Jan Steen’s Sinterklaas feast

In the famous 17th-century painting The Feast of Saint Nicholas by Jan Steen, we see all the iconography – especially the sweet treats connected to the feast – that represents Sinterklaas, but the holy man himself is absent. Here a family is gathered by the chimney on Sinterklaas morning: we know it is morning because there is daylight coming through the window. In the Netherlands, Sinterklaas would more often come on the evening of the fifth of December – called pakjesavond – while in the area of current Belgium and Germany the custom is that Sinterklaas travelled under the blanket of night, over the rooftops with his horse, while the children slept. There is peperkoek or a klaaskoek formed into the Saint’s silhouette, held tightly by the baby who is looking up the chimney with her brothers to catch a glimpse of the revered and generous saint.