Dutch Learning Community and Resources

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In most countries of the world the biggest December holiday that is celebrated is Christmas, but in the Netherlands and Belgian it is a different story. Every year children of Belgian and Dutch families get excited for the Sinterklaas celebration on the 5th or 6th of December. Just like with Christmas, they receive toys from a figure similar to Father Christmas with a long white beard and a red hat. 

Background 
The figure of Sinterklaas, or Sint-Nicolaas as he is called by some, stems from a man called Nicolaas van Myra that lived around the year 300 and was born in what is now called Turkey. He later became a Greek bishop and was known for his good deeds. Legend goes that he threw golden balls in homes of poor families to help them.  

While not much is known about the life of Nicolaas van Myra, since his death on December 6th in the year 342 the stories have continued to evolve. As such, the legend of ‘Sinterklaas’ as we know it today has been through many transformations.  
 

The modern story of Sinterklaas  
I will preface this story and the traditions by saying that for Dutch and Belgian people the story of Sinterklaas is so ingrained in the culture, that we aren’t really aware of how peculiar the way we celebrate this holiday is. One thing to remember is that, especially as children, people are generally ‘all in’ when it comes to celebrating Sinterklaas. It isn’t talked about as ‘the story goes this or that way’, it’s talked about ‘this is how it is’, even though all adults are aware that this is a holiday with fictional story of sort. Similar to the story of Santa Clause who lives with his elves and reindeer in the North Pole. 

The modern story of Sinterklaas is about an old man, Sinterklaas, who lives in a castle in Spain with his white horse (Amerigo) and his helpers (who are all called Piet). Each year he and his team travel to the children of the Netherlands and Belgium by boat with bags full of gifts. He is set to arrive around half-November and stays up until December 6th.  

How it is celebrated 
The big celebration of the year is on ‘Pakjesavond’ (I.e., Gifts Night) on the 5th and 6th of December where all children receive a bag with gifts. But the period before that, is also incredibly festive starting with the Kids News Program covering the (fictional) boat trip and the stay of Sinterklaas and his team, called ‘Het Sinterklaas Journaal’. 

Every year around-mid November the ‘intocht van Sinterklaas’ (I.e., the arrival of Sinterklaas) is celebrated throughout the country. You can see it as a large open-air theatrical performance where Sinterklaas and his team arrive on a steamboat in cities and villages around the country. When on land they walk through the crowd and wave to all the children that were waiting for them to arrive. 

After the ‘official’ arrival of Sinterklaas, the gift giving can begin. Similar to Christmas traditions, children throughout the country place their shoes by the fireplace or radiator. Before going to bed the children often put something in those shoes for Sinterklaas and his team. Sometimes that will be a carrot for Sinterklaas’ horse Amerigo, or a drawing for Sinterklaas, or a ‘verlanglijstje’ (i.e., a gift wish list) with the gifts they would like. During this routine they sing a song for Sinterklaas like one of those you learn about in the blog “Learning Dutch with Sinterklaas Songs”. If they are lucky and Sinterklaas has visited their house that night, they will find a small gift in their shoe in the morning.  

Source: Vera de Kok via Wikimedia Commons

Then the big gift night of year, ‘pakjesavond’, finally arrives on the 5th of December for the Dutch and on the 6th of December in Belgium. The tradition in families is to eat a wintery and comforting meal together, in my family it was pea soup, and then wait until Sinterklaas arrives. Some parents may ask a friend to dress up as Sinterklaas and bring the bag of gifts inside, but in my family one of my parents was always ‘doing something outside’ while we were waiting for the gifts to arrive. Then all of a sudden, a hand in a glove would peek around the corner and throw ‘pepernoten’ (small Sinterklaas cookies) and sweets through the room. My brother and I would run to the door and see that the big cloth bag with gifts was left there. Then the ‘lost parent’ would come from inside and say ‘aww, I missed it again?!’. That was the start of a joyful evening of laughter, unpacking gifts and saying, ‘thank you Sinterklaas!’.  

How can you join the fun? 
You can sign up as a ‘Piet’ in your town, at a school, or even at some stores and make children happy by giving them sweets and cookies during the celebration season. Or you can gather a group of friends and celebrate Sinterklaas in the way that groups of students and adults typically do. Namely, they collect the names of the participating friends before Sinterklaas and draw straws. You are then supposed to write a funny and often quite mocking poem about that friend which they must read out loud before opening the gift on the evening of the celebration. 

 Until next time!

Marieke, OLS Community Manager - Dutch

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