Holidays

Sinterklaas
The fifth of December is a special day here in the Netherlands. On this day we celebrate Sinterklaas, which is a large man with a long white beard and a red and yellow mitre. According to the story we tell our children, he lives in Spain together with thousands of Black Petes, whom are his helpers. These Petes are black due to the soot from the chimneys they get into in order to deliver presents at the children’s houses. Furthermore, he rides a white horse named Americo. Americo is able to walk on the roofs, carrying Sinterklaas and the presents. Every November (usually around the 18th of November) Sinterklaas and his Petes and horse arrive in the Netherlands. They come all the way from Spain with a big steamship which is filled with millions of presents for all the Dutch children. All year long, there have been Petes in the Netherlands to observe the children to see if they have been sweet. If the children have been kind, they get lots of presents on the fifth of December. If the children have been naughty, the Black Petes come to their houses to pick them up and take them to Spain in a large nasty bag as punishment. During the period that Sinterklaas is in the Netherlands, before the fifth of December, children are allowed to ‘set their shoe’. This means that the children put down their shoe at the chimney or front door just before they go to bed, together with a carrot and some water for Americo and a drawing or letter (a list of gifts wanted) for Sinterklaas or the Black Petes. They sing special Sinterklaas songs like ‘Sinterklaas Kapoentje’ or ‘Zie ginds komt de stoomboot’. When they wake up the next morning, their shoe is filled with kruidnoten (little cookies which Black Petes give to the children) and a present. The carrot, water and the drawings are taken away by Sinterklaas and his helpers. On the fifth of December, when it is already dark outside, the bell of the children’s houses rings, and all of a sudden they find big bags with presents in front of their doors. The Black Petes have put them down there before they ran away to other children’s houses and the rooftops. The sixth of December, Sinterklaas and his crew leave for Spain again.

In reality, Sinterklaas and his Black Petes are actors. The presents are bought by the children’s parents and the horse is not able to walk on the roofs. Around the age of ten, children stop to believe in this myth. Usually, when the children get to old for Sinterklaas, families start celebrating this holiday with what we call ‘surprises’. Surprises are creations made our of pieces of carton and paper in which the presents are hidden. Often, there is a poem attached to the surprise.

From October until December it is also the time for the Black Petes discussions here in the Netherlands. This discussion is started by a group of people who think that Black Pete is racist due to the black skin. They see Black Pete as inferior to Sinterklaas, who is a white man. Those people feel discriminated by Black Pete. Another group of people says that we should not change a tradition and that the opponents of Black Pete dramatize the whole situation. Currently, there is another group too in this discussion, saying that both parties should not ruin this children’s holiday with their demonstrations.

Sint Maarten
The 11th of November something special happens in most of the Netherlands, Belgium, the northern part of France, some German areas, Portugal, Hungary and the island Sint Maarten (in the Caribbean). You will find children from the ages three until approximately twelve singing special Sint Maarten songs they learned at primary school. They sing in front of people who are holding a bucket full of candy. When they finish their song, they are allowed to get one piece of candy or a mandarin (handing out mandarins is a tradition) from this bucket. At school, the children make a lampion out of carton or paper. They put a little lamp inside, so that the lampion lights up beautifully. They walk through all streets in their neighbourhood like this, collecting a bag full of delicious candy. It is very common that it is raining cats and dogs during Sint Maarten in the Netherlands, but this doesn’t stop them!
There are different theories about the origin of this tradition. One of these theories is that on the 11 of November the harvest had to be gathered and the animals should have been inside. To honour this, large fires were lighten up and animals got slaughtered. During this fest sacrifices were made and people handed over the fires to each other. The church would have taken over this tradition to get the upper hand over the non-Christian citizens.
Another theory says that Sint Maarten originally the fest of the beggars. On this day, the poor people got some extra food to survive the winter. Only since the 20th century this holiday caught the attention of the wealthy citizens.
Where in the Netherlands do we celebrate Sint Maarten? In the provinces Noord-Holland and Limburg, we do still celebrate Sint Maarten every year. The provinces Friesland and Noord-Brabant do not join this tradition. You also see that the provinces who celebrate ‘Carnaval’ don’t do Sint Maarten.

Christmas
In the Netherlands we celebrate two days of Christmas; the 25th and the 26th of December (we also celebrate two days of Easter). The 24th is Christmas Eve, on which people go either go to the church or watch the All you need is love Christmas episode on television. Only 33% of the Dutch population visits the church with Christmas, says the website www.nu.nl. Originally, we do not have a Santa in the Netherlands with Christmas, yet due to Americanisation we do see an increasing amount of Rudolph’s and Santa’s out there. Traditionally we celebrate Christmas with our family by eating delicious food and just have a cosy time. Caused by Americanisation again, more and more families start celebrating Christmas by buying presents for each other and putting them under the Christmas tree. Sometimes families also celebrate a third Christmas day, which is the 27th of December. They do this because they don’t manage to see all of their family members on those two days.