. In the Netherlands the presents are given the evening before, on 5 December.

In the weeks before that, children leave a single shoe out before they go to bed, with a carrot or some hay in it for the horse, and sing a Sinterklaas song.

A saint for a harbour town

Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, of merchants and of children, among others, and many churches dedicated to him were built near harbours. Amsterdam was a town of sailors and merchants, and he is the patron saint of the city itself.

He comes by water

Each year his arrival is staged, usually on a weekend in November. Where it can be done he comes by steamboat, and he is welcomed by the mayor and a brass band. From that moment children may put out their shoes.

The first such arrival in the Netherlands was held in 1888, in Venray. Amsterdam has held a large one every year since 1934, and from 1952 to 1963 it was shown on national television.

Find his church

His church in Amsterdam is easy to find. The Basilica of Saint Nicholas stands very close to the main railway station, and it was completed in 1887. Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of the church and of the city alike.

Stand in front of it and look at the main front: two towers, with a round rose window between them. Then look higher, at the large eight-sided tower over the middle of the church, with its dome and the cross on top.