labo
band Issue 8/Dec. 17, 1990
December -
the month
of festivities
Operations
managers meet in
the Netherlands
Every year, many people in
the Netherlands look forward
to the festive month of Decem
ber. Traditional occasions are
the Feast of St. Nicholas (Sin
terklaas), Christmas Day and
Boxing Day and the New Year
celebrations. Particularly in a
season during which snow,
cold and rain predominate in
the Netherlands, people look
for conviviality at home.
The Feast of St. Nicholas is
celebrated on 5 December. It
is generally assumed that the
celebration on that day com-
memorates the Saint's birth-
day, but actually it was the day
of his death. The worship of
the saintly bishop St. Nicholas
was traditionally mainly an
occasion for the higher and
better educated classes. St.
Nicholas originally came from
Turkey, although legend tells
sumed. For some people, the
main emphasis is on the latter.
Around Christmas time, action
groups therefore protest against
the unnecessary slaughter of
hares, rabbits or other game
animals. The 'Kerstman' has
also made his appearance in
the course of this century- bet
ter known in Great Britain as
Father Christmas, in France
as Père Noël and in America as
Santa Claus.
Probably everywhere in the
world, the old year is rung out
and the new year is welcomed
in festive style. In the Nether
lands, the New Year's Eve cele
brations on 31 December
are associated, among other
things, with eating home-made
doughnut balls (spherical,
crispy, fried doughballs) and
apple turnovers (cakes made of
dough, raisins and slices of ap
ple). Forthose who like it, there
is sparkling champagne and at
00.00 hour millions of guilders
worth of fireworks are shot into
the air. Fireworks have gradual-
ly replaced New Year bonfires
or the firing of pistols and rifles.
By making a iot of noise at the
moment when the old year be-
came the new, people formerly
tried to drive out evil spirits. On
New Year's day people visit
their family and friends to wish
them a 'Happy New Year'.
Then begins the month of
January, which many people re-
gard as the 'long month' after
the expensive month of Decem
ber - and also, of course, be-
cause there is nothing to cele-
brate. Then people gradually
start preparing for the next big
festival: Carnival.
us that he comes from Spain
in a steamboat. St. Nicholas
has gradually become a genu-
ine children's friend. Young
children believe in the saintly
man who rides across the roof
tops on his white horse and in-
structs his assistants - the
Black Peters - to throw pre
sents down the chimney. The
presents then automatically
end up in the children's shoes
which are generally filled with
carrots for the horse or draw-
ings for the Saint. Adults make
surprise packages for each
other. Well-intentioned, teas-
ing gifts accompanied by
poems in rhyming doggerel. As
the result of increased pros-
perity, people are buying in-
creasingly luxurious presents
for each other. In 1990 about
1.5 billion guilders was spent
on St. Nicholas gifts. Lots of
mouth-watering items are eaten
such as marzipan, gingerbread
(taai-taai), spicy biscuits, choc
olate letters and spicy ginger
nuts.
During 25 and 26 Decem
ber the birth of Jesus is also
celebrated in the Netherlands.
The story goes that Jesus was
bom in a manger and that
shepherds, angels and wise
men from the East came to visit
him there. In many Dutch
homes, the living room is dec-
orated with a Christmas tree,
below which is the manger,
complete with little figures.
Christmas is also known as the
feast of peace and people are
asked to think of the poor and
the lonely. Although the mid-
night service held in the night
between 24 and 25 December
is well attended, Christmas
has become more a time for
merry-making, rather than a re-
ligious festival. Families come
together, candles are lit and
lots of delicious food is con-
At the end of October the
operations managers of the
foreign offices came to the
head office in Utrecht for the
second time on a working
visit. These meetings enable
the operations managers from
the various corners of the
world to get to know each
other better, besides keeping
each other informed about the
developments in the various
offices.
On the first day of the working
visit - a Sunday - there was time
for relaxation. The party went
on an excursion to the govern-
ment city of The Hague. The un-
usual situation which exists in
the Netherlands is that the capi-
tal city - Amsterdam - is not
the same as the seat of govern-
ment - The Hague. The visitors
strolled around Madurodam, a
miniature city consisting of
scale models of buildings from
everywhere in the Netherlands.
Needless to say, it includes the
office of a local Rabobank, the
one in Hardinxveld-Giessen-
dam. The managers also took a
look at the Binnenhof - in ac-
tual size - on which the govern-
ment buildings are located. The
local bank in The Hague acted
as host and also took the group
to the Panorama Mesdag. This
is the largest painting in the
world. It shows Scheveningen,
the coastal suburb of The
Hague, as it looked in 1890.
The scene is painted on the
wail of a rotunda. In the even-
ing, the party dined at the spot
from where the Panorama Mes
dag was painted. Next day,
they listened to a number of
talks by employees of Rabo
bank Nederland, then visited a
flower auction and the Rabo
bank at Bleiswijk, in whose
area the auction is situated. A
stop was made near here to
allow photos to be taken. The
busy week ended with a course
on interest risk management
and individual discussions with
employees at the head office.
Most of the managers flew
home again on Friday.
