Sinterklaas Came to Town!

Did you know that one of the origins of Santa Claus is the Dutch tradition of Sinterklaas? I didn't either until we were getting ready to move here. Sinterklaas (Dutch for St. Nicholas) arrives on steamship from Spain in mid-November and travels around the country on parade. Today's parade went through our neighborhood in Amstelveen and tomorrow he sails up the Amstel River, debarks from his boat and goes on horseback through the streets of Amsterdam. The subject of a lot of recent controversy, Sinterklaas is accompanied by an entourage of hundreds of jester-like sidekicks Zwarte Piets who go through the streets throwing papernoten (small, round ginger-bread like treats) into the crowd.

In anticipation of the arrival of Sinterklaas, one of the national Dutch TV stations has been airing a nightly "Sinterklaas Journal" news show specifically for children at 6pm. We've been keeping up with the web episodes and it is charming! Imagine being a child in America and watching the evening news on TV and seeing Santa Claus and his preparations for Christmas as if it were real news! We have read in many places that Dutch children consistently rank amongst the happiest children in the world and with programs like this it is easy to see why.

Children dress up like Piets for the parades

Shouting "Pieten, Pieten" to get the attention of Piets to get papernoten.

Sinterklaas on his horse, Amerigo

Now that Sinterklaas has arrived, Dutch children will be putting their shoes out with carrots for the horse and will get little treats in their shoes in the morning. Chocolates in the shape of letters, marzipan characters, almond paste filled pastries, papernoten and mandarin oranges are popular Sinterklaas treats. On December 5th, St. Nicholas Eve, Piets will deliver presents to the children in a burlap sac, much like our Christmas..