{"id":33094,"date":"2024-12-22T22:23:23","date_gmt":"2024-12-22T22:23:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=33094"},"modified":"2024-12-22T22:23:23","modified_gmt":"2024-12-22T22:23:23","slug":"belgium-chocolates-and-santa-claus-a-bbc-programme-from-abingdons-twin-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=33094","title":{"rendered":"Belgium Chocolates and Santa Claus: A BBC programme from Abingdon’s Twin Town – Sint Niklaas"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nToday’s episode of “Inside the Factory” watched the production of Guylian’s iconic seashell-shaped pralines.
\n
\nThis renowned Belgian chocolate brand makes their chocolates in Sint-Niklaas, Abingdon’s twin town.
\n
\nThe episode also explored the origins of Santa Claus. He has his roots in Sinterklaas, a Belgian character inspired by Saint Nicholas of Myra, a 4th-century Christian bishop renowned for his generosity, particularly towards children and the poor.
\n
\nDecember 6th, the feast day of Saint Nicholas, became a day for gift-giving in Belgium and the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

Dutch settlers brought the Sinterklaas tradition to America in the 17th century. His name was anglicised to “Santa Claus,” and over time, the character evolved (got reindeer instead of a horse), and brought presents on December 25th (not the eve of December 6th). The modified version of Santa Claus came back to Europe, partly thanks to Coca Cola.<\/p>\n

The town of Sint-Niklaas has a church dedicated to Saint Nicholas, and Abingdon has St. Nicolas Church. This shared reverence for Saint Nicholas makes a strong church and school twinning link between the two towns.
\n
\nSaint Nicolas School in Abingdon celebrate their patron saint on December 6th (picture from the Abingdon Blog in 2009).<\/p>\n

The programme was broadcast this evening on BBC 2 and can be watched on IPlayer https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/iplayer\/episodes\/b07mddqk\/inside-the-factory<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today’s episode of “Inside the Factory” watched the production of Guylian’s iconic seashell-shaped pralines. This renowned Belgian chocolate brand makes their chocolates in Sint-Niklaas, Abingdon’s twin town. The episode also explored the origins of Santa Claus. He has his roots in Sinterklaas, a Belgian character inspired by Saint Nicholas of Myra, a 4th-century Christian bishop […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,165],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christmas","category-twinning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33094\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}