2023-12-06 07:59:00
This Wednesday is the name day of Saint Nicholas. The Bishop of Myra owes this to his good deeds and to his death on December 6. According to Wikipedia, the good saint died on that date ‘between 335 and 337’. That would have been December 6, 336. We can’t ask Santa until 49 weeks from now, during his annual entry into the Netherlands. He left last night, with or without a hangover from the mulled wine.
As far as we know, Saint Nicholas had no servants (m/f/b/w). As far as is known, he had no lovers (f/m). As a clergyman he was unmarried and was expected to keep away from caresses. Nowadays, as a bishop you would be suspected if you held children on your lap, but 1,700 years ago this was not an issue.
Although Saint’s miter resembles a bright red mohawk and he has spurs as a rider, the man cannot be accused of cocky behavior. His clumsy appearance in combination with his abstinence have led to a nickname: capoentje.
Both roosters and capons are small beetles, but in Sint’s case the capon still points to the more widely known meaning of you-know-what rooster. A capon is related to a rooster as a gelding is to a stallion and an ox to a bull. Roosters are amputated into capons because they can then be fattened more easily.
Roosters are small round beetles that eat leaves. According to Xander Helmich, Dutch teacher in Poeldijk, capoentjes are ladybugs in the Westland dialect. He reported this in 2016 Algemeen Dagblad. The beetles would resemble a bishop’s cloak with their two red, pointed shields. That would mean that the bishop Sinterklaas was named after a you-know-what rooster and the beetle was named after Sinterklaas. Unfortunately, ladybugs do not have a yellow cross, but black dots on their mantle.
Three times a week, biologist Koos Dijksterhuis writes about something that grows or blooms. Read his previous Nature Diaries here.
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