It's a girl !
Little people, big world
It's a girl
There are several very typically Dutch traditions that celebrate the arrival of a Baby, and this is one of them: “Beschuit met muisjes”
First, what is Beschuit? There is no exact literal translation for this word into English. It’s kind of toasted bread, but crunchy and dry like a cracker, always round in shape. Though there is a new development to make beschuit with a dent in it in order to get the beschuit easier out of the containerrol. As far as I know it’s something that is unique to the Netherlands and doesn’t have an exact counterpart elsewhere in the world.
“Muisjes” in Dutch literally means ” little mice”. They are little sugar coated aniseeds, and these days they come in three colours… white, blue and pink. The ” mouse” association came about because when the aniseeds are dipped into the sugar mixture a little mouse-like “tail” sometimes forms around the stalk. You can see some of these tails in the picture.
Aniseed is known to stimulate milk production in nursing mothers and was believed in the 17th Century to give protection from spirits from the mother and baby so maybe that’s why aniseed is the traditional flavour.
Dutch tradition is that when a baby arrives, visitors who come to see the new infant are treated to “ Beschuit met muisjes”, and this is where a beschuit is smeared with butter and then muisjes are spread on top; pink and white ( for a girl) or blue and white ( for a boy).
To celebrate birth of the daughters of the Crown Prince of the Netherlands (Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange), a special edition of the muisjes was released for a short time in the colour Orange. (Orange is also the Dutch national colour)
It's a girl !
Little people, big world
It's a girl
There are several very typically Dutch traditions that celebrate the arrival of a Baby, and this is one of them: “Beschuit met muisjes”
First, what is Beschuit? There is no exact literal translation for this word into English. It’s kind of toasted bread, but crunchy and dry like a cracker, always round in shape. Though there is a new development to make beschuit with a dent in it in order to get the beschuit easier out of the containerrol. As far as I know it’s something that is unique to the Netherlands and doesn’t have an exact counterpart elsewhere in the world.
“Muisjes” in Dutch literally means ” little mice”. They are little sugar coated aniseeds, and these days they come in three colours… white, blue and pink. The ” mouse” association came about because when the aniseeds are dipped into the sugar mixture a little mouse-like “tail” sometimes forms around the stalk. You can see some of these tails in the picture.
Aniseed is known to stimulate milk production in nursing mothers and was believed in the 17th Century to give protection from spirits from the mother and baby so maybe that’s why aniseed is the traditional flavour.
Dutch tradition is that when a baby arrives, visitors who come to see the new infant are treated to “ Beschuit met muisjes”, and this is where a beschuit is smeared with butter and then muisjes are spread on top; pink and white ( for a girl) or blue and white ( for a boy).
To celebrate birth of the daughters of the Crown Prince of the Netherlands (Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange), a special edition of the muisjes was released for a short time in the colour Orange. (Orange is also the Dutch national colour)