K Pitty in the City: Sinter Klaas is coming to town!

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Sinter Klaas is coming to town!

Sinter who? Sinter Klaas. No, ladies and gents, this is not your everyday Santa Claus, this is something completely different that adds a whole new twist to the "guy dressed in red who brings gifts to the children". Sinter Klaas is a Dutch tradition, and I think they might have it in Belgium too. Basically, what happens is this... on November 15th, Sinter Klaas arrives in Holland via a boat that is coming from Spain. He has little helpers (kind of like Santa's elves) called Zwarte Pieten (which means "Black Peters"... a bit racially questionable, but that's a whole other can of worms) who help him to pass out candy and gifts. I'm not sure exactly what Sinter Klaas does for the two weeks between now and December 5th, but December 5th is his birthday, so there is more celebrating on that day. Anyways, once Sinter Klaas gets to Holland, the kids leave their shoes out that night, and the shoes get filled by Sinter Klaas while the kids are sleeping... this is bringing back a lot of memories of Saint Nicholas from my days back at St. Raphael's. :)

So, on November 15th, there are big celebrations all over Holland, because Sinter Klaas makes an appearance by boat. I was lucky enough to get to spend this special morning with the people that enjoyed it the most - my former manager's Dutch children - Tijn, who is 6, and Linde, who is 4. There is nothing quite like hanging out with kids that are SO excited about something. We got to the canal around 10, and the Zwarte Pieten, followed by Sinter Klaas, arrived pretty quickly after that. The Zwarte Pieten pass out this cookie/candy mix to all the kids, and then Sinter Klaas walks through the crowd and shakes the children's hands as he walks through. I'm sure you can imagine what a crazy scene it is. :)

Bart with his children at home... a lot of the kids dress up in outfits like this so they can be "Zwarte Pieten" also... some even painted their faces black!!