Bear LOVES the Hitchhiker spinning wheel !
Unbelievable but true: it’s almost December ! the last month of the year and filled with holiday….cheer…well depending if you are into Christmas or new year or birthdays (yeah well to top it off it’s my birthday at the end of the year as well…I still think my parents could have timed it a bit better…lol) and ofcourse Sinterklaas !
Okay, I hear you say, who is Sinterklaas? Having spent my early years up until I was about 6 in the Netherlands I could not escape this event and although I spent most of my life in other countries that did not celebrate it at all, I still love it and remember it with a smile on my face.
I started to explain what it was all about to a friend of mine and soon I found out that the explanation of it all was so totally illogical and politically incorrect that I wonder how on earth it is still celebrated in the Netherlands and in parts of Belgium.
This is the story: There is this guy, a roman catholic saint, who always helped kids…yes let’s not get into that…lol…he arrived in Holland on the 5th of December on a steamship from Spain??? With a load of his helpers who are black and dressed in very colourful harem type pants wearing equally colourful hats with feathers and carrying around a big book where all the names of all the children are mentioned together with the fact if they have been good or naughty. They also carry around a big bag and some twigs , a so called "roe' , to whip the naughty kids with..the very very naughty kids do not get whipped, they get put in the bag and taken away. I have never really understood where the naughty kids got taken, I might have mentally blocked that from my memory…lol.
When you were good and therefore were looking forward to the visit of Sinterklaas and his black Pete or as they are called in Dutch Sinterklaas en zwarte piet….you would put your shoe outside the door and put in a carrot, not for Sinterklaas or Pete , but for his white stallion , some cookies and milk and wait in your bed til Sinterklaas would deliver your goodies through the chimney pipe after thrashing around on the rooftops with his white stallion and his Pete helpers.
As always, big business recognise a goldmine when they see one, and “slightly” adapted the feast to a more capitalist holy view and by 1906 you can see that instead of putting kids in bags and whipping them into good behaviour like the “good old 1900s” they are now shopping ….
socially awkward penguin
Okay, I hear you say, who is Sinterklaas? Having spent my early years up until I was about 6 in the Netherlands I could not escape this event and although I spent most of my life in other countries that did not celebrate it at all, I still love it and remember it with a smile on my face.
I started to explain what it was all about to a friend of mine and soon I found out that the explanation of it all was so totally illogical and politically incorrect that I wonder how on earth it is still celebrated in the Netherlands and in parts of Belgium.
This is the story: There is this guy, a roman catholic saint, who always helped kids…yes let’s not get into that…lol…he arrived in Holland on the 5th of December on a steamship from Spain??? With a load of his helpers who are black and dressed in very colourful harem type pants wearing equally colourful hats with feathers and carrying around a big book where all the names of all the children are mentioned together with the fact if they have been good or naughty. They also carry around a big bag and some twigs , a so called "roe' , to whip the naughty kids with..the very very naughty kids do not get whipped, they get put in the bag and taken away. I have never really understood where the naughty kids got taken, I might have mentally blocked that from my memory…lol.
When you were good and therefore were looking forward to the visit of Sinterklaas and his black Pete or as they are called in Dutch Sinterklaas en zwarte piet….you would put your shoe outside the door and put in a carrot, not for Sinterklaas or Pete , but for his white stallion , some cookies and milk and wait in your bed til Sinterklaas would deliver your goodies through the chimney pipe after thrashing around on the rooftops with his white stallion and his Pete helpers.
it might not be a possum on the roof this time of year ,
it might be a white stallion with a bearded guy and his helper trying to get in your chimney……
Now, honestly, marketing wise, I think the church could have done a bit better. If a business was trying to start an event, I’m sure if they would have come up with a similar story it would have been shot down or died a very fast death. Not with Sinterklaas and pete though, they have been terrorising the Dutch countryside for centuries. The thing is , it’s fun, even adults get into it-I mean not whipping kids or putting them in bags or anything like that, but I obviously mean th exchanging of gifts. Unlike Christmas it’s not just the giving of gifts, it somehow got morphed into something much more FUN: you have to write a little funny poem to the recipient, buy a small gift or fun stuff and wrap it in layers and layers and layers of wrapping with or without sticky paper stuff and hard to open the parcel things. You might get a parcel the size of a house only to discover that you had to read 10 poems out loud , thrawl through 100 layers of sticky paper and gooey stuff, to finally get to your prized gift: a piece of chocolate in the shape of a letter (chocolade letters). It’s fun, it’s social, it’s a great way to take the mickey out of somebody, have a laugh and a great time. I never got put in a bag (which doesn’t mean I was always a good girl..ahem) never got whipped with the “roe”but I still remember those nights with fondness and a big smile on my face. My dad was the worst poem writer of the century but Oh boy, was it an absolute hoot to read what he came up with. If ever there was a holiday that Monty Python would approve of, I’m sure Sinterklaas would be their favourite one….rofl.
An old print of the Sinterklaas feast in a house where the parents arelooking on to a scene where two of their naughty kids get put in a bag and taken away…oh what fun there was to be had…..really? lol an old print out of the book by Schenkman dated 1885
An old print from a book by Callenfels in 1906:
Sinterklaas and his helper are all of a sudden submitted to the torture of shopping..
talk about Karma…lol
Sinterklaas and his helper are all of a sudden submitted to the torture of shopping..
talk about Karma…lol
Last week I have been working hard on my new upcoming blends that I can hopefully get all done and dyed up for their launch early December ! it’s all very exciting ! In the meantime I have dyed up some great blends you already know and love:; blue faced leivester bunny tops and the famous black bunny tops which are a blend of blue faced Leicester, angora bunny, black bamboo and casmere !
Blue faced Leicester is a wonderful sheeps wool that has a beautiful lustre and is extremely nice to spin. It is stronger than your superfine merino but it is close to skin wear and has a magical bounce to it ! blending it with aangora bunny and cashmere together with black bamboo is awesome to spin and felt with. The black bamboo will deepen your colours when spinning the tops fine but if you choose you can spin them thick and slubby as well which will then give your yarn and amazing swirly look. Anything goes and it’s all fun !
How To Order from this Shop blog
until the website www.ixchel.com.au is up and running –which will be sooooon-ish!-yeah yeah start laughing will yaYou can email me on ixchel at rabbit dot com dot au or message me on facebook or ravelry where I am Ixchelbunny. I will email you right back with all your order details and payment methods. Any questions? Please don’t hesitate to ask! Always happy to enable.
Payment : direct bank deposit, card or paypal ! easy !
Thank you so much for your help and supporting our little fibre farm !
(((HUGS)))
Charly
Black Bunny tops
A wonderful blend of blue faced Leicester, angora bunny, cashmere and black bamboo fibres
100grams+ AU$21
100grams+ AU$21
luvvly jubbly
going bananas
Christmas tree
Blue faced Leicester Bunny Tops
100grams AU$20
The Blue faced Leicester bunny tops are fluffy and airy and very nice to spin
Highland Fling-
Mad Womans Breakfast
Clumsy Duck in a Paddock
Dates to Remember:
Bunny Spin in at the Ixchel Fibre Farm (11am-4pm)
Every Third Saturday and every fourth Thursday of the month!
Bunny Spin in at the Ixchel Fibre Farm (11am-4pm)
Every Third Saturday and every fourth Thursday of the month!
Last bunny spin ins of the year !!! 2012
Saturday December 15th, 11am-4pm and
Saturday December 15th, 11am-4pm and
Thursday December 22nd,) 11am – 4pm
Bring a plate to share your wheel or spindle, knitting or crochet, yourself and a smile and have a fun day out amongst bunnies and friends ! Please contact me to secure a spot !
Bunny food like cabbage, bok choi or broccoli is always welcome as well ! : the bunnies will cuddle you more for it !
Bunny food like cabbage, bok choi or broccoli is always welcome as well ! : the bunnies will cuddle you more for it !
Any questions or special requests?
Contact me on Ravelry where I am Ixchelbunny,
message me on facebook
or email me on Ixchelbunny@yahoo.com.au or ixchel@rabbit.com.au
RABBIT ON !
and say a little prayer for our beloved chooks may they rest in peace ...
and say a little prayer for our beloved chooks may they rest in peace ...
((hugs))
Charly
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