Posts

Showing posts from December, 2015

(18e) Black and white

Image
Saint Nicholas Last weekend was 6 December and that meant Saint Nicholas  day in a number of countries such as Belgium and The Netherlands. This is a day when children receive presents from their parents and at school while even employers can organise a Saint Nicholas celebration whereby the children of parents working for the company can come to collect a gift and enjoy a small party with e.g. facial body painting and sweats. It should be a fun day for everyone, a little like Santa Claus in the English-speaking world (that is based upon the same person) who also gives toys to children during the Christmas period and is now also widely celebrated in other parts of the world. Except that it has become politicised to an extend that some people are calling to end the whole thing and as a result children will no longer receive something on that day although its end will also be cost-effective for society when no longer presents need to be bought - and this at a moment when some parents