Sinterklaas
Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas) is a traditional festival, celebrated in a number of countries, but none celebrate it as widely as The Netherlands and Belgium. As this tradition is often quite a strange phenomenon to foreigners, today I’d like to talk a little bit about the customs that surround this tradition.
Sinterklaas is an old man with a long white beard, dressed in a long red robe and cape, carrying a golden staff, a ring, and a book which supposedly has all children’s names written down in it and whether they’ve been good or bad. He rides a big white horse (schimmel) and is accompanied by colourfully dressed black helpers (zwarte pieten). He arrives to the country in November by steamboat from Spain, where he resides the rest of the year.
After his arrival, which is nationally broadcasted on television, children can place their shoe in front of the fireplace (or the CV) and sing a few Sinterklaas songs for him. Sometimes the children put a carrot in their shoe for the Sint’s schimmel to enjoy. The next morning, the children will find their shoe filled with a little gift and some of the traditional Sinterklaas candy. Sometimes the gifts are accompanied by a little poem from the Sint. Supposedly the zwarte pieten and Sinterklaas on his horse walk on the roofs and climb through the chimneys to deliver the childrens’ gifts.
The candy that accompanies the festivities are plenty, of which pepernoten (literally “pepper nuts”, small ginger cookies) and chocolate letters are most common. Other candy types include marzepan, fondant, borstplaat and taaitaai.
On the fifth of December the real deal happens: pakjesavond (gift evening). A big bag of gifts arrives in the homes of families with children. But Sinterklaas is far from a children festivity: adults often celebrate it too, with a group of friends who draw straws with all names on it, and are supposed to get the person they drew a gift. These gifts are sometimes hidden in a surprise (somewhat comparable to a piñata, except for the fact that you don’t hit it with a stick until it bursts), and usually accompanied by a long poem that often sarcastically scrutinizes a person’s life and recent/future events (Sinterklaas is the one time of the year where you can criticize persons without any consequences, as it’s always in good spirit). The evening is filled with singing songs, unwrapping gifts, reading poems, laughter, eating candy and drinking hot chocolate milk (with or without rum).
On the sixth of December Sinterklaas and his zwarte pieten quietly leave the country and go back to Spain again, making room for his colleague Santa Claus (who gets nowhere near the amount of respect that exists for Sinterklaas).
Links for the interested:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_nicholas#Celebration_in_the_Netherlands
http://www.stnicholascenter.org/
December 22nd, 2005 at 11:09 pm
I liked that, James, and you know I’m a great fan of Sinterklaas. It’s the highlight of the year, as you know…. I’d like to add a thing or two to your story.
* It’s very likely that details of the tradition go all the way back to ancient German and Scandinavian mythology. The god Wotan (Odin) used to ride the skies between the upper, middle and lower worlds on his eight-legged horse Sleipnir, accompanied by two ravens Hugin (memory) and Munin (thoughts), who listened at the chimneys (a hole in the roof most likely 2,000 years ago) to hear what people were saying and doing. Sinterklaas and his Zwarte Pieten still listen at the chimney nowadays. Wotan (Odin) is often depicted wearing a wide red robe, and a beard, and his spear Gungir, and all this must look and sound strangely familiar to anyone who has seen Sinterklaas on his schimmel in full bishop’s regalia, holding his bishop’s crozier!
* The feast of Sinterklaas has been celebrated in the Netherlands from time immemorial. During the protestant Reformation authorities tried to suppress this supposedly Roman Catholic (and therefore forbidden) feast, but unsuccessfully. We can be quite confident that aspects of the life of the real Saint Nicholas, bishop of Myra, (which probably is also made up out of a lot of mythology) made their way into Dutch popular belief in Sinterklaas, but I believe Sinterklaas to be much older…
* IMHO the American ‘Santa Claus’ is no other than our very own Sinterklaas, who was introduced in the USA by Dutch settlers in the 17th century. It is true that his American cousin has changed somewhat over the years, especially through the influence of similar mythical figures from Scandinavia and Germany (who, as we know now, can be based on Wotan / Odin ). Strangely enough, ‘Santa Claus’ made landfall in the Netherlands again somehow. But no-one believes in him. Who believes in a guy riding the skies in a sleigh with eight*) reindeer shouting ho-ho-ho. That can’t possibly be true. But any Dutch child knows for sure that Sinterklaas’ horse rides the rooftops in the dead of night, and that he brings them gifts, if they behave well…
*) Did I say eight? Did not Sleipnir have eight legs? Just coincidence or?…