Remember Remember the 5th of December!

How would it feel to celebrate Diwali in India, the place of its origin? What about Chinese New Year in China? Sinterklaas in the Netherlands? I’ve celebrated Sinterklaas in England: shoes outside the door to be filled with sweets, funny little presents in a sack from Sinterklaas each accompanied by a poem appropriate to the reader and suggestive of what’s inside, chocolate letters and classic Dutch goodies. But how is it different for me here so far?

You actually see him!

Sinterklaas arrived sitting on his white horse at Scheveningen harbour alongside his Zwarte Piets (Black Peters), the equivalent of Santa’s elves, in his traditional steamboat. The children believe he lives in Spain during the year and comes back to the Netherlands to celebrate his birthday, on December 5^th. The atmosphere on a cold misty mid-November morning was amazing: children and parents lining the harbour with Sinterklaas songs bursting out from the loudspeakers on the temporary stage. Before the man himself various smaller boats sailed in. Each one full with Zwarte Piets. All throwing hundreds of pepernoten to the eagerly waiting children...and me. Once on Dutch soil Sinterklaas and his helpers paraded through the streets of The Hague, stopping in the centre for some special performances. It was hard to get a good picture but I gave it a go.

It’s not just a day!

He arrives. He parades. Then in the following months his Zwarte Piets visit all the different schools and shopping centres around the country. In the meantime my host kids have been putting their shoes by the door every evening since he arrived, awaiting a bag of sweeties or a small present courtesy of a Zwarte Piet. Which they’ve received on several occasions! Beats the one evening I’m used to! At school all activities are Sint-related: drawings or letters are to give to Sint when they meet him, singing is for when they greet him, you name it. Towards the end of November the kids even take one extra shoe to school along with carrots and hay (for the horse). The following day the school is shrouded in Sinterklaas decorations, doors are blocked, classrooms are upturned (Zwarte Piets are meant to be mischievous!) and, in the dark, the kids must clear the way to find their shoe and collect their goodies! A lot of fun!

Not just a Zwarte face...

Unsurprisingly Zwarte Piets are the most common fancy dress over Sinterklaas and the old Renaissance style outfits come in all measure of bright colours. But different kinds of Zwarte Piets? That I’ve never heard of before. The ones that ransacked the school are ‘Rommel Piets’ (Rommel = Mess) and my host kids have even been talking of Ziekenhuispiets (Hosptial Piets) and many more! The Piets have also demonstrated a musical skill that I was never aware of. Here’s a picture of one of many Zwarte Piet bands , playing as early as October!

A Journey...
Obviously being in England I missed out on the marvellous way that Sinterklaas and his entourage seep into every shop shelf and the way that typical Sinterklaas foods begin to overwhelm the entrances of shops so much so that your every day essentials seem well unessential. I have also missed out on his TV takeover. Starting 5 days before Sint’s arrival the ‘Sinterklaasjournaal’ is a television broadcast, lasting around 10 minutes, in which an annually different tale is told of Sint’s progress to and then in the Netherlands. This year in each episode a love story unravelled between Pietje Verliefd (Pieter Love) and Meisjespiet (Girl Pieter). Naturally, they married. Earlier on the Piets were forced to make the journey across the sea in a smaller boat... but what about the horse!? Of course, all sorted. The inevitable rumours of the steamboat sinking or Sinterklaas dying are quashed and the episodes always finish happily on December 4th. Then all that is left for the kids to do is get a good night sleep!