Amsterdam  - Huge black puppets in colourful colonial slave outfits are being pulled up and down in the air in Dutch quality department store Bijenkorf in Amsterdam.

The store smells of traditional Dutch sweets and pastries. In the background, festive children's songs are played. Toys are on display everywhere.

The Dutch are celebrating the arrival of Sinterklaas, the legendary Dutch bishop who later became the basis of the traditional Christmas-time Santa Claus in the United States.

No holiday is as widely celebrated in the Netherlands as the feast of Sinterklass, when, according to one version of the story, he visits the Low Countries - the Netherlands and Belgium - to celebrate his birthday in early December with local children.

He officially arrived in the Netherlands on November 15, on time for the feast that bears his name.

According to Dutch tradition, Sinterklaas arrives from Spain by steamboat, bearing gifts. He is accompanied by his white horse Amerigo and thousands of black assistants, each of them known as Zwarte Piet or Black Piet. Sometimes their names reflect their functions: There is horse-feeding Black Piet, ship-cleaning Black Piet and chief Black Piet, among others.

Between Sinterklaas' arrival mid-November and the big Dutch celebration on December 5, which marks the eve of the bishop's birthday, children meet him at school, in stores, or on the street.

Although Sinterklaas is officially still depicted as a bearded bishop in a red, white and gold robe, the celebration has little to do with religion today.

He is regarded merely as an old wise man who gives presents to sweet children, while his black assistants are supposed to punish the naughty children on his behalf. Several Sinterklaas songs warn of Black Piets beating naughty children or putting them in big brown bags to take them back to Spain.

"Everyone just loves Sinterklaas," says Marieke Janmaat, 36, as she shops for presents for her three children at Bijenkorf.

"It's a great happening for the entire family, a time of giving presents and spending time together."

Until December 5, hundreds of thousands of Dutch children will be placing one of their shoes - containing a carrot for Amerigo - near the chimney at night.

"Yes, we also tell our daughters that Black Piet will walk over the rooftops at night and enter children's homes through the chimney, to put small presents in their shoe," Janmaat says.

These range from a chocolate letter - the first letter of a person's name - to a small toy.

For real presents, the children need to wait until the evening of December 5, when a family friend or a hired Sinterklaas and Black Piet characters will deliver a bag of presents.

A recent study showed one in four Dutch nationals suffer "Sinterklaas stress disorder" as a result of the pressure of making sure that presents, poems and sweets are there on that evening.

Black Dutch nationals have in recent years frequently criticized as racist the practice of having a white person in blackface portray a caricature of a 17th-century African slave.

But, so far, the Dutch have vehemently rejected this and refused to change any aspect of the celebration, arguing that Black Piet is black simply because he climbs through chimneys.

An attempt to hold a debate about the perceived racist themes in the Sinterklaas story in late August was never realized after its host, the Van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven, cancelled the event.

The museum said the initiative of German artist Annette Krauss and Swedish artist Petra Bauer had caused too many threats of violence, and called off the event 'for security reasons'.

Days before the Sinterklaas festivities began in the harbour of Almere, north of Amsterdam, the Central Bureau of Foodstuffs CBL predicted a successful holiday season.

Despite the economic crisis, the Dutch are expected to buy more traditional Sinterklaas pastries and sweets than ever before.

Last year, the Dutch spent 37 million euros (46.60 million dollars) on those old-fashioned sweets and pastries; this year they are expected to spend about 1 million euros more. (dpa)