They were actually going to go to the Christmas market in Brussels, but the bus for the staff outing of the IC department of the Spaarne Gasthuis in Hoofddorp was already full. So the nine nurses have to make do with the Christmas market in Haarlem. But let that be the largest in the Netherlands this year. “With these Christmas hats on, we can’t lose each other in the crowds,” Rick explains about their striking headgear.
The staff outing goes to a Christmas market in Germany every year. Rick: “And there it is much more about Christmas stuff, there are many more food stalls here.” The mood is already good on the first day of the Christmas market, he and his colleagues conclude. Even now that there isn’t as much music as there is planned for tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.
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Musical accompaniment to the Christmas market in Haarlem – NH News / Geja Sikma
Yet there is also a lot of attention in Haarlem for real Christmas attributes. For example, Stijn has displayed striking Christmas sweaters and his girlfriend Josje has candles and sheepskins. “Stijn likes to sell stuff that appeals to the childlike in us. He once started selling rocket hats at festivals like Awakenings.”
The couple from the south of the country did not feel like standing at the Christmas market in Tilburg or Ahoy in Rotterdam. “Too commercial.” Haarlem feels like a Christmas market as it should be.
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For garlic man Ab Molenman it is almost a home game. It is already on the weekly market in Haarlem every week. It’s like Santa Claus himself has taken a seat in the stall.
And garlic is what he thinks really belongs on a Christmas market: “You use it with the potato dish, to season the meat or nicely puffed with butter on a piece of toast.”
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But the stalls with the Christmas balls and ornaments still attract the most crowd. The panther balls the small Christmas trees that Helen sold together with her friends seem to be a hip trend. But the old-fashioned baubles, poinsettias and snowmen are also still in demand.
Although the Christmas market already attracted a large crowd today, the Christmas atmosphere in Haarlem’s city center will be unmistakable tomorrow. Then you can walk over the heads just like before corona, when choirs are performing all over the city and Schagchelstraat will be traditionally decorated in Charles Dickens style.
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