Maastricht Dressed for the Holidays

Onze Lieve Vrouwe Basilica's sweet little Kerststal

The first week in December a curious little wooden shed appeared in front of the shrine of Onze Lieve Vrouwe. It was all closed up, with no sign explaining its purpose. At first we thought it might be a Kerstmarkt stall that had wandered away from the Vrijthof in search of customers. These cute little houses have popped up in various areas of the city, selling a variety of Christmas foods and gifts. But one day the Onze Lieve Vrouweplein shed opened its doors, and inside was a lovely little Nativity scene decorated with evergreen and pink, purple and white stars.

This was the church's Kerststal, reminding us of the true meaning of Christmas.

The commercial side of Christmas is alive and well in this city, too, of course. Maastricht is a shopping Mecca, and the city dresses up to welcome visitors during the holiday season. Streets are decorated with green garlands and lights. I loved walking home from the centrum after the shops were closed and all the crowds were gone. The walk down the cobblestone Wolfstraat was very pleasant under those sparkling Holiday lights.

Our street, Sint Pieterstraat, had lighted garlands strung between the buildings. The view out our apartment windows was framed by the festive lights, which stayed on all night. I miss seeing those lights.  

Sint Pieterstraat holiday garlands, by day and by night.

The Dutch Christmas season started in November with the arrival of Sinterklaas and his trusty sidekick, Zwarte Piet. Our neighbor Ralph explained that Sinterklaas and Santa Claus are two different guys. One comes from Spain and the other comes from the North Pole. The lucky Dutch kids have two generous white-bearded men delivering gifts to them in December!

Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet travel by steamboat from Spain to arrive in the Netherlands (no sleigh for these guys). They make an appearance in every Dutch city, accompanied by much fanfare. Unfortunately, we were not in the Netherlands on the day that Sinterklaas arrived by boat in Maastricht. But we ran into him and Zwarte Piet in the Albert Heijn grocery store, in foiled chocolate form. 

Jim's birthday is December 5th, which also happens to be Sinterklaas' eve. On that night Dutch children leave their shoes out near the fireplace, along with a bowl of water and a carrot for Sinterklaas' white horse, Amerigo (which he rides across the rooftops). In the morning they find gifts in the shoes, and often the first letter of their name, made of chocolate. Our friends Ria & Thieu showed up on December 5th to celebrate Jim's birthday, sharing cherry vlaai and wine with us. They brought Jim a chocolate letter (an S for Sinterklaas, because there weren't any Js left).

After December 5th Sinterklass and Zwarte Piet go back to Spain and Santa Claus takes over. In the Netherlands Santa comes down the chimney, just like here in Pennsylvania. But in some European places he lands in the street, not on the roof. We know this because we saw little Santas climbing rope ladders on houses (like this one in Monschau, Germany).

I want one of these!!

I hope that Jim and Kit get up soon, so we can open the presents. There's one that I know Jim will love: a little Maastricht Helpoort refrigerator magnet. He certainly doesn't need another refrigerator magnet (his current collection could cover 3 refrigerators). But I couldn't resist this little beauty.

 Happy Holidays!