Sinterklaas (also called Sint Nicolaas) is a traditional Winter holiday figure in Dutch-speaking Europe (The Netherlands and Flanders), and is also well known in the former Dutch colonies. Every year he is celebrated in The Netherlands, one day before Saint Nicholas died (5 December) and on (6 December) in Belgium. His helper and best friend is Black Peter. Sinterklaas is the basis of the mythical holiday figure of Santa Claus in the United States. Sinterklaas has nothing to do with Christmas. Christmas will also be celebrated in the Netherlands as well as in Belgium, so Santa Claus is not the same as Sinterklaas (in the Netherlands). Sinterklaas arrives from Spain in a boat and has a white horse that can walk across rooftops. Every little kid puts his shoe at the chimney (or the window) and sings a song, when the kid goes to sleep sinterklaas comes and puts a present in the shoe.
Antoninus Pius
Antoninus Pius (Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Arrius Antoninus, 19 September 86 – 7 March 161), or simply Antoninus, was Roman Emperor from 138 to 161.
As a private citizen between 110 and 115, he married Annia Galeria Faustina the Elder. They are believed to have enjoyed a happy marriage.Faustina was a beautiful woman, renowned for her wisdom. She spent her whole life caring for the poor and assisting the most disadvantaged Romans.
Faustina bore Antoninus four children, two sons and two daughters. They included Faustina the Younger, a future Roman Empress, who married her maternal cousin, future Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius.
When Faustina died in 141, Antoninus was greatly bereaved and had a temple built in the Roman Forum in her name, had coins with her portrait struck in her honor, and created a charity called "Girls of Faustina", which assisted orphaned girls.
Having filled with success the offices of quaestor and praetor, he was consul in 120. He was appointed by Hadrian as one of the four proconsuls to administer Italia, then Asia. The Emperor Hadrian adopted him as his son and successor on 25 February 138, after the death of his first adopted son Lucius Aelius. The condition was that Antoninus would in turn adopt Marcus Annius Verus, the son of his wife's brother, and Lucius, son of Aelius Verus, who afterwards became the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus
There are no records of any military related acts in his time. One modern scholar has written "It is almost certain not only that at no time in his life did he ever see, let alone command, a Roman army, but that, throughout the twenty-three years of his reign, he never went within five hundred miles of a legion". His reign was the most peaceful in the entire history of the Principate.
Unrest in Britannia is believed to have led to the construction of the Antonine Wall from the Firth of Forth to the Firth of Clyde, although it was soon abandoned.
He was virtually unique among emperors in that he dealt with crises without leaving Italy once during his reign. He dealt with provincial matters through their governors or through imperial letters to the cities such as Ephesus (of which some were publicly displayed). This style of government was highly praised by his contemporaries and by later generations.
Those twenty-two years were not remarkably eventful in comparison to those before and after his reign. We might think that he wisely cut the activities of the Roman Empire to a careful minimum. Perhaps he was uninterested in events away from Rome, and his inaction contributed to the troubles which faced Marcus Aurelius and other emperors of the third century.
German historian Ernst Kornemann, in his "Römische Geschichte" (roman history) [2 vols., ed. by H. Bengtson, Stuttgart 1954], said that the reign of Antoninus comprised "a succession of grossly wasted opportunities", given the upheavals that were to come. There is more to this argument, given that the Parthians in the East were themselves soon to make no small amount of mischief after Antoninus' passing. Kornemann's brief is that Antoninus might have waged preventive wars to head off these outsiders.
After the longest reign since Augustus (surpassing Tiberius by a couple of months), Antoninus died of fever about twelve miles (19 km) from Rome, on 7 March 161. The last word that he uttered when the tribune of the night-watch came to ask the password was "aequanimitas" (equanimity).
Zwarte Piet
Zwarte Piet (, Dutch for "Black Pete"; , , ) is the friend of Saint Nicholas (, , , ) in the folklore of the Low Countries.
The character first appeared in an 1850 book by Amsterdam schoolteacher Jan Schenkman.
Zwarte Piet is black because he is a Moor from Spain. People playing Zwarte Piet usually put on blackface and colourful suits along with curly wigs and bright red lipstick.
Recently, the character has become controversial with many saying it was racist towards people of African descent.
Lucius Verus
Lucius Verus (Lucius Ceionius Commodus, 15 December 130 – 169) was Roman co-emperor with Marcus Aurelius (121–180), from 161 until his death. In practice, he was the junior partner of the great Marcus Aurelius.
When his father died in early 138, Hadrian chose Antoninus Pius (86–161) as his successor. Antoninus was adopted by Hadrian on the condition that Verus and Hadrian’s great-nephew Marcus Aurelius was to be adopted by Antoninus as his sons and heirs.
Verus started his political career as a quaestor in 153, became consul in 154, and in 161 was consul again with Marcus Aurelius as his senior partner.
Antoninus died on 7 March 161, and was succeeded by Marcus Aurelius. Although the senate planned to confirm Marcus alone, he refused to take office unless Lucius received equal powers. The senate accepted, granting Lucius the "imperium", the tribunician power, and the name Augustus. It was the first time that Rome was ruled by two emperors.
In spite of their nominal equality, Marcus held more authority than Verus. He had been consul once more than Lucius, he had shared in Pius' administration, and he alone was "Pontifex Maximus". It would have been clear to the public which emperor was the more senior. As the biographer wrote, "Verus obeyed Marcus...as a lieutenant obeys a proconsul or a governor obeys the emperor".
Immediately after their senate confirmation, the emperors went to the camp of the praetorian guard. Lucius addressed the assembled troops, which then acclaimed the pair as "imperatores". Then, like every new emperor since Claudius, Lucius promised the troops a special donative. The ceremony was perhaps not entirely necessary, given that Marcus' accession had been peaceful and unopposed, but it was good insurance against later military troubles.
War with Parthia had started as soon as Antoninus died.
Over the winter of 161–62, as more bad news arrived—a rebellion was brewing in Syria—it was decided that Lucius should direct the Parthian war in person. He was stronger and healthier than Marcus, the argument went, more suited to military activity. Whatever the case, the senate gave its assent, and Lucius left. Marcus would remain in Rome; the city "demanded the presence of an emperor".
Furius Victorinus, one of the two praetorian prefects, was sent with Lucius, as were a pair of senators, and part of the praetorian guard. Victorinus had previously served as procurator of Galatia, giving him some experience with eastern affairs. Since a prefect had to accompany the guard, Victorinus was the clear choice.
Laelianus, one of the Senators, was "a serious man and an old-fashioned disciplinarian". Bassus, the other Senator, had been governor of Lower Moesia, and was also made "comes".
Lucius left in the summer of 162 to take a ship from Brundisium; Marcus followed him as far as Capua. Lucius feasted himself in the country houses along his route, and hunted at Apulia. He fell ill at Canosa, probably afflicted with a mild stroke, and took to bed. Marcus made prayers to the gods for his safety in front of the senate, and hurried south to see him.