Hi Éowyn and
Raven,
The visit of the Wise Men is on January 6th in the Netherlands, Sinterklaas brings presents in the night of December 5th when the children are asleep, so the real Sinterklaas-day is on December 6th. There is the same custom in Germany where Sinterklaas is called Sankt
Nikolaus or just der
Nikolaus (the
Nikolaus).
And the Kerstman (Weihnachtsmann in Germany) brings presents on
Christmas.
Originally Sinterklaas and the Kerstman is the same person, Kerstman beeing a re-import from
America. Sinterklaas was named
Santa Claus in
America, and as Father
Christmas he returned to the Netherlands and was named Kerstman (=
Christ man).
Satu