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/
