Saint Nicholaus might have lost his connection to Catholicism today for most people in the Netherlands, yes - but you've been celebrating him for many centuries I believe?
Even way back when the rest of Protestant Europe was actively if not killing so at least heavily discriminating against Catholicism and any of it's saints, no?
And as far as I know, you're the only Protestant nation who does so - so I think it's safe to assume that your old (if still imperfect) tradition of religious tolerance is the reason?
I thought about Sankta Lucia as I wrote my last comment - we do have her here, that true. But she's completely separate from Christmas celebrations and has her own specific celebration on the 13th of December.
The Nordic celebration also have virtually nothing to do with the Catholic saint Lucia.
There's a long, complicated and not entire clearly history behind how we came to hold the tradition that we do today, but likely the Catholic saint - or even Christianity at large - played a very minor role in this.
We know that pre-Christians celebrated the winter solstice, and for centuries Europe used the Julian calendar, in which the winter solstice occurred precisely on the 13th of December - so that's probably why we have a celebration of light there.
Using the name of a Catholic saint for this celebration didn't become common until the end of the 19th century, when national-romantic sentiments ran high and there was a movement to "re-discover" old traditions.
Which usually meant that people made any interpretations they wanted to make, whatever the historical evidence said, and then presented this as an old, forgotten tradition they had "found".
While anyone trying to in any way celebrate a Catholic saint - or was even suspected of doing so - in devoutly Protestant Sweden in the 17th century would swiftly have been put to death in one gruesome way or another.
But the church was less strict when it came to what they considered merely old superstitions. They knew that the peasantry told all manner of old stories in their homes in the dead of winter about supernatural beings roaming the land and how bearers of light could chase the darkness away.
But it had proven impossible to stamp these beliefs out completely and as long as they weren't connected to the prime enemy of Catholicism they was disregarded as old wives tales that couldn't threaten the church's monopoly on the true word of God.
So I believe there are less similarity between the examples of Saint Nicholaus being celebrated in the Netherlands and Sankta Lucia being it in the Nordic nations then one would first think.
If imperfect, the Netherlands still hold the longest modern tradition of religious tolerance in Europe. Sweden might be a progressive nation today, but back then we were certainly not very tolerant in religious matters.
Regarding Christmas Eve - OK then, so that's really nothing special at all in the Netherlands then.
And I think it's the same in the English speaking world as I mentioned.
While here, we've always talked about "three days of Christmas" as I mentioned in my OP. Christmas Eve, Day and Boxing day in English.
Actually, I think a possible reason for us celebrating the -eve of things in the Nordics might be political - in one sense of the word.
Because at least in Sweden the common peasantry has always had a stronger position then almost anywhere else in Europe.
This is because we've always been severely under-populated compared to everywhere else.
Much of the land is not very fertile, it's covered in deep forests and the climate is harsh - meaning it's always been hard to sustain the population growth you have down south.
Which in turn makes every single citizen more valuable - which in turn made our kings realize they couldn't press the peasantry as hard as the kings on the continent could.
Because if people can hardly sustain themselves and their families on the small harvests they get and you keep pressing them for more they will simply rebel against you and you'll get nothing at all until you've put the rebellion down.
And then you're left with even fewer peasants to work the land as many died in the rebellion - so you'll get even less from them.
So common folk had a stronger bargaining position towards the powers that be above them, in that they could withhold their labor which would hurt their overlords almost as much as themselves.
And beginning the celebrations on the -eve gives you in effect an extra day off from work.... So I think that might actually be an important reason as to why we have this tradition here.
Common folks early on simply had the political power to start their celebrations on the Eve of holidays, simply deciding themselves that they'd stop work and start enjoying themselves.
It's not like their overlords could do much about it if people just refused to work when there was a chronic shortage of workers.
Aha, so you're not that into IKEA personally then - you just made an observation about Dutch people in general - I understand.
I'd probably enjoy it more if it's wasn't always crowded. And it's not actually the case that I HATE IKEA - they have a lot of good stuff. But I don't enjoy packed stores in general.
So I've learnt that if you go there right when they open and hurry through the store, picking up only the things you specifically came for and then head for the check-out line, you can usually beat the traffic and be out again in a reasonable amount of time.
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@Wortel
Saint Nicholaus might have lost his connection to Catholicism today for most people in the Netherlands, yes - but you've been celebrating him for many centuries I believe?
Even way back when the rest of Protestant Europe was actively if not killing so at least heavily discriminating against Catholicism and any of it's saints, no?
And as far as I know, you're the only Protestant nation who does so - so I think it's safe to assume that your old (if still imperfect) tradition of religious tolerance is the reason?
I thought about Sankta Lucia as I wrote my last comment - we do have her here, that true. But she's completely separate from Christmas celebrations and has her own specific celebration on the 13th of December.
The Nordic celebration also have virtually nothing to do with the Catholic saint Lucia.
There's a long, complicated and not entire clearly history behind how we came to hold the tradition that we do today, but likely the Catholic saint - or even Christianity at large - played a very minor role in this.
We know that pre-Christians celebrated the winter solstice, and for centuries Europe used the Julian calendar, in which the winter solstice occurred precisely on the 13th of December - so that's probably why we have a celebration of light there.
Using the name of a Catholic saint for this celebration didn't become common until the end of the 19th century, when national-romantic sentiments ran high and there was a movement to "re-discover" old traditions.
Which usually meant that people made any interpretations they wanted to make, whatever the historical evidence said, and then presented this as an old, forgotten tradition they had "found".
While anyone trying to in any way celebrate a Catholic saint - or was even suspected of doing so - in devoutly Protestant Sweden in the 17th century would swiftly have been put to death in one gruesome way or another.
But the church was less strict when it came to what they considered merely old superstitions. They knew that the peasantry told all manner of old stories in their homes in the dead of winter about supernatural beings roaming the land and how bearers of light could chase the darkness away.
But it had proven impossible to stamp these beliefs out completely and as long as they weren't connected to the prime enemy of Catholicism they was disregarded as old wives tales that couldn't threaten the church's monopoly on the true word of God.
So I believe there are less similarity between the examples of Saint Nicholaus being celebrated in the Netherlands and Sankta Lucia being it in the Nordic nations then one would first think.
If imperfect, the Netherlands still hold the longest modern tradition of religious tolerance in Europe. Sweden might be a progressive nation today, but back then we were certainly not very tolerant in religious matters.
Regarding Christmas Eve - OK then, so that's really nothing special at all in the Netherlands then.
And I think it's the same in the English speaking world as I mentioned.
While here, we've always talked about "three days of Christmas" as I mentioned in my OP. Christmas Eve, Day and Boxing day in English.
Actually, I think a possible reason for us celebrating the -eve of things in the Nordics might be political - in one sense of the word.
Because at least in Sweden the common peasantry has always had a stronger position then almost anywhere else in Europe.
This is because we've always been severely under-populated compared to everywhere else.
Much of the land is not very fertile, it's covered in deep forests and the climate is harsh - meaning it's always been hard to sustain the population growth you have down south.
Which in turn makes every single citizen more valuable - which in turn made our kings realize they couldn't press the peasantry as hard as the kings on the continent could.
Because if people can hardly sustain themselves and their families on the small harvests they get and you keep pressing them for more they will simply rebel against you and you'll get nothing at all until you've put the rebellion down.
And then you're left with even fewer peasants to work the land as many died in the rebellion - so you'll get even less from them.
So common folk had a stronger bargaining position towards the powers that be above them, in that they could withhold their labor which would hurt their overlords almost as much as themselves.
And beginning the celebrations on the -eve gives you in effect an extra day off from work.... So I think that might actually be an important reason as to why we have this tradition here.
Common folks early on simply had the political power to start their celebrations on the Eve of holidays, simply deciding themselves that they'd stop work and start enjoying themselves.
It's not like their overlords could do much about it if people just refused to work when there was a chronic shortage of workers.
Aha, so you're not that into IKEA personally then - you just made an observation about Dutch people in general - I understand.
I'd probably enjoy it more if it's wasn't always crowded. And it's not actually the case that I HATE IKEA - they have a lot of good stuff. But I don't enjoy packed stores in general.
So I've learnt that if you go there right when they open and hurry through the store, picking up only the things you specifically came for and then head for the check-out line, you can usually beat the traffic and be out again in a reasonable amount of time.