The Tale of Sinterklaas

Did you know that Santa Claus is not the original Saint Nick?  Nope, he's not.  The Dutch Sinterklaas beat him to it.  In fact, it was the Dutch who brought the tale of Santa Claus to the US (as Sinterklaas which was then modified over time) back when New York City was New Amsterdam. And get this, everyone celebrates him, no matter what their religion.  He is a patron saint of children - it does not matter what their belief system is, he gives to all.

Both Santa Claus and Sinterklaas are based off Nikolaos of Myra, a Greek bishop known for secret gift giving.  He became Saint Nicholas around the 4th century.  Like our American Santa Claus, Sinterklaas is all about the children and giving gifts to those who have been very good.  But this is where the similarities end.

First off, he arrives via steamboat from, get this, Spain.  Yes, Spain.  How ironic given we've just arrived from Spain ourselves.  A sign perhaps?  And once he arrives by water, he gets on his white horse, Amerigo, to go from home to home giving gifts to the children.  The gifts don't go under a Christmas tree, after all, he gives the gifts weeks before Christmas on December 5th!  No, they go in the children's shoes that are left by the fireplace.

It's not Sinterklaas that goes down the chimney either.  It's one of his Zwarte Piets that go down.  More on him soon as he's pretty controversial these days and I don't want to miss out on giving you the details about that.  Anyways, Zwarte Piet goes down the chimney to deliver the gifts to all the good girls and boys.  Hopefully the children have left carrots in their shoes for Amerigo!

Sinterklaas arrives by boat sometime around November 15th to a city designated each year.  This year it was Gouda and it is televised around the country.  After his initial arrival, he will then visit each town and city in the Netherlands (via boat and horse) on different dates.  Our date here in Naarden is Saturday, November 22.  This marks the start of the festivities and children receive small (usually food) gifts each day like pepernoten, speculaas or a chocolate letter (the child's first initial) until December 5th which is Sinterklaas' birthday and that is when they receive the majority of their presents.  The sack is left at the front door of each child's home with presents in it.  It is also tradition that Sinterklaas leaves a funny poem about the recipient of the gifts.

As this is a holiday to celebrate children, I want to touch upon the Zwarte Piet controversy but I don't want to linger upon it.  And while I'm of the opinion that I can see the racism in this celebration, I can also see tradition and how much the Dutch embrace their beloved Piet.  It seems to be that outsiders, like ourselves, are the ones that are offended by the blackfaced character and how he is perceived.  I think that this is where we as the outsiders go wrong - there is perception and there is intent.  This festival for children is meant to be innocent and not intended to be hurtful in any way.  Interestingly both of my children are in agreement and have said that they will not dress up as Zwarte Piet (many children often dress up) and find him to be offensive.  According to some news I have read online recently while researching this entry, the majority of Dutch people do not see Zwarte Piet as a racist issue and that he is just the helper of Sinterklaas and that it is a childhood tradition - is this ignorance or just people trying to hold tight to a tradition that they feel too many are trying to take away?  Some say his skin color comes from being a Moor that Sinterklaas rescued and others say it is the soot from the chimneys that he goes down to deliver presents to the children.  Regardless of his origin, this has become a hot button subject and also has caused a few arrests during the most recent Sinterklaas celebrations over the last week.

So back to Sinterklaas, we had not one but two outings this weekend where we get to meet the "real" St. Nick.  First off was down to The Hague to Josh's manufacturing plant (which was very cool to see) where they put on a puppet show for the kids as well as a visit from Sinterklaas and two Zwarte Pieten. I learned a few things here that I feel I need to share:

1.  As an American it's hard to not see the Zwarte Piet character in a racist viewpoint.  However, watching the local children and how they sang songs with him, embracing these traditions and seeing him through innocent eyes, put a different perspective on him for me.  I want to be offended by the blackfaces painted on the children but when you see the happiness and joy on their faces because they look just like Zwarte Piet, you see that it's not about skin color but about being just like a character that they, and generations before, adore.  Many were even dressed in medieval costumes just like Piet.

2.  While we couldn't understand a word of what was happening, it was easy enough to understand that Sinterklaas is a funny guy.  The kids loved him.  And the Pieten.  From what I've read, Sinterklaas has become known as a bit of an absentminded kind of guy and Piet has become more of his assistant, helping him out and I could definitely see that even though we could not understand the words that were spoken.  I could also see how enraptured the children all were.

3.  This one was a big one and a party foul on our part.  Aidan's gift happened to be first and so we let him unwrap it.  Only to find out that all the little children, down to just one or two years old, waited patiently before unwrapping the gifts until Sinterklaas gave the ok and then all tore open their presents at once.  Thankfully Liam's was the last gift and we were able to give him eye signals to wait until the others opened theirs before he opened his.  I have to say, I have never seen so many children be able to wait so patiently to unwrap a present - that is some willpower!!

4.  While I think this type of event would not be acceptable in many places, I think you truly have to experience it in order to understand the culture and history behind it before judging.

Arriving at the Albumprinter plant

Liam watching the puppet show

Zwarte Piet in the puppet show

Sinterklaas arrives

As do the Zwarte Pieten

A video of a traditional Sinterklaas song:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNKZ5vp1hSg&feature=youtu.be

A child in blackface - something you would never see at home but it is the norm and tradition here

Kids singing - Liam wants nothing to do with it

Present time... this one is Aidan's, the only non brown paper one in the group (had I known!)

An attempt at a group picture

Waiting to get presents

Aidan with his present - he already didn't believe but then Sinterklaas butchered saying his name and he believed even less because Sinterklaas should know everyone's name, right?  Except Aidan's name isn't Dutch...

Liam with his present

The kids singing a song before opening the presents:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoFCENI4VEs&feature=youtu.be

Legos!!

Liam and Sinterklaas

We returned home from the Hague mid day and just relaxed til our next big event - Sinterklaas was coming to Naarden Vesting.  As I mentioned above, it's traditional for Sinterklaas to arrive by boat from Spain.  That is no different here in Naarden.  Every town has it's own celebration - after all, there are no towns here that don't have some waterway for him to arrive by.  Ours was in the Vesting, our center of town.  We arrived around 4PM, about an hour before the festivities were beginning.  In the US we are not as it was practically empty.  However, we did score spots right across from where Sinterklaas gets off his boat and were in the front row (of what later ended up about 7 or 8 people deep).  Eventually it got pretty crowded and space was at a premium - between Aidan and the kid next to me, I was being stepped on or elbowed every 3 seconds.  I think we were all ready for Sinterklaas to arrive!

But because we were so early, it took some time, about an hour and a half after our arrival.  The kids were pretty antsy to say the least.  But we had some fun distractions with amazing jump ropers (not sure what they have to do with Sinterklaas but was still cool to watch) and then a local marching band.  We had the occasional visit from Zwarte Piet as well - I think just to whet our appetite to get ready for the big guy.

Walking into the Vesting... how cool is Liam's Angry Birds hat that I got him in Madrid?

There were signs all over town welcoming Zwarte Piet

Het Arsenal where Sinterklaas will arrive

Waiting, waiting, waiting...

Where the man of the hour will sit, right across the canal from where we were standing

Turns out he will actually come from this direction

Some kids dressed up as Sinterklaas and as Zwarte Piet

As I mentioned, part of the festivities was jump ropers.  I'm not really sure what they had to do with Sinterklaas but it was incredibly entertaining.  All I could think of was those damned double unders from crossfit that I could never do - these guys made it all look like a piece of cake!  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z19YLB3QfE8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd6fYGNs1mw

Sun setting

Bored out of his Angry Birds head... that is Aidan's foot right next to his head and yes, he did kick him shortly after this picture

We had a teaser of Zwarte Piet and thought the time had come but alas, it was only that, a teaser!

Zwarte Piet - here is the video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAvaUxC3odc - I'm not sure if I'm the only one who sees the irony of the man dressed in medieval costume riding a Sea Doo?

All excited thinking this was the start but actually some people who had the privilege of getting to come down the canal before Piet and Sinterklaas

The canal all lit up

The marching band playing

And the video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8GP8oYUVA0

Finally the moment came - first it was the Zwarte Pieten that came on several boats, doing their water acrobatics in a sense, getting the crowd warmed up.  Then Sinterklaas arrived by steamboat as promised.  The boys, who were so done by then, suddenly got their second wind and were excited by Sinterklaas' arrival.

Some of the Zwarte Pieten arrive

And the video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRBp-kuKa6Y

I really don't understand how this boat could stay afloat with all these people on it!

Lots of Zwarte Pieten helpers!

Finally here he is!!  The video is long but you'll hear all the kids (except ours since they don't know the songs) screaming out the tunes to welcome Sinterklaas to Naarden!  While I know it's long, it's worth watching to see how they lead up to Sinterklaas' arrival on the steamboat.  And yes, he arrives in our little village by steamboat called the Espanje III (Spain 3).   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HoedYw-7JU  The Pieten throw treats into the crowds - both Aidan and Liam managed to catch some!

Here he comes!

There he is!

No flying reindeer for this guy!

Sitting on his throne

All the boats lined up

However, minutes later they were done.  We'd been there over 2 hours and they were done.  What we didn't realize was that after the "ceremony" with Sinterklaas that there is a parade which ends with Sinterklaas riding his horse, Amerigo.  Liam and I saw him riding but my picture came out blurry.  We went to walk around the Vesting to see all the lights (it was pretty but nothing spectacular) and found crowds upon crowds of people for the parade.

The boys walking along the parade route

Streets lit up very simple but elegant which fits the simple but elegant homes

The face

The church behind one of the homes

Another "face"

The Marktstraat - market street with the church in the background

Eventually we made our way back to the car and headed for home.  It was a fun night and a new tradition to learn about.  So tonight the boys will put their shoes by the fireplace and who knows what magic will happen... here is to a new country and new traditions.

The edges of the Vesting lit by candles as we were leaving

The Vesting as we were leaving

Besos,
Julie

Sint Maarten Day

With just about 3 months under our belts here in the Netherlands, we're now at our first Dutch holiday. Sint Maarten.  Almost identical to Halloween (and comes only days after we celebrated the American goodness of that holiday), we were excited to start learning more about the traditions celebrated here in our host country.

Sint Maarten is celebrated in much of Europe and in a variety of ways.  No matter the country, the origin is the same.  Sint Maarten is considered to be a friend of children and to the poor.  Celebrated since around the 4th century, the legend that is most famous is that Sint Maarten cut his cloak in half during a snowstorm in order to help clothe a homeless man.  As he died on November 11th, this is why Sint Maarten is celebrated on this evening.  In older times, children and the poor would go door to door looking for food for the winter.

Here in the Netherlands it is celebrated similar to Halloween, it's a holiday about the children.  They carry their handmade lanterns (or store bought ones) door to door.  They are not in costume but instead they sing a song at each home and are then given a candy treat, similar to Halloween.

Sint Maarten Sint Maarten
De koeien hebben staarten
De meisjes hebben rokjes aan
Daar komt Sint Martinus aan

Sint Maarten Sint Maarten
The cows have tails
The girls wear skirts
Sint Martinus is coming

Supposedly the boys learned some songs at school though when I asked them, they both denied it. Typical boys.  But since they didn't know the songs, I didn't really feel comfortable throwing them to the wolves in search of candy.  My plan was to kind of toss them in with a group of kids that would eventually come to our door and we would just tag along, learning as we go.

Let me back track for just a moment here.  Back in the States, we always celebrated Halloween.  It's the start to the holiday season in my mind and we were always out enthusiastically trick or treating.  When we first moved to Attleboro, I was sooooo excited for our first trick or treaters and bought bag upon bag of candy for our first year there, ready for the onslaught of kids that would be coming to our house.

Unfortunately we moved into our house in Attleboro on October 29th.  Our street was under construction and only our house and one other was complete.  Though it was the last street in a neighborhood full of homes, no one knew we were there since we'd only moved in 2 days before.  We literally got one trick or treater that night much to my disappointment.  The following years more than made up for it but I remember how disappointed I was that first year when only one little girl showed up at our door and that was it.

So fast forward 15 or so years to our first Sint Maarten in the Netherlands.  Yup, only one group (of 2 kids) came to our door.  We never got that opportunity to throw the kids out with a group of kids to enjoy the holiday.  Aidan didn't really care, but unfortunately Liam was fairly devastated by this turn of events.  I've told him that he's just going to have to work on his Dutch to be ready for next year...

I'm not sure if there just weren't a lot of kids out (my babysitter said she didn't get many either) or if it's that many of the kids did their thing on Halloween and so the families opted to skip Sint Maarten, but I'm hoping the next holiday goes much better.  Sinterklaas!  More on that coming soon!

Besos,
Julie

Sant Jordi 2014

While every holiday here is incredibly fun and full of life, there is no holiday in Barcelona that compares to Sant Jordi.  It is by and far my absolute favorite.  For those that might not remember, Sant Jordi is Barcelona's answer to Valentine's Day only bigger and better.

Instead of the traditional Hallmark card, roses and chocolate, it's a bit of a twist here.  Combined with International Book Day, the tradition is that men give women a rose and women give men a book. This can be a friend, a family member or someone you love - it does not matter.  It is all inclusive.

The legend of Sant Jordi is about Saint George (Jordi here in Catalunya) rescuing the princess from the dragon.  So much of what you see during the day is images of Sant Jordi and the Dragon.  When Sant Jordi stabbed the dragon.  In the spot where the dragon's blood spilled, a rose bush grew.  And Sant Jordi plucked a rose to give to the princess.  As you walk down most every street you are confronted with table after table of either roses or books. And as you near the center of the city, these tables become larger and larger and become tents filled with people, authors and books.  Roses everywhere but not just real roses but roses created by artists - jewelry, puppets and more.  You can tell they've had to get creative over the years in order to differentiate from the competition.

My friend Jodi is in town and her timing could not have been better because I have spent the last few months holed up in our apartment during the day.  With beautiful weather on Sant Jordi, it was a perfect day to walk around town to see what was going on.  We walked from my apartment in Gracia down to Placa Catalunya - normally about a 45 minute walk but much longer when you take time to smell the roses (ok that was a really bad pun).  We took our time walking around and checking out all the sights along the way.  Not to mention there were huge crowds of people once we got to Passeig de Gracia - it was hard to walk at much more than a snail's pace at times.  I'm pretty sure all of Spain was in the general Placa Catalunya area which could explain a bit about the economy here since these people were obviously not working!

Sant Jordi cupcakes...unfortunately they did not taste even close to how good they looked.  But they were pretty at least!

Flowers and Catalan flags

Placa de Vila de Gracia - there were book sellers surrounding the clock tower

Take your picture as Sant Jordi and the Dragon

The puppet I bought Liam - the dragon goes in and out of the rose with a stick (the stem of the flower)

Catalunya (Independence flags) flag cookies with roses

A lot of booths we saw had propaganda about freeing Catalunya from Spain...in addition to selling roses and books. This tee shirt says "Make no mistake.  I'm Catalan and so I'm not Spanish"

Catalan independence and standard flag bracelets made from rainbow looms - I told Aidan he's missing a whole market here!

Finally a booth with books in English...too bad they are all tourist books!

Even El Corte Ingles was sporting it's Catalan flag during the celebrations

After we made our way thru Placa Catalunya, I had to make my way up to school for the kids' annual Sant Jordi festival.  Again, this is my favorite of all the performances they put on each year.  It is traditional, it is adorable and it brings a tear to my eye every year as I think of how lucky we have been to have the opportunity for our kids to go to such a wonderful school that does these kinds of things.

And while the Sant Jordi festival is LONG at the boys' school (it was 2 1/2 hours and there is no seating for the parents so you are standing the whole time), it is worth it and so much fun!

Liam loves any reason to celebrate!

Heads of school and the Spanish/Catalan teachers starting the festivities!

Liam's class coming out to do their performance

Liam is the first child on the left in the blue shorts

http://youtu.be/cGr5thCILPQ

Liam's 1st grade class performance

And here comes Aidan's class!

Aidan is at 12 o'clock in the plaid shorts

Now at 5 o'clock...

http://youtu.be/6EgDnXMUJeo

Aidan's 4th grade class performance

There was even a casteller performance from some of the middle schoolers!  This is no easy feat!

No festival is complete without a gegante (giant)!  In our case, it's Benjamin Franklin (the boys' school is the Benjamin Franklin International School)!

As always, the most fun performance and definitely not traditional is that done by the 11th graders. Each year, they do their own interpretation of the legend of Sant Jordi...with a modern twist.  It's a lot of fun to watch and while it would be tempting to grab the kids and go after their performances are done, we'd hate to miss out on this!

http://youtu.be/F3dFXVYEObE

11th grade dance - to the tune of Cotton Eyed Joe

That was it.  It was a fun day had by all and with love in the air, I should also note, that on a rare day that we walked home, Aidan decided to tell me that he has a girl that he likes in his class.  He wanted to know how he could tell her he likes her and if she would be his girlfriend.  OMG where does the time go?  How can my baby be at a stage where he likes girls?  We had an awesome and mature conversation the whole way home from school.  And while I'm sad that mom isn't the love of his life any more, I love this young man he is becoming.  What better day to talk about all different kinds of love than Sant Jordi??

Liam with his rose/dragon puppet that I gave him - it was a HUGE hit!

My baby isn't a baby any more!

Besos,

Julie